Obtaining Certificate of Citizenship (by descent)

[andrewhl]

Hey! It actually hasn't arrived yet. Congrats that your son's has! Did you apply from Canada?? I'm thinking it's taking a long time due to international shipping? Not too worried yet but hoping it shows up soon.

We applied from Toronto. Hope you can get your mail soon!

 

[hawk39]

Hey! It actually hasn't arrived yet. Congrats that your son's has! Did you apply from Canada?? I'm thinking it's taking a long time due to international shipping? Not too worried yet but hoping it shows up soon.

If you click the link for an explanation of your application status, under "Decision Made", it says "If you reside outside Canada, the Case Processing Centre in Sydney will send the citizenship certificate to the Canadian embassy, high commission or consulate responsible for the area where you live." So do they actually send your certificate to your home address, or do you have to pick it up at their local office?

 

[GoshoJosh06]

I see that too... I think that applies outside of Canada and USA. I called the Embassy in Dallas to ask and they said they do absolutely nothing with citizenship and it's all through mail with the CIC. I guess the takeaway is if you dealt with the embassy to apply, the certificate will be sent to the embassy. If you applied through mail, it will come in the mail. I think - not 100% though.

 

[nyguy2]

My application was delivered June 12, sent back to me for rework and didn't arrive till July 10. That's 24 business days from their arrival to mine. Even assuming it took them a week to process it, that's a long time in the mail. I'd give it a few more days before flipping the panic switch.

Thanks for the timeline, I haven't heard back at all yet (7th July delivery to Sydney NS via Canada Post) and it's been 12 business days. Was starting to think maybe it got lost. (Bought trackable Xpresspost from Canada post and thought it would be like UPS or Fedex where you have a fully printed digital label down to the address, after giving the destination ZIP and paying they stuck a postage label on the upper right corner, then handed the envelope back to me and asked me to write full return/destination address with a pen).

Hoping I get an update soon. I'm worried that Canada Post might be as bad as the US Postal Service and I should have paid the extra for UPS delivery...

 

[GoshoJosh06]

Thanks for the timeline, I haven't heard back at all yet (7th July delivery to Sydney NS via Canada Post) and it's been 12 business days. Was starting to think maybe it got lost. (Bought trackable Xpresspost from Canada post and thought it would be like UPS or Fedex where you have a fully printed digital label down to the address, after giving the destination ZIP and paying they stuck a postage label on the upper right corner, then handed the envelope back to me and asked me to write full return/destination address with a pen).

Hoping I get an update soon. I'm worried that Canada Post might be as bad as the US Postal Service and I should have paid the extra for UPS delivery...

Mine took nearly a month between it being received and receiving an acknowledgment. 16 business days to be exact. You should get yours soon, hopefully!

(Below copied from earlier post)
Mailed from USA: 8 May 2917
Delivered to Nova Scotia: 15 May 2017
Received AOR: 9 June 2017

 

[andrewhl]

If you click the link for an explanation of your application status, under "Decision Made", it says "If you reside outside Canada, the Case Processing Centre in Sydney will send the citizenship certificate to the Canadian embassy, high commission or consulate responsible for the area where you live." So do they actually send your certificate to your home address, or do you have to pick it up at their local office?

US is a special case. Canadian consular in US no longer deal with Citizenship

Thanks for the timeline, I haven't heard back at all yet (7th July delivery to Sydney NS via Canada Post) and it's been 12 business days. Was starting to think maybe it got lost. (Bought trackable Xpresspost from Canada post and thought it would be like UPS or Fedex where you have a fully printed digital label down to the address, after giving the destination ZIP and paying they stuck a postage label on the upper right corner, then handed the envelope back to me and asked me to write full return/destination address with a pen).

Hoping I get an update soon. I'm worried that Canada Post might be as bad as the US Postal Service and I should have paid the extra for UPS delivery...

Canada post does have a reputation as Canada lost here

 

[nyguy2]

US is a special case. Canadian consular in US no longer deal with Citizenship

Canada post does have a reputation as Canada lost here

Good to know for future reference, especially once I need to go for the passport (probably better off just waiting until I get the certificate and do it during my next trip to Canada at a Service Canada location). Luckily I just got the email from Client-update-mise-a-jour@cic.gc.ca just now (application status tool doesn't find anything yet):

Dear nyguy2,
We received your application for proof of Canadian citizenship. The application and documents will now be
reviewed and we will contact you if additional information is required.
If your application is approved, a citizenship certificate will be sent to you.
It is very important that we are notified of any changes in your contact information (e.g., address, telephone number, email address).​

So the timeline thus far is:
Mailed: 2nd July 2017
Delivered to CIC: 7th July
AOR: 26th July

 

[GoshoJosh06]

So it says on the website that my certificate was sent on July 6, 2017. Today marks 3 weeks to the day and I still haven't received anything in the mail.
Does anybody have any experience with mail from CIC to USA? Just wondering when I should formally inquire.

