This site recounts my personal journey to apply for proof of Canadian citizenship. It is not legal advice. For official info check out the Government of Canada’s IRCC

My Complete Application Package for my Canadian Citizenship Certificate

A stack of white papers with colorful paperclips sits on a desk. A pair of glasses sits in front of the stack and a keyboard is partially visible

When I finally had all of my records collected and assembled my application package, this is what I ended up including:

  1. A Contents and Citation Page (for each record, I included what it was and specifically what that record showed [e.g., male child born to <parent> on <birth date> in <town> on row #])

  2. Cover Letter, including a request for urgent processing and the proof to support the request

  3. CIT 0001 and an addendum to Section 9 for my great-grandparent (who was my G0)

  4. Two (2) Citizenship photographs

  5. Two (2) proofs of personal identification - for me that was my driver’s license and US passport

  6. Proof of Payment (the receipt from the online payment - they give you a PDF on the website, but they also email it to you)

  7. CIT 0014 - Document Checklist Application for a Citizenship Certificate

  8. Color Copies of the Supporting Documentation

    • Simplified family tree showing me as the direct descendent

    • Gen 0 - Town Birth Register (handwritten), Town Birth Register Index (typed), two (2) Canadian census records, Marriage License, Certified Death Certificate

    • Gen 1 - Certified Birth Certificate

    • Gen 2 - Certified Birth Certificate

    • Gen 3 (ME!) - Certified Birth Certificate and Certified Name Change Record

Between each section, I included a section cover page to make sure that it was easy for to navigate and it had the added benefit of helping me to make sure that I had included everything in my application.

That’s it! When I look at this list of documents, it sure felt like I had done more work than it shows, but that’s true. I had found many more records and done a lot of work to be able to get to the point that I could submit. In the end, I only wanted to submit what was necessary to prove that I was a descendent of a Canadian and I didn’t want to make the file more complicated than it needed to be.

Printing and Shipping My Application >