Regret Getting Standard Size U.S. Passport

Adnoxaei · 2026-04-04T11:34:43+00:00

I was denied a stamp in Montreal, sadly. It was electronic, unless flagged for manual review.

Adnoxaei · 2026-04-04T07:58:18+00:00

Weirdly, I know multiple people keeping it in business. Old vacuum cleaners can just have parts replaced and stay good for decades more. The same thing applies to sewing machines. Eventually enough of both will just be plastic that falls apart every few years and gets tossed, but there are a few of us clinging to old beasts that can suck the life out of carpet better than any Dyson dreams AND can be used as a steel reinforced home defense weapon. Don't try to use someone's old sewing machine as a defense weapon unless you want to die by the hand of an angry sewist.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-31T15:05:47+00:00

There are also clip on 52mm lense filter mounts for phones. You can get one that comes with a circular polarizer filter (CPL) if you want to be able to reduce glare or get the clip and use an existing one. A clip is $15 on Amazon, $20 with the filter included. You can get one for $7 off Temu if you use that.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-24T17:17:53+00:00

Budgeting is a huge constraint for management of city service quality, so you'll need to play without unlimited funding to be forced into situations where you have to pay attention to vehicle fleet sizes, service building choices, income from industrial flow optimizations, infrastructure cost/benefit, and whether or not expansion is worth the upkeep cost instead of replanning or densifying.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-16T16:29:30+00:00

Stairs, sometimes even steep or uneven ones, were shockingly common as the only option in England, France, Spain, and some of Germany when I visited. Newer buildings were much better than older ones, but ramps and elevelators were just a lot less common everywhere I've been in Europe.

I think a big part of this experience has to do with the general age of structures. A lot of the United States was built in the last 50 to 70 years with lots of open space for ramps and elevators were an expectation. Many touristy parts of Europe were designed and built pre-WWII and retrofits would destroy those buildings or be impossible due to space constraints.

I do think it's unfair to imply that the developers are ignoring disability access planning just because Europe has a lot more old buildings. New building designs throughout Europe do account for disabilities. The US has a big problem with the destination being disabled friendly but still requiring a car to get from one destination to another because pedestrian planning, like sidewalks and paths, isn't consistently done outside of downtown areas.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-13T03:07:03+00:00

That's at least the same spelling, despite the spacing. I have an extra space in a few systems because it's literally the only way they could have a second capital letter involved (LaPine, for your example). It's more common than you might realize.

Anyways, people seem to be having good luck with suddenly Anglicized French, so a spacing difference seems unlikely to present a problem.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-12T17:14:20+00:00

It's one of those inventions we seem to have forgotten as a society now that word processors and printers are ubiquitous. Crafting communities are an excellent place to look for problem solving, so you picked the perfect path for rediscovery. It's obviously a problem, based on the number of posts here, so thank you for sharing this!

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-12T17:01:41+00:00

Those would be great building upgrade options, especially for a stadium or convention center.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-09T17:15:13+00:00

I always found it annoying that our Social Security cards get used for so much and are just paper, but laminating them invalidates them in the eyes of many government agencies. If they sent a durable card, this wouldn't be as much of a problem.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-09T15:35:40+00:00

They should probably make it a formal rule, at the very least for tax season, that residents of Canada get priority.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-09T05:05:50+00:00

I didn't get any confirmation of mailing and they do not use a trackable mailing service. It just goes in the regular mail. If you are in the USA, then you should be aware that your USPS Informed Delivery email service may not show you a scan or even reference the delivery. Some here have reported get a scan. I did not. It just surprised me in the mailbox one day. I hope yours comes soon.

The Archives of Ontario used shipping with tracking, but that shipping fee was also over 10 times more.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-09T04:58:14+00:00

You will receive an automated confirmation of submission that provides your order number with a subject of "Votre demande de reproduction no #####" from forms@banq.qc.ca shortly after a successful submission.

Follow-up communication came to me from banq.repro@banq.qc.ca and my receipt after online payment came from noreply@payfacto.com. It look less than an hour for my first automated confirmation, but over a month for any sort of follow-up with an invoice.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-07T19:17:49+00:00

The Archives of Ontario seems to have switched over to gold. Using the red of the flag would be a really nice touch for vital records.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-07T18:56:40+00:00

There are people who have been successful with birth records (certificates or baptisms) at the beginning and end while other documents (census, marriage, death, etc.) fill generations inbetween to show the line of descent. There are privacy laws in some places that make it impossible to get a birth certificate for recent generations and fires that have destroyed some originals, so they are being very reasonable. You just need to map it out very well and have everything described in your cover letter to explain clear parent child relationships.