Thoughts?

 

[nyguy2]

So it says on the website that my certificate was sent on July 6, 2017. Today marks 3 weeks to the day and I still haven't received anything in the mail.
Does anybody have any experience with mail from CIC to USA? Just wondering when I should formally inquire.

Thoughts?

The normal delivery window for letters to the US (not guaranteed) is seven business days. It's been sixteen business days since the sixth. I would inquire in your situation.

Are you sure your address is accurate? Do you have US Postal Service Informed Delivery? You'll get a scanned preview of the envelope front of any letter sized mail. You'd be surprised how much gets lost between the regional sort where mail is scanned (e.g. nearby city) and your local post office/end delivery...

I ordered two birth certificates and two certified birth extracts (from British Columbia) for my father. Two of the birth certificates arrived, only one of the certified birth extracts...all sent regular letter mail with no tracking via Canada post to the US... That was provincial but I expect that the federal government does the same thing, for the cost of postage.

 

[GoshoJosh06]

Update: I was able to call to the CIC today. They said that there is an issue with the website showing mailing times early. My application was approved on July 6 and the documents were requested to be created, but it wasn't actually mailed until July 26 - which was only a week ago today. So I'm on the lookout but it doesn't seem as though the documents were lost in the mail (yet)

 

[GoshoJosh06]

The normal delivery window for letters to the US (not guaranteed) is seven business days. It's been sixteen business days since the sixth. I would inquire in your situation.

Are you sure your address is accurate? Do you have US Postal Service Informed Delivery? You'll get a scanned preview of the envelope front of any letter sized mail. You'd be surprised how much gets lost between the regional sort where mail is scanned (e.g. nearby city) and your local post office/end delivery...

I ordered two birth certificates and two certified birth extracts (from British Columbia) for my father. Two of the birth certificates arrived, only one of the certified birth extracts...all sent regular letter mail with no tracking via Canada post to the US... That was provincial but I expect that the federal government does the same thing, for the cost of postage.

Thanks for the recommendation! I enrolled in Informed Delivery - I've never heard of it.

 

[nyguy2]

Thanks for the recommendation! I enrolled in Informed Delivery - I've never heard of it.

No problem. Just bear in mind that Informed Delivery will only scan mail when it hits the regional sort. Letter sized mail (regular envelopes) gets scanned, larger envelopes do not. So something like this will get scanned on the morning when it will be delivered (although sometimes it gets delayed by a day or so and occasionally mail gets lost between regional sort and my mailbox):

(Address and mailing barcodes [barcodes include full post code which is specific to a street in my town] removed above).

If you get something that is sent via some form of trackable mail, now that you've signed up for Informed Delivery you will be able to see it on my.usps.com. This includes trackable mail packages/envelopes sent by the postal services of international countries, which can make it handy, but I doubt CIC/IRCC is going to spring for trackable delivery on your Citizenship certificate.

 

[GoshoJosh06]

Alright my certificate arrived today!!!!

Final timeline:
Mailed from USA: 8 May 2017
Delivered to Nova Scotia: 15 May 2017
Received AOR: 9 June 2017
Application approved: 6 July 2017
Certificate mailed from CIC: 26 July 2017
Arrived in mail to Texas: 3 August 2017

Now time to apply for a passport

 

[andrewhl]

Alright my certificate arrived today!!!!

Final timeline:
Mailed from USA: 8 May 2017
Delivered to Nova Scotia: 15 May 2017
Received AOR: 9 June 2017
Application approved: 6 July 2017
Certificate mailed from CIC: 26 July 2017
Arrived in mail to Texas: 3 August 2017

Now time to apply for a passport

congrat!

 

[Dan in Wisconsin]

Congratulations Josh.

And today I got my notice of receipt and Application Number. This time it worked.

So my complete timeline so far is
June 1: First application mailed in Wisconsin
June 12: Delivery accepted.
July 10: Application returned with explanation.of errors; 28 days, 21 working days
July 19: Second app delivery accepted.
August 4 Application acknowledgement email received; 17 days, 13 working days.

I started this project on February 2 when I sent a request to Nova Scotia for my father's birth certificate. I has taken 183 days to get this far and I'm still trying to analyze how I feel. Excited and weary at the same time.

Josh, how did you call the CIC? Did you go to Canada? The only time I was able to talk to them was when a case worker in Halifax transferred me, which was how I found out they'd accept notarized copies of Dad's birth certificate. Which came in handy because Halifax would only give me one original and my siblings all wanted a copy as well.