Citizenship certificate for US citizen

[Chrysos]

I applied for my Canadian citizenship certificate in January, I received notice that it was "in process" on March 7th.
A few questions:
I live in the US. Will they mail me my Canadian citizenship certificate? I do not intend to move to Canada in the near future. I just want to make sure I have proof of citizenship. Do I have to apply for a Canadian passport?

It's been almost a month "in process", just curious why it takes so long if all the required documentation has been completed. Seems like for the certificate it would be pretty cut and dried.

Thanks for your help!

 

[alphazip]

Yes, the certificate will be mailed to you in the U.S. No, you don't have to apply for a passport, but you can if you like. If you want to travel "as a Canadian" you would need one, but otherwise your U.S. passport will do. As a U.S. citizen, you would always use your U.S. passport to enter the United States.

One month isn't considered to be a long time. Check the average processing time here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/EnGLIsh/information/times/index.asp

As you say, you don't have an urgent need for your certificate, and if you did, you could have applied for urgent processing. As a person who formerly lived in the U.S., I can tell you that U.S. government departments simply do things faster. For example, in the U.S. it is suggested that a person apply for Social Security three months before he/she wants the pension to start. In Canada, the suggestion for Old Age Security is to apply eleven months before.

 

[2_of_5]

How true, alphazip! ;D

That's probably the biggest adjustment I've had to make after seven years in Canada: how to "hurry up and wait".

 

[Natan]

It makes me laugh when I hear Americans complain about U.S. government incompetence and their high tax rate. :'(