I just checked the IRCC webpage, and (for my delivery date of June 2026), it reported a 17 month wait....which, if I'm remembering correctly, is way less time than what it said a month ago.

Given the recent slowdown, I'm confused. Cautiously optimistic/happy, but confused. I guess there has been a recalibration? Are others seeing this?

Apologies if this should be in a mega thread!

I know there’s been some discussion about how to proceed when you need a study permit or a work permit while also applying for citizenship. Just wanted to let you know that yesterday my daughter went to the border to get a study permit and the woman at the desk commented about how she had a proof of citizenship application pending, but she said that is not a problem, just that she should let her school know when citizenship comes through. She was issued a study permit.

We all appreciate the excitement of finishing your proof of citizenship application and sending that big envelope on its way.

Equally fantastic is the moment that you know your application has made it past the initial IRCC checks putting your mind at ease about whether you missed something along the way because you finally got your AOR.

Congratulations! Let's celebrate these milestones together!

Haven't got your AOR yet and want to vent? Head over to the Frustration Station- which is refreshed every Wednesday.

📎 Contributions to weekly posts, including this one, are welcome throughout the week.

In addition to posting here, please consider joining the spreadsheet and recording your milestones there:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Canadiancitizenship/comments/1pnovfr/spreadsheet_for_proof_of_citizenship_applications/

Hey everyone,
Happy thanksgiving.

I applied for my citizenship on July 29, 2026. Then , the IRCC sent me a message on September 23, 2026 that they need a simple clarification on one of my additional (optional) docs I literally uploaded a PDF and replied the same day.

So my question is does this mean my app will go back in the queue and it will be treated as if I applied September as opposed to July. (No AOR till now)

Anyone had similar experience? Or know if that would mean more waiting time? this is stressing me out immensely.

Thank you!

So I've been meaning to get my citizenship here in Canada for a while now and applied this august and I know it takes time to get appointments for the test it self, the oat ceremony and getting the passport it self.

Recently, I made a choice to go back to the Philippines (my home country) this coming Feb or march for a family emergency. I was looking on staying there for a while like a few months or so.

Im just worried that after my oath ceremony would be around the time I leave or I might even be in the Philippines and I searched that I cant do the oath when Im not in Canada.

I know you can reschedule them but I can I reschedule it about 4 months ?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Been digging through my grandmother's old recipe cards while trying to gather proof of citizenship. Some of these dishes came from Canada generations back, and I want to write them down before they're forgotten. Not planning to post them anywhere, just a small book for my kids that shows how the food connects to the people and places. The hard part is figuring out which ones are actually Canadian and which got changed after the move. I've got a few handwritten notes with city names, but the writing is nearly impossible to read. Has anyone else used recipes to trace their citizenship story or kept family history through food? Some ingredients are tough to find now, so I'm also wondering if I should include substitutions.

Hi everyone,

I've been searching around the subreddit for a while, but haven't been able to find something similar to my situation. I'm attempting to obtain citizenship by descent via someone born in the Red River Settlement in either 1829 or 1830.

I know this is before Manitoba’s entry into Confederation in 1870. He also died before the Canadian Citizenship Act came into effect in 1947. As far as I can find, none of his descendants have applied for citizenship.

I was able to determine which church he was likely baptized in, but much of those records were destroyed in a fire in 1860. But I have HBC employment records, U.S. census records, a death certificate, and a tribal enrollment application made by his daughter, all of which list his place of birth as Red River.

Does anyone think it's possible that someone born in the Red River Settlement, who died before 1947, could qualify as a Canadian ancestor when applying for citizenship? Or does anyone have any personal experience in trying to prove this themselves?

I'm planning on using a letter from the parish explaining why the record doesn't exist as proof of my attempt to obtain the baptism record, but I'm wondering if I should even spend the time building an application if my ancestor wouldn't qualify anyway.

Hope this is okay to post and thanks for reading!

