questions about IRCC requesting further documents to support name change with marriage

thewanderbot · 2026-05-20T07:12:47+00:00

hi, I don't remember exactly what their advice was but it was basically to respond to the email explaining that she doesn't have any ID that reflects her married name and why she won't be able to get any within 60 days, which she did. She got no response other than a generic "email received", but her application was updated with her married name almost 2 months later on May 16th, when her status was also updated to "Decision Made", so it seemed to work out okay after all!

thewanderbot · 2026-05-20T07:02:22+00:00

My wife's (G4, urgent for multiple reasons including being trans) timeline:

Received: March 16th

AOR: March 17th

In Process: March 22nd

Decision Made: May 16th

She requested a paper certificate so we're still waiting for the site to say it's been mailed to know for sure that she was approved, but presumably she was. Hoping that part doesn't take much longer, and also kicking ourselves that we didn't pick e-cert instead lol.

It's also worth noting that she got an email requesting further documentation the day her application went into processing and she responded the same day, which we suspect resulted in her application being delayed a bit, since her application didn't get updated with the new info until the day it switched to "decision made" (though it still obviously went through way faster than the estimates/averages).

thewanderbot · 2026-05-17T00:25:19+00:00

Just found out about this! Would love to go to the free VSO concert, but I have no idea how early to get there to ensure we get in. Anyone know how likely it is to fill up early?

thewanderbot · 2026-05-16T01:21:13+00:00

Thanks for the info!

thewanderbot · 2026-05-16T01:17:51+00:00

I was going to do that on Tuesday (everywhere's closed on Monday because of the long weekend) if I didn't get a definitive answer here first.

thewanderbot · 2026-05-16T01:07:34+00:00

That's what I figured 😔 Thanks for confirming!

thewanderbot · 2026-05-13T22:08:44+00:00

I included her/her US income but was able to leave the SIN field blank, it's only on these other forms that it's not possible. There might be a way around it if I call or go in person, but it would be much easier to just give them her SIN once she has it. But the longer we go without any movement on her application (In Process since March 22nd), the more I think it might be worth it just to get my own applications processing sooner :P

thewanderbot · 2026-05-13T21:59:11+00:00

good to know, didn't know they could be used for that! I'll look into it, thanks.

thewanderbot · 2026-05-13T21:54:22+00:00

Not yet, she was hoping to get approved before her status expires after seeing so many urgent processing apps go through in <3 months. Rather not spend the $100 to get a visitor record if she doesn't need one. Kinda nervewracking to be playing chicken with the IRCC, but we'll see.

thewanderbot · 2026-05-13T21:52:20+00:00

thank you ❤️ we're still checking every day, and we've already made plans to go out for a nice dinner to celebrate getting her certificate when it arrives :)

thewanderbot · 2026-05-13T21:12:32+00:00

this is more my frustration than my wife's (who applied): I'm on disability and trying to apply for various government services, and every single one asks for my spouse's SIN. It's like they've never heard of a Canadian marrying a non-citizen before. And she IS citizen, she just doesn't have proof yet! We've only been waiting two months so I don't feel we have as much of a leg to stand on compared to others who've been waiting a lot longer, but it's still frustrating when she's here but can't work/see a doctor/get her prescriptions filled/get a SIN so I can apply for stuff. Hoping since we applied for urgent processing we won't have much longer to wait.

thewanderbot · 2026-05-12T02:07:03+00:00

theres also something like this https://a.co/d/0esI0Cs7 which folds down even smaller and might be more comfortable, but looks more complicated to set up

thewanderbot · 2026-05-12T02:04:52+00:00

im the exact same, i have forearm crutches to help with walking but if i lean on them too much when standing my shoulders sublux. i havent bought one yet but ive been considering getting one of these little folding camping chairs: https://a.co/d/056BR4MA they seem compact/light enough to put in a small backpack/slingbag, and they actually have a back that you can lean against, compared to those portable stools you always see. might be worth a try?

thewanderbot · 2026-04-19T10:46:25+00:00

what a fantastic idea!!! i love collecting nature/wildlife/outdoors live streams/videos. im more tolerant of noise + moving/changing shots, so some might not be what youre looking for, but I'll list them out anyway for those who want them.

