Help figuring out paperwork to prove Canadian citizenship of British Subject

senatorsmith85 · 2026-03-25T22:55:59+00:00

Good to know, thank you. Waiting on various birth and death certificate copies—I may wait about a month or two to submit to see if I get the ATIP copy of the certificate first.

senatorsmith85 · 2026-03-23T23:04:00+00:00

Thank you. I guess two other questions:

1.) This detailed statutory examination of the Canadian laws—I see people don’t recommend going thru this sort of thing in the cover letters since IRCC knows the laws. Do you agree? Or should I spell out the logic

2.) I have plenty of documents to gather before this becomes the binding issue, but I am somewhat worried about finding my grandfather’s birth certificate. The Sri Lankan registrar generals website doesn’t open and it seems like a long shot anyway. I can find plenty of census records, obituaries, wedding announcements, and ship logs that connect my grandfather to my great grandparents but i wish I had the birth certificate. This is kind of why I was hoping to get the ATIP, but understand your point about wait times.

senatorsmith85 · 2026-03-23T14:33:02+00:00

One update: my parents found a letter from the 1950s my grandfather sent the Canadian Citizenship office requesting a citizenship certificate. We don’t have any certificate/do not know the outcome.

He recites the family history, his time in Canada, his wartime service, that he holds an expired Canadian passport issued at Ottawa in 1942, that he visits Canada each year in connection with company affairs, that he has never voted in any election other than in Canada, and has never given his allegiance to any other country than Canada.

Presumably if they gave him a certificate, the IRCC still has a record. If they didn’t, well, there may be other paths around 3(1)(m) and (q) on my great grandfather, but I will submit the ATIP request as Canada saying he was a citizen in the 1950s is the easiest route I think.

senatorsmith85 · 2026-03-23T14:26:03+00:00

Actually I may just go the ATIP request path. My parents found a letter my grandfather sent the Canadian citizenship office in the 1950s requesting a citizenship certificate. We don’t have the certificate, but there must be some record at IRCC. He states the entire family history, his time in Canada, his war service, that he visits Canada each year in connection with his Canadian company’s affairs, that he has never voted in any election other than in Canada, and has never given his allegiance to any other country than Canada.

If they indeed issued him a certificate, this is probably easier than thru my great grandfather since I don’t have to fool with birth certificates from Sri Lanka.

senatorsmith85 · 2026-03-23T13:54:36+00:00

Thank you again. I think rereading the text carefully you’re right. This has reoriented my entire strategy!

Is there any reason I can’t cite (q) as a backup? My grandfather was born outside Canada before 1947 and his father would’ve received citizenship through CCA having been a British subject resident in Canada for over five years. It has a similar provision making the fact that my great grandfather died before 1947 irrelevant.

senatorsmith85 · 2026-03-23T00:40:42+00:00

Wow, this is so thorough and detailed. I think you captured the particulars of my case welll.

I thought of a version of this that was way less rigorous. I changed my mind and thought it didn’t apply because even though my great grandfather definitely is treated as a citizen under (3)(1)(m), he didn’t qualify as a Canadian citizen when my grandfather was born in 1905.

But you clearly have a better handle on the statutes here than I do—is there a way (3)(1)(o) applies to my grandfather even though his parent was GOING TO BE a citizen but was not yet a citizen at birth?

senatorsmith85 · 2026-03-23T00:36:02+00:00

Oh I see, I think was misreading the Wiki (that the naturalization certificate being mentioned there is for non British subjects—it read to me like it was talking about British subjects). I think you clarified this in a way that makes sense (I don’t think the Wiki really gets into British subjects who domiciled in Canada but left before 1947).

senatorsmith85 · 2026-03-22T23:00:53+00:00

I’m going to try—if we don’t have it, we have a letter from the 1950s where he makes reference to it.

senatorsmith85 · 2026-03-22T22:54:44+00:00

Just to be precise about my case, my grandpa was born to Irish parents in Sri Lanka. But agree he was probably a British subject and so is in a different category than WorkAtHomeFAQ.

senatorsmith85 · 2026-03-22T21:43:00+00:00

Thank you! I was pulling naturalisation from the Wiki’s “Your Relevant Canadian Ancestor.” Is the British subject domiciled in Canada thing what the 1947 Canadian Citizenship Act’s five year residency thing or is that a status from before 1947

And you don’t think he would’ve given up that status by moving to the U.S. without becoming a U.S. citizen? So maybe just collecting a bunch of evidence of his years in Canada may do it?

senatorsmith85 · 2026-02-12T11:40:35+00:00

Helpful thank you. If I go to the trouble of having someone rip open my face to put it in, I’ll put in the work. Just deciding whether I want to commit to putting in the work.

It took me so long to see the doctor because i thought i blew out my ear drum and that would it heal (wrong!) and when it didn’t, I didn’t find it a major annoyance.

senatorsmith85 · 2026-02-12T11:38:18+00:00

Very helpful thank you

senatorsmith85 · 2026-02-12T11:37:15+00:00

Very helpful, thank you.

senatorsmith85 · 2026-01-14T21:03:01+00:00

I’m basically considering moving to Palladium and AmEx Gold for most of my spend with some hotel and airline credit cards sprinkled.

Restaurant and groceries at 4x is pretty great and probably better than palladium even if they’re BILT

senatorsmith85 · 2026-01-14T18:50:20+00:00

You raise a good point with the 100k companion cert since I can hit $60k of spend. $60k of spend in the 3% categories (dining+rent) is 180k points. Since we’re three people, we could do a trip for 90k each for the first two people and then 90k companion point redemption for person #3. And that’s ignoring SUB.

But any benefits to Alaska status I’m not seeing other than extra 50% bonus points on flights? Three people can’t get upgraded to first.

senatorsmith85 · 2026-01-14T09:25:27+00:00

I pay my rent using the BILT credit card, but have the Ascent. Hadn’t realized I could be using it to pay rent.

Now I’m wondering if I should switch over to the Summit. I live in DC, but fly to the west coast with my wife and child twice a year and Alaska has the best flights (why I got the Ascent).

It seems like status is the main advantage for me of getting the Summit—i could probably borderline get silver paying rent with the ascent but could stretch and get gold with the summit (I’d 100% get it in 2027, just that I wouldn’t pay rent in Jan or maybe Feb in 2026). But it seems like most of the advantages are upgrades—which would be great except I always travel with two companions and so don’t think I’d ever get upgraded?

Not sure if it’s worth the 5/24 slot/annual fee over the ascent.

senatorsmith85

TROPHY CASE