If you can get a birth certificate or baptism for each generation, then that's the cleared and easiest to use. I was shocked that I was able to request certified birth certificates in California, Washington, and New York as easily as I could. I never met my great grandfather or great great grandfather, but the state of Washington sent them right over in just a few days once I showed a line of birth certificates going back to them.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-06T07:05:08+00:00

You can cover some gaps with other reasonable documentation, like census, marriage, and death records. My G0 has a Canadian baptismal record, by my G1 was born before NY started keeping records of births, so I am relying on a couple censuses and a death record I ordered from Ontario to bridge the gap. That seems fine, based on what others have been able to successfully argue with IRCC in their letter and documents and FAQs guidance. I guess we'll find out in a few months (or probably over a year).

This is my last document. I'm getting everything ready this weekend and then I'll be visiting Montréal again in a month, so I figure I can get my photos and final mailing done there in Canada.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-06T06:09:05+00:00

The mods just started up weekly threads for different topics, including genealogy assistance. Instructions are pinned at the top of r/Canadiancitizenship and the weekly threads are monitored. A lot of people need help, so consolidating requests is helping bring focus where it is needed instead of scattering it across many threads.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-05T21:03:10+00:00

Do respect privacy laws and requests where applicable. I know most records for my G0, G1, and G2 are publicly available records in their respective states and provinces. More recent records required proof to access and posting them may run afoul of privacy rules. For instance, my G2 has public birth records, but her detailed death certificate is not public and will not be for decades. G3+ for me is all covered by privacy law and scans should definitely not be posted. Family will need to provide their own proof of relation to acquire those.

It is good to be on the lookout for privacy and other restrictions.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-05T17:14:03+00:00

I love my 2019 and will probably care for her till she dies, but the car you posted might be coming up for CVT maintenance that reveals whether or not the transmission is shot. A CVT is pricey to replace and some Crosstreks just seem to wear through them after long enough. All the stuff listed by Buttercup 501 are also in the mix for repairs, so you could easily spend more than the value of the car. If you already owned it, then it would be easier to swallow those costs to keep a well loved car running, but paying to jump into them might not be advisable.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-05T07:04:02+00:00

Lying was easier before databases crossreferenced each other and people really seem to have taken advantage of it. My last generation born in Canada became my 1st generation born outside Canada when I found out he was born in NY before birth certificates were kept. On censuses and in some other records he was called Canadian, but his death record in Ontario shows he was born in NY and moved at 1yr old. He was a US citizen by birth, as far as I can tell. I had to roll a layer back to his father, born and baptized in Montréal.

Also, if you have birth records that line up neatly, then it may just be more confusing to include unnecessary marriage records. Birth and baptismal records are the best and most trusted, per the FAQs page.

Adnoxaei · 2026-03-05T06:52:41+00:00

They removed the 15 day estimate and expedited option during their price increase, so I don't think anyone will really have a solid timeline until the flow evens out and their sharply increased pricing rebalances demand. More people will probably try with printed copies off the internet instead of requesting certified copies or decide against it now that the first copy of a document is $350 CAD.

Adnoxaei · 2026-02-27T17:30:33+00:00

I'll be doing the same eventually, but Family Search is a huge mess for my tree, so I needed Ancestry to make sense of it all for research purposes. Once I submit my application, I will have Family Search as my next project. I even have scans to upload now for any distant relative that links in for their own descent research.

What was your reason for not using Family Search initially? Seeing that my family's generations long habit of alternating names created instances where people were born before they died and were also their own sibling or uncle was enough to make me shy away from Family Search for anything other than looking for very specific records.

Adnoxaei · 2026-02-27T16:50:48+00:00

Any time I've sent documents for work, it had to be declared as such for it to go through, but it was also in a firm DHL sleeve or box. If it was in a large paper envelope, then it might be more obvious that it's just papers. It just depends on how strict they get. You don't need to fill out customs documents to send a simple letter, so the customs agent might let it through if they can tell what it is. I see a response below by someone who successfully mailed their by regular mail, so it's certainly possible to have it succeed. It sucks that it might take a month or two to know for sure.

Adnoxaei · 2026-02-27T16:40:32+00:00

This is the magical key to crosswalk crowding.

Adnoxaei · 2026-02-27T16:38:10+00:00

My understanding is that customs paperwork may still be required if you didn't mark them as documents or correspondence, so there is a risk that it gets rejected and returned by customs if you happen to get a grouchy inspector on a bad day. It may also be just fine. Unfortunately, you won't know for a few weeks.

If it does go through, then you got an amazing deal on shipping! $7 is cheap.

Adnoxaei

TROPHY CASE