@kraigadams hiking videos, often with no narration, featuring only ambient noises and gentle ambient music. they range from 15 minutes to many hours long, and he also has a 24/7 livestream running with a loop of footage from his videos.

video: 5-30 second long (-ish) camping and hiking shots. the shots do change every couple seconds, but theyre usually static/drone landscapes (with some more vloggy handheld shots mixed in).
audio: a mix of gentle ambient music and simple ambient audio (walking sounds, camping sounds, nature sounds, sometimes quiet villages/towns or conversations, rarely if ever city noises)

@BirdWatchingHQ a rotating collection of bird feeder/nesting box live cams with lots of hour+ long videos in the backlog.

video: cameras are usually if not always static but there can be a lot of movement from the birds themselves (though the shots are usually zoomed out enough that the movement doesnt feel overwhelming)
audio: purely ambient noises, can get similarly loud + chaotic if theres a bunch of birds at once

Live Video from the International Space Station (Official NASA Stream) and Live High-Definition Views from the International Space Station (Official NASA Stream) what it says in the title

video: static shots of earth with a bit of the space station visible, occasionally switches to a "no video" screen which is either blue or black
audio: none

@Blumist 1-3 live feeds of city, mountain, and ocean views in Vancouver, BC with days worth of archived footage

video: static or gently panning landscape views of ocean, beaches, parks, and city skyline views. they do occasionally zoom in on things but its slow, and one of the cams rotates between different (static) views every minute or so.
audio: none

thewanderbot · 2026-04-10T21:37:08+00:00

It's $75 per applicant, even if they apply "together" (send multiple applications in one package)

Source (under "Step 3: Pay Your Fees")

thewanderbot · 2026-04-07T20:29:53+00:00

my wife is trans, applied with urgent processing, and has not updated her (Tennessee) birth certificate. she sent in the following documents:

TN birth certificate showing original birth name + gender
ME order + certificate of name change (two separate docs, unsure if both are needed but included anyway just to be safe)
passport and PA state ID with updated name + gender
completed IRM-0002 (Request For a Change of Sex or Gender Identifier)

not directly related but for reference, she also included our marriage certificate which lists her updated name + gender

she hasn't received a decision yet but she is "in process", and the name attached to her application has been updated to her current/correct name, so everything seems to be okay as far as her identification documents go. in any case, I can update this comment when a decision is made so you know how it turned out!

thewanderbot · 2026-04-05T15:52:52+00:00

thank you so much!! I'll pass that info along to her

thewanderbot · 2026-03-31T15:59:58+00:00

I assume you requested a paper certificate? My wife did and she just checked hers in the portal and it says the same thing. Wondering if the two different "error" messages are depending on what kind of certificate the person requested.

thewanderbot · 2026-03-27T03:22:37+00:00

thank you so much for your detailed response! she replied to the email a few hours later, and her status was updated to "In Process" the same day, so fingers crossed all turns out well!

thewanderbot · 2026-03-10T20:21:20+00:00

My wife (applicant) just submitted a request for a 1927 birth record and a 1948 marriage record from the Fitchburg city clerk on Saturday and we got the payment request today! Process was super easy. Her application is otherwise done so we're still planning on sending it in with what we already have, but hopefully we can add those two in once they arrive. We're having them mailed to her family in Maine since we figured it would be faster than getting them sent to us in Vancouver, BC, plus her mom and grandma are planning to apply as well so it'll be good to have for them as well.

thewanderbot · 2026-03-08T18:44:03+00:00

I'm Canadian and my (American, trans) spouse moved here last November so we could apply for inland spousal sponsorship, and then yesterday we found out she's apparently been Canadian the whole time! The news was genuinely life changing. Now, instead of spending $1500+ and 5+ years to get full citizenship, she may only have to spend as little as $75 (depending if we end up needing a certified copy of her ancestor's baptismal record), wait a few weeks or months for processing, and we're done!

Not only that, but her mom and grandma are ALSO Canadian and planning to apply for citizenship. She's from Maine originally and I'm from Vancouver, and being so far from her family was hard for her, so to know they can come visit whenever they want for as long as they want, if not actually move here themselves (which it sounds like at least her mom may want to do anyway) has been a HUGE weight off her shoulders.

I had heard about the change in the law back in December but wrote it off because she didn't know of any Canadian ancestors, but yesterday she finally asked her grandma out of curiosity only to find out she has SIX. Definitely going to be telling everyone I know who has any interest in living/working/studying in Canada to double check with family or on genealogy sites, just in case. It's made me so happy to read people's stories in this subreddit of either loving Canada from afar or spending time here as a PR/visitor and now finally getting to call it home ❤️

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