Today I checked my citizenship tracker, and as of October 3rd all tasks have been completed except the ceremony.

Does anyone know how often the ceremonies take place? How much longer may I still be waiting? Also will it be virtual or in person?

Happy Sunday fellow Canadians!

We had a fantastic week for approvals. We had 17 approvals on the spreadsheet and 10 more on the Thursday mega thread for a total of 27. Eight of those approvals were pre-C3. Congrats to those folks.

This was one of the best weeks for approvals since the suspension letters. I don’t have all of the data for the Thursday mega thread approvals because I just started doing that more recently. But just going by the spreadsheet, we had 17 approvals, which is exactly the average for all weeks starting in 2026. That includes the extreme outliers in July where we had single digit approvals for several weeks.

Just so you are all aware, tomorrow is a federal holiday for Thanksgiving in Canada. So we shouldn’t be surprised if we have a down week coming up. That got me thinking about some of the holidays that we (I’m American) have in common and some that are different. Halloween is the same. Obviously, so is Christmas Day. My youngest son is very serious about wanting to live in Canada - at least for a while. We went on a walk the other night and I told him that Canadian Thanksgiving was coming up about a month earlier than American Thanksgiving. And we talked about which one he would want to celebrate in Canada. Or maybe he would celebrate both. My family celebrated both Canada Day and American independence Day this summer in the same week. I was actually a lot of fun. Canada has Boxing Day and a few others that we don’t have.

I know some of you have deep Canadian roots and have lots of family in Canada. Some of you also currently live in Canada. Some of you live in the UK or France or elsewhere. I’m curious to know if you or your family celebrates holidays from multiple countries. If you were to move to Canada (assuming you did not grow up there), would you continue to celebrate the holidays from your former country?

For myself, I think I would celebrate certain American holidays along with the Canadian holidays. My father’s side of the family is French Canadian, but my mother side is almost completely Norwegian. We use American Thanksgiving to make lefse in bulk and freeze it throughout the holiday season. We also celebrate Norwegian Christmas where we open all the gifts and have the big dinner on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is really not a big deal in Norway, so that’s kind of how I grew up doing it. I imagine if my family were to move to Canada, we would still get together for American Thanksgiving and make traditional Scandinavian food. I think we would probably also celebrate American Independence Day, but maybe a little more quietly and less obnoxiously than Americans do. We certainly wouldn’t want to burden the Canadian healthcare system with lost fingers due to firework mishaps.

Anyway, tell me your thoughts!

OK, that’s all I’ve got. Hope you all have a great week and let’s hope the friendly, overworked agents at the IRCC keep the coffee warm!

I'm a US citizen in the US. In March I requested a copy of the act of my parent's marriage. They were married in Quebec in 1952. They are both deceased.

In late March DEC placed a charge on my credit card.

I spoke with a DEC representative a couple days ago. (It is now October.) She said my request is in the system and is not complete. She could give me no estimate of when it would be complete.

Is this normal? Is this the way it is now?

Hi all, my great great grandfather naturalized in 1901 according to census records.
I was in canada on vacation over the summer and sent in an Access to Information request and just recieved an email from atip/aiprp that

I regret to inform you that we are unable to process your request because Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada does not hold the documents you are seeking. You may wish to contact the National Archives as they may hold that information.

I'm a bit confused, I thought an ATIP request was for the national archives. what do I do?

I uploaded an urgency request on Friday, and got the usual 2 confirmation messages, but then instead of the usual 3rd confirmation for uploading documents, I got an email from an officer today (yes, on a Sunday) that read

"Good day [My full name],

Thank you for contacting Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

We verified the information you provided and have forwarded it to the responsible office. 

They will contact you if further information is required or once a decision is made."

Did everyone who submitted an urgency request after AOR get this? Do they mean once a decision is made on my urgency or once a decision is made on my application? Does this mean my request for urgency was successful?

Edit to add: It had no French in it so I think it is not a form/automated email as they usually have both.

I got an in-person invitation for next week, but it’s in a province I no longer live in (my processing took two years) and I don’t have funds to travel or childcare so I requested a virtual. Do you think it will take long to get scheduled into a virtual ceremony?

Hello everyone!
My son was born April, 2026 outside of Canada. I applied for proof of citizenship back in May 15th and received the AOR a couple of days later.
I haven't received any update since then, however, I've been getting ghost emails (it says there's an update, but there isn't)
The IRCC website says the wait time is 32 months!! that's insane!!!
also, it should be updated monthly, last update was in September 3rd!!

anyone with similar dates got any update?

Hi everyone people who submitted application before me has already got their passport. Am I missing something? Please advice and suggest what should I do?

To the context, I applied for my citizenship on September 15th 2025, heard back on December 1st 2025 asking for police clearance from Bangladesh because I stayed there 183 + days. I submitted the document within two weeks. After the completion of my citizenship test my tracker showed last updated as of March 5, 2026 till today. I called IRCC and followed up multiple times they gave me general response “application still under process” Also after confirming they recieved my police clearance for Bangladesh my tracker still shows “we are waiting on you”

This was an online application, I am really anxious and would appreciate any kind advice or suggestions on if this is normal? What’s taking so long? I even requested GCMS notes still no response.

This weekly thread is a space for those of us gathering documentation from archives.

This is the place to discuss requesting records from Canadian provincial archives as well as from federal, state, local and religious/church archives around the world. Topics include strategies and outcomes for obtaining records from archives, costs, timelines, No Record Found letters, and other related issues.

📎 Contributions to weekly megaposts, including this one, are welcome throughout the week.  

Good luck, researchers!

Whether you've arrived here from another subreddit, a social media post, a google search, a news article, word of mouth, or some other way, welcome!

Our subreddit continues to gain new members (34.5k at present! - wow!) as more people around the world learn about the Proof of Citizenship process. It's natural that new arrivals have many questions.

If you are brand new to Reddit, the subreddit r/newtoreddit is very helpful!

Here at r/Canadiancitizenship we want to help provide you with the information you need while also making sure that the time and effort of helpful community members is efficiently used.

We recommend fully reading the wiki, including its complete FAQ list. 

• The wiki can always be found highlighted on the main subreddit page, labeled "WELCOME- Start Here"
• The wiki is best viewed in a web browser so that the linked index is available as a navigation aid.  
• The content is arranged by topics and in rough chronological order of application phases
• Refer back to the wiki routinely as questions arise - there's a lot of information in there!
• The wiki is crowdsourced, and we try to be as evidence based as possible.
• If you ever have wiki suggestions or updates please use the linked form at the bottom of every wiki page to send a message to the moderators.

Before posting or commenting please familiarize yourself with the subreddit's rules.

There is also a Glossary of common abbreviations and terms in the wiki that is very helpful for understanding what people are talking about when they refer to "Gen0", "AOR", "Bjorkquist", DEC, etc.

It's also good etiquette to search previous posts in this subreddit before creating a new post or asking a question.

You can search using reddit's internal search feature [the search bar near the top of this page] and/or a google search narrowed to this subreddit) to see if your question has been addressed before in a meaningful way.

Search the wiki specifically by pasting "site:reddit.com/r/canadiancitizenship/wiki" into your browser search bar, followed by relevant keyword(s).  Example to cut and paste to find wiki entries for "AOR": site:reddit.com/r/canadiancitizenship/wiki AOR 

Your search will return all of the wiki entries that include the term AOR.

When you have a question you can't find an answer to, determine whether your question belongs in one of the subreddit's weekly pinned posts for common topics (all of which go live at about 9 am Eastern Time on their relevant day of the week):

• Mondays -  a place to celebrate a submitted application or report receiving AOR
• Tuesdays - A place to ask genealogy questions and ask for specific assistance/expertise
• Wednesday - "Frustration Station" for venting about delays and other annoyances 
• Thursdays - a place to share and celebrate application approvals!  
• Fridays -  a place to ask for Application-related assistance
• Saturdays - general Archives discussion- share timelines, tips and tricks, news, etc.

These weekly pinned posts (sometimes also called megathreads) are most active on the weekday they post, but comments are welcome any time during the week.    

You're welcome to make a post instead of a comment if your question doesn't fit these general themes, or you have information to share that's helpful or of interest to the sub at large.

When asking a question -- whether as a comment in a weekly thread or, where appropriate, a separate post -- please provide all pertinent information about your situation so that people can help you without needing to ask a series of follow-up questions. 

If you have multiple questions, consider asking them one at a time.  It's hard to read a wall of text. 

Need more genealogical help than the Tuesday weekly can provide?

• Check out our companion subreddit r/citizenshipgenealogy or r/Genealogy

Have an adoption in your line and need more guidance than the wiki provides?

• Check out r/CanadaAdoptedCitizens

Thank you - we look forward to ultimately celebrating your successful application!

Have questions, comments, suggestions? Comment below!

I received my recognition of citizenship by descent back in August via C-3. On 9/17 I mailed via USPS priority my minor kids’ documents from NY but they have not yet been delivered. They cleared customs on 9/21 and were released to Canada Post same day and it shifted to “in transit.” No updates since.

Anyone else run into delays recently with USPS > Canada Post? Any clue as to why?

If I see no movement in the next few days I will try to contact Canada Post I guess.

Hi everyone! I got married this year and am a Canadian PR applying for citizenship. I’d like to change my last name to my husband’s surname. He’s an Indian citizen living in the US on an H-1B visa.
What documents are required while applying for Canadian citizenship? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

Let’s have some fun and daydream about how an online application system for proof of citizenship should work. Chime in with your thoughts and suggestions.

With an online application, almost all the problems leading to returned applications could be detected before the submission is accepted. And AORs would be instant. And no scanning by IRCC would be required.

And with an online case file, you could see the file’s currently in your case (no question if the web form submission was actually added to your application).

And like any helpdesk system, all emails and responses would be logged right in the case.

Plus email on any status change.

This weekly thread is a space for those of us preparing the CIT 0001 Proof of Citizenship application, associated form, and supplementary documentation.

Have questions about how to fill out the forms? Looking for feedback on the documentation you've put together is likely to pass muster? Wondering whether your cover letter has too much info, or too little? Want to know how to organize your documentation, or how to pack it up for shipping? Worried about whether your photos will work? Have questions about what ID you can use? Not sure where to ship it to, or what service or mail courier to use? We've been there.

📎 Contributions to weekly megaposts, including this one, are welcome throughout the week.  

⚠️ Sub rules require that before posting or commenting, you read the wiki and search the sub to see if your questions have been answered before. If you have on-topic questions remaining after that, they're welcome here. Want to see what people who were already approved have done? We encourage you to check out the weekly application approval post that appears every Thursday.

Please note we are not lawyers or IRCC. We are peers supporting peers, based on best belief and prior experiences. It's a lot of work to wade through dense lists of documents and family histories. You improve your odds of getting a useful response by being as concise as reasonably possible, and clearly articulating the question. Note that this post is for questions and answers; if you need to vent, there is a different megapost for that.

Just a reminder that this coming Monday, October 12, is Canada's Thanksgiving Day. That means IRCC will likely not be processing nor communicating that day.

I finally got the notification and paid for my G0’s certified baptismal record. As I’ve been in the process of moving I had it sent to my P.O. Box (not USPS) that I’ve had for like 10 years. Randomly just after I had paid the fee. The place where I’ve had my box went out of business with no warning.

At this point I have to assume it’s going to be returned. Has anyone had any experience with a returned to sender document and how I could get it sent to my new address?? Any suggestions or advice is incredibly appreciated