Canadian citizenship by descent
Vital records requests and genealogy services
Document checklist
We provide a personalized record list, to help you keep track of of your progress towards submitting your citizenship by descent application.
Vital records requests
As a direct heir to your ancestors, you are entitled to request their records for dual citizenship. When you assign us as your representative, we will submit the requests for birth certificates for you, saving you the headache and wasted time of rejected requests.
Genealogical evidence
When official birth certificates aren’t available, we leverage genealogy sources like church records, obituaries, burial records, and deeds to establish evidence of your descent, in coordination with your attorneys.
Scope of practice
Airloom Genealogy works with clients whether or not they have retained a licensed Canadian immigration lawyer or Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC). For applications in other countries, the equivalent is a lawyer or licensed immigration consultant authorized to practice in that jurisdiction. We recommend representation and can provide referrals, but it is not a condition of engagement.
If you decide to retain legal counsel or RCIC for your application, we would be happy to discuss a project at that time. We can also provide a list of preferred immigration attorneys or RCIC if you would like to move in that direction.
Where you are represented, that partnership allows us to:
- Utilize Letters of Legal Need to access restricted vital records
- Verify the legal relevance of genealogical findings
- Ensure all research meets the IRCC’s evidentiary standards
If you would like representation but have not yet retained counsel, we can provide a list of preferred immigration attorneys or licensed immigration consultants during your intake session.
If you are applying on your own behalf, we are glad to work with you, with one limit: we cannot give legal or immigration advice. That means we do not review or comment on your application forms or submission package, advise on how or when to file, or assess how likely a given record or lineage is to succeed as a citizenship claim. Those are questions for a qualified attorney or consultant, and we can refer you to one.
Because of this focus, we are unable to perform individual record lookups as a standalone service for any citizenship by descent research. For a one-off lookup, your best bet is a researcher listed on the relevant national or provincial archive’s website.
Fee schedule
G0 Ancestor = the last Canadian-born ancestor in your lineage
G0 Ancestor was born in any province other than Quebec
G0 Ancestor was born in Quebec
Please note: projects with a Quebec-born G0 ancestors require significantly more administrative hours, French translation, and higher document request fees than projects with Canadian ancestors born in other provinces. These projects are, therefore, invoiced at a separate rate.
Additional terms
Due to the high likelihood of missing records that will be needed to sufficiently prove a descent claim beyond 3rd great-grandparents, projects extending past 3rd great-grandparents will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis for feasibility, