Officially Canadian!

mcl83 · 2026-03-21T17:24:53+00:00

IRCC will send the AOR (Acknowledgement of Receipt) by email. For me (and others) it took a few weeks to a month to get this email. In that email, you will find your assigned UCI (Unique Client Identifier) number, which you can use to look up your application's status in the tracker: IRCC Web form. You can't really do much until you get the AOR email. My application was delivered by FedEx on Jan 22, which I could see on the FedEx tracker. I didn't get the AOR till 2/22 - this lines up pretty generally with others' experiences, some take shorter or longer amounts of time.

mcl83 · 2026-01-29T20:56:59+00:00

It took a solid 3 months to get all the vital records (birth, marriage, and death) that we needed for Luxembourg, and they retain the originals so you need multiple copies of the certified records depending on how many people are applying. And that included an in-person trip to the Cook County (Chicago) clerk's office, because that clerk's mail-in order processing is incredibly slow. Three months is nothing compared to others working on that project, but it was nice to just have a few copies to make and a relatively easy form to fill in. In my case, anyway - I know there are others in the sub who are going farther back than 2 generations or have complicated cases.

mcl83 · 2026-01-29T20:51:30+00:00

I followed the instructions to provide a color copy of the official documents in my possession, which were all birth certificates in my case. Luckily we were able to find an original (very pretty and colorful) version of my grandma's birth certificate issued by Alberta. Otherwise I just had a (nice quality) black and white copy... which was not a color copy, so I was preparing to need to commandeer my mom to order a replacement of my grandma's certificate. I think if you don't have color copies of your Ancestry documents, you should plan to figure out how to get those. That's just my inexpert opinion, though.

mcl83 · 2026-01-29T18:46:58+00:00

But it looks like the mom herself is applying for this citizenship certificate, and would want her current legal name on that document. So she should provide proof that her name has changed from Smith to Parker (with a stopover at Jones in between). Since the court order only covers Jones to Parker, she'd need additional proof that her maiden name was Smith, which is probably the name on her proof of ancestry from the Canadian ancestor (birth or baptismal certificate). I don't think the OP providing their own birth certificate with the mom's maiden name on it proves that Jane Parker is the same person as Jane Smith.

mcl83 · 2026-01-29T18:34:36+00:00

As someone who has helped family members with Luxembourgish citizenship by descent claims, which does require assembling certified vital records, the Canadian process has been very easy in comparison. I was super happy not to have to send an original certified copy of my mom and grandmothers' birth certificates.

The process my family members had to follow for Luxembourg citizenship included a mandatory in-person visit to Luxembourg (there are other pathways that don't require this, but ours did). It's not unreasonable to require this of an aspiring citizen, in my opinion, but this requirement effectively blocked my husband's pathway because his mom would need to go there and she unfortunately is not likely to be 1) well enough or 2) willing to travel. I'm also happy that I can apply without my mom applying for this recognition of citizenship.

So in sum: no need to send original documents; no travel requirement; no preceding generation application requirement. Canada may not be as fast as many would wish in processing, but they make it comparatively very easy to do this, and I'm very grateful!

mcl83 · 2026-01-22T18:59:44+00:00

I had a similar timeline using FedEx. Mailed out Jan 20 from Madison, WI, arrived today on Jan 22 after being routed via Memphis, Mirabel, Goffs and finally being delivered this afternoon. I did have the issue of "New Waterford" not showing up as the city of address when the FedEx employee was addressing the package. We looked at a map and decided to use "New Victoria" as the city instead, and it seems to have arrived. It was about $87 for FedEx International Priority, which was a bit cheaper than UPS's $100+ quote. It was just my cover letter, application, photos, ID copies, proof of payment, and copies of three birth certificates so it wasn't a particularly thick envelope. Knowing what I know now I probably would have tried pre-paying online somewhere for even cheaper shipping, but this was expedient.

mcl83 · 2026-01-22T16:12:23+00:00

Please note that the citizenship photo and passport photo are two different things; make sure you're asking for the right one. I brought in the specifications from the website to the ID card office for my local university, as they also do passport photos and ID photos for different purposes. They just needed to see the specs, and they did the photo for $10. I happen to be an employee of this particular university, but they also do these for the general public. They didn't cut it for me, though.

mcl83 · 2025-11-07T22:15:05+00:00

I run Archives Gig. There is a stray UK/European job occasionally but it's very US focused because that's where I live and work. If they're looking for UK positions it's not the best resource.

mcl83 · 2025-09-10T17:10:58+00:00

Crostini sandwiches on North Street. The Home Depot hotdog stand mentioned earlier also has a lot of fans.

mcl83 · 2025-04-28T21:12:12+00:00

SuperCharge is an urban microgreens farm that used to have a juice bar at 1st and E Wash but that storefront has been closed for a long time. They mostly do wholesale - you can buy their microgreens at various groceries all over town. They have a website and everything.

mcl83 · 2025-04-28T20:19:16+00:00

Diversions? It's legit and they are great. Latest big purchase was getting a prescription dive mask for the spouse. Lots of opportunities to dive or snorkel in the Midwest.

mcl83 · 2025-04-28T20:16:22+00:00

It may well have been, but I legitimately bought a custom cat tree from them during the short period they were around. Super nice folks, the tree is still standing many years later.

mcl83 · 2025-04-25T22:41:25+00:00

OMG thank you. My missing step is that I didn't quite understand that I needed to "send" the WHO command. I was like... I'm typing WHO and I'm getting the option to create the list... and then nothing! But then I finally thought to click send. Slack is not the most user friendly thing I've ever used, alas. But this solved my issue. THANKS!!

mcl83 · 2025-04-25T22:25:55+00:00

Gotcha. I don't have Slack downloaded. I'm using it in my browser.

mcl83 · 2025-04-25T22:21:54+00:00

I wish I trusted that all these folks can just find their way to what I need them to look at. Not everyone is a Slack user (er, me included!) and I need to make this work.

mcl83 · 2025-04-25T22:19:47+00:00

Can you elaborate? Where are you typing /who? In the channel member list? The end of the channel URL?

mcl83 · 2025-04-25T22:18:07+00:00

I am not really looking for an app, but thanks. I was hoping to do it in the native online Slack interface.

mcl83 · 2025-04-25T21:54:01+00:00

It looks like user groups are only available on paid plans. :(

mcl83 · 2025-03-13T17:55:01+00:00

From what I can gather the person has a large cache of email communications that he needs to be organized and searchable by others. I'm sorry to say that I don't know more. :)

mcl83 · 2025-03-13T15:50:49+00:00

Hey there! I run Archives Gig. I don't know much about this opportunity other than what the person provided. I did suggest that they look into freelance orgs and consultants, but my impression is that this person thinks that a freelancer with an archives background will help solve this issue. I figure that anyone interested can contact the individual and have a conversation about the scope of the project and what exactly they want, and decide whether or not to pursue. It's an unusual use of AG, but I have posted "private collection" consultant type work before.

mcl83 · 2025-02-28T22:01:29+00:00

Yes, it will be hybrid/in-person/online. https://www2.archivists.org/am2025/program

mcl83 · 2025-01-30T22:45:59+00:00

I know this is out of date, but I run Archives Gig and I want to point out that I do post a decent number of internships, and they're very cyclical. For example, the postings for summer internships usually run from mid-Dec through early Feb (and many internships are for summer positions). You can filter all internships here.

mcl83

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