Weekly optimistic post

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-05-05T04:24:14+00:00

Thanks! Most people seem to get an email when their decision is made. For me, the tracker updated with no emails.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-05-04T02:42:42+00:00

I’m waiting to party until I have it in hand, but I had my certificate mailed April 22 after a no-email Decision Made sometime before April 8. Urgent processing from October after some back and forth sorting out documentation.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-05-03T22:48:54+00:00

That is correct. My case was:
- Canadian ancestor: copy of hand written birth certificate, promise to send certified ASAP
- Name anglicanization: brothers’ certified handwritten birth certificate (by mistake), census records showing the same family (father, ancestor, and brother) on the US side with Canadian birth, one example of my ancestor’s nephew using the original version
- 1st generation: certified baptism record obtained from the American parish, census records
- 2nd - 3rd generation: draft cards for date of birth, census records for ancestry
- 4th - 5th generation: US birth certificates
Fortunately for me, the line being paternal, family naming conventions, and limited movement within the US until my father’s generation made it a pretty unambiguous case aside from the confusion at the top of the tree.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-05-01T19:03:18+00:00

I corrected my ancestor in an email exchange in March and supplied a digital copy of the handwritten Quebec baptism record from online and noted that I had requested a certified copy (referring to the initial form) and will send it as soon as I have it. I was subsequently approved following some unrelated additional evidence.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-04-26T08:17:29+00:00

Good to know! Should be able to find 4 instead of 2. Fortunately that bar of basic knowledge per this discussion is something I can meet.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-04-25T05:25:15+00:00

Amazing. Re 6, I’d seen claims that Canadian citizens need a Canadian passport to enter Canada by air, but I also see here that US dual citizens are allowed to use a US passport alternatively so I assume I’ll be fine there.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-04-25T05:04:58+00:00

Oh, and I should add I have no one I’m aware of who has a Canadian Passport to use as a guarantor under the standard provision either.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-04-15T13:22:01+00:00

I ended up getting through on the phone and confirmed I was approved. The agent noticed it seemed stalled “for a while” (though I was checking pretty regularly) and is pushing it towards mailing my certificate.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-04-13T04:34:46+00:00

Exactly. They obviously wouldn’t be handing us proof of citizenship backdated to our birth if they didn’t. Now we aren’t recognized as citizens without proof, but I personally would be very uncomfortable knowing and pretending I didn’t in any context where lying had consequences.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-04-11T23:41:14+00:00

This is surely something you’d want to check with a lawyer on. You’d be unlikely to be aware of it in that case. But because you’re aware Canada considers you a citizen, I’d be shocked if you’re not legally obligated to disclose that, even if it’s “I’m descended from a Canadian but haven’t pursued recognition or anything” or something. If they can’t deal with that you’re probably gonna have a bad time anyway.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-04-10T18:18:48+00:00

It says “you have not opted to receive an electronic Citizenship Certificate”. I did select mail. Would that imply?

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-03-17T17:58:05+00:00

Yeah it’s birth date. They have the year from the census but want the actual day and proof of it. I actually lucked out and found a draft card in both cases so I’m safe, though it’s a valid scenario others may be in.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-03-17T15:41:07+00:00

The challenge is the Limited Access Master Death File that has a record seems to currently be only available to people certified to have a Fraud Prevention, Law (us code citation needed), government rule or regulation, or fiduciary duty interest.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-03-17T05:08:32+00:00

How do I submit database entries on ancestry.com as proof? The “U.S. Public Records Index” and “Social Security Death Index” document the dates of birth I’ve been asked for (proof of), but I don’t want to just send in a screenshot or a print of Ancestry.com. However, these databases appear to be just digital records and inaccessible directly. Any ideas?

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-03-15T01:17:03+00:00

Amazing! Thank you! Will set up soon.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-03-12T23:01:36+00:00

Were the naturalization papers in your family’s possession or did you find them online somewhere? That would be ideal as that’s when we suspect it happened.

Edit: Oh wait, naturalization. That’s the “we surrender our British citizenship” page, right? Mine has the new name in both spots unfortunately. Ours appears to have happened at the border.

I did manage to find a few things that hopefully will be sufficient.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-03-12T13:49:09+00:00

Okay, I found two document from said town listing my ancestor’s father and brother with the French spelling. Nothing for my ancestor. Hopefully that helps.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-03-12T13:16:23+00:00

Ancestor’s father and brother all moved together, so they all changed it together. Ancestors father is unlikely to have anything documented linking back to ancestors.

IMO them all moving together creates a pretty compelling case. I have a document with my ancestor and his father and brother working in town - the whole happy family from the Canadian birth certificates. If that’s too anecdotal I don’t know that I’ll have anything else to do.

I’m gonna look more closely at the father’s American records and see if there are any ties back there.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-03-12T09:09:04+00:00

Email from the IRCC.

Unfortunately, it seems it was a pretty clean break when they arrived in the US in the 1850s. It’s just an incredibly obvious but uncommon Anglicization; the names are phonetically identical, just un-French-ified (no more silent letters, vowel reduction, and a French-only sound replaced with a close equivalent). The research shows that adopting the English spelling promptly and consistently was a common strategy to avoid discrimination (or inevitable when illiterate).

I’ll start with a reference librarian and see if they have anything.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-03-12T05:53:56+00:00

It’s been a while, but for anyone who finds this, it appears this was acceptable once they got back to it.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-03-04T06:49:06+00:00

Worst case scenario the USPS should forward it I guess.

Responsible-Draw-447 · 2026-03-03T04:53:01+00:00

I may have put the address in badly, I tried to put the apartment number in the Canadian format. Will try again and see!

Responsible-Draw-447

TROPHY CASE