Genealogical services Records for Canadian citizenship by descent
Canadian Roots Found

Records

Do your documents need to be certified for Canadian citizenship by descent?

Checked against IRCC's pages on 19 September 2026.

Not necessarily, and you don't mail certified original copies at all. IRCC's document checklist for a citizenship certificate, form CIT 0014, tells applicants to send clear, high-quality colour copies and not to submit originals unless the checklist says so, because documents sent in are not returned. IRCC has also said the documents don't need to be certified, and that an officer who doubts one can ask for a certified copy.

So the real question is what you copy from. Every document has to come from the original authority, meaning the registry, vital statistics office or archive that created the record or keeps it today.

In many instances, this may mean you need to order a certified copy, as that is the only option made available to you by the issuing entity.

What IRCC has said

The CIT 0014 checklist (version 08-2026) puts it in capitals: "DO NOT SUBMIT ORIGINALS UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED AS DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED WILL NOT BE RETURNED." The line for proof of your Canadian parent, grandparent and ancestor is marked colour copy on paper and scanned colour image online. The items it does want as originals are the signed forms, the two citizenship photos and any previous citizenship or naturalization certificates.

On the application page for a citizenship certificate, IRCC says each document must be issued by the original authority that created or keeps the record, such as a civil registry or a vital statistics office, and must show clearly who issued it. The same page says an application can't rest on third-party records alone.

In its summer 2026 presentation to the Association of Canadian Archivists, IRCC said documents do not need to be certified, and that an officer with concerns about a document can request a certified copy. The association published IRCC's answers on 6 August 2026.

The CIT 0001 instruction guide asks for clear, easy-to-read colour copies of your documents unless the guide says otherwise. It also says IRCC does not accept Quebec birth or marriage certificates issued before 1 January 1994, and that any document not in English or French needs a translation plus an affidavit from the translator. Some Catholic parishes kept their registers in Latin, so a Latin entry needs one too. And because IRCC wants colour, a black-and-white photocopy of a certified record works against you: it can hide the seal and the stamp, which are the parts that show who issued it.

What "original authority" means, record by record

RecordWho issued it or keeps itNot enough on its own
A US birth, marriage or death recordThe state or county vital records officeA transcription or index entry
A Canadian birth registered with a provinceThat province's vital statistics office, or its provincial archives for older registrationsA genealogy website printout
A Quebec baptism more than 100 years oldBAnQ, which holds the civil copy of the register, or the parish that kept the church copyA Drouin or Généalogie Québec image on its own
A church record outside QuebecThe parish, or the diocesan or denominational archive holding the registerA family tree entry
A Canadian census returnLibrary and Archives Canada, including a copy downloaded from LAC's own siteA census image or transcription from a subscription site

Quebec parishes kept each register in two copies, one for the church and one for the civil authorities, and the civil copy is the one BAnQ holds today. Both copies come from an original authority.

Ancestry, FamilySearch and similar sites are where most families find their records. IRCC's position is that those finds point to a record, and the record itself should then be ordered from the archive that holds it.

Why many applicants order certified copies anyway

You can keep the certified copy and send a colour copy of it. An officer may ask for the certified copy after the application is in, and a request like that usually comes with a deadline of 60 days, so having it on hand removes that risk, at the cost of a longer wait and a higher fee. BAnQ, for example, charges non-residents $350 CAD for a certified copy of a Quebec parish register entry.

Immigration lawyers who handle these applications say the same. Daniel Ciarabellini of Cohen Immigration Law said it in a public Q&A on YouTube in September 2026, and Amandeep Hayer and Lisa Middlemiss said it on the Borderlines podcast in March 2026: certified copies aren't required, and they generally order them anyway. Ciarabellini's reason is that a certified copy is the most direct answer to an officer's question about whether a document is authentic.

US records: certified, "informational" and long-form

Most US states issue certified copies of birth, marriage and death records, and some also issue a second kind. California's "informational" certified copies carry a stamp saying they are not valid to establish identity. Some states and counties call theirs genealogical copies.

IRCC's pages don't mention informational copies either way. The rule they do state applies to US records the same way it applies to Canadian ones: each document has to come from the original authority. For a US birth, marriage or death, that is the state or county vital records office that registered it, and an informational copy is still issued by that office. A transcription or index entry on a genealogy website is not.

The other thing that matters for each US-born generation is that the record names the parents, because that name is the link between one generation and the next. A short-form or abstract birth certificate often leaves the parents off.

When the record doesn't exist

Some records were never made, and some were lost. The application page says that when you can't get a document from the original authority, you should explain in writing why, and show that you tried.

IRCC's answers to the archivists go further on what that proof looks like. A formal or certified "no record found" letter is not required, and email correspondence with the archive, or documentation of a search of its records, is enough to show the effort was made.

Questions

Should I mail my original or certified documents to IRCC?

No, unless the checklist asks for that item as an original. The CIT 0014 checklist says not to submit originals because they won't be returned, and asks for high-quality colour copies instead.

Is a printout from FamilySearch or Ancestry enough?

No. IRCC says an application can't be supported by third-party records alone. Use the printout to find the record, then order it from the archive that holds it.

Do I need a certified "no record found" letter from an archive?

IRCC told the Association of Canadian Archivists that one isn't required. Email from the archive, or a record of the search, is enough to show the effort.

Email us about a Gen 0 Check

The $49 Gen 0 Check looks for your Canadian-born ancestor's birth or baptism record and tells you which archive holds it and what it costs to order.

Canadian Roots Found does record research. We are not lawyers, and nothing here is legal or immigration advice. Checked against IRCC's pages on 19 September 2026.

Sources: