FAQs
Check out the Glossary for definitions of commonly used terms
Who is eligible to be a canadian Citizen by Descent even if you were born outside of Canada?
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1) If you were born before 15 December 2025, the first-generation limit for citizenship by descent (i.e., there is NO generational limit for these people). This includes people who were adopted abroad by a parent born or adopted abroad.
2) If you were born after 15 December 2025 (wow look at you reading already!), to a Canadian parent also born or adopted abroad, you must demonstrate that their Canadian parent has spent three years (or 1,095 cumulative days) in Canada when applying for proof of Canadian citizenship, or applying for Canadian citizenship for an adopted child.
How do I get started?
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I know - it’s overwhelming. But the good news is that there’s already been a lot of research done that you can use and there are great communities available for support. Check out the step-by-step process and the free resources. You got this!
How do i apply for a citizenship certificate?
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For each applicant, you need:
CIT0001
CIT0014
Two (2) Citizenship Photos
Two (2) Identity Documents
Payment Receipt for $75
Color copies of the records establishing your descent from a Canadian citizen
For more specific details, check out the step-by-step process that I used.
How Long will it take to receive my Citizenship Certificate once I’ve submitted my Application?
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Waiting is the worst part! Unfortunately, timelines vary greatly. The IRCC provides official estimates, but these are not guaranteed or maximum times. As of April 2026, for applications that have not yet been submitted, IRCC estimates a 10-month processing time with over 56,000 people waiting for a decision.
The volunteers over at r/canadiancitizenship have been using a spreadsheet to track processing times and that can give you a good indication, but it’s important to remember that this is all self-reported data and people do forget to update their status.
I can’t wait that long for a citizenship certificate. Is there a way to speed up Processing my application?
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Maybe. IRCC does offer a way to request urgent processing for people that meet certain criteria. However, if you do not meet one of these criteria, there is not an option to pay to move up the line and calling the IRCC won’t help.
If you aren’t planning to move to Canada urgently and just want to have it as an option for the future, you might not really need urgent processing. Embrace the Canadian way of considering the greater good.
That said, there’s no penalty for requesting urgent processing and only the IRCC makes the final determination about who receives expedited processing.
The only limit is your ability to prove that you were directly descended from a Canadian citizen. Anecdotally, I’ve heard of (self-reported) approvals for up to nine (9) generations back!
Practically speaking, the further back in time, the more challenging that obtaining records can be. For example, Canada didn’t start issuing birth certificates or conducting national censuses until the mid-19th Century, so you’d have to rely on other types of records like those maintained by churches. Whether those records exist for your family exist is a matter of luck, but if they do, there are lots of resources to find (or get help) what you need to prove your Canadian lineage.
I am NOT an expert and this website isn’t infallible. I am NOT an attorney and I’m definitely not YOUR attorney. The only source for authoritative information is the IRCC.
I went through the process in early 2026 and I found it to be overwhelming. My Autistic brain wanted more detailed instructions that the IRCC didn’t have on their website, or at least the reassurance from someone else that had done it before me. That’s what this site is for: to share my experience. You shouldn’t take it as gospel truth and I try to be upfront about that by explaining what I did and why I did it that way. If the IRCC tells you something different from what is here, definitely trust them over this website.
At the end of the day, I’m just trying to help people out and I hope that it’s valuable for someone. But we’re all responsible for our own decisions and that includes the responsibility to verify any/all of the information that you read on this site.
My experience hiring an immigration attorney was not only not helpful, it was harmful. They provided misinformation, stressed me out, and delayed my process. The only thing that they did was have a meeting with me to tell me incorrect things and cause me to take actions that increased my timeline and expenses. We parted ways before I submitted my application and I was able to get a refund of my almost $10k CAD fees (thank dog), but I wish I had never hired them. Later, I found out that how exorbitant those fees were, especially given that my case was very straightforward.
Unfortunately, my story is far from the only one. There are countless anecdotes that seem to indicate that a lot of Canadian immigration attorneys don’t have a handle on descendent citizenship, but it hasn’t stopped many of them from targeting vulnerable people to scare into paying obscene legal fees.
I was advised by many people who had completed the process before me that I didn’t need an attorney, but I hired one anyway because I thought that it would be an extra layer of security. I was wrong and I paid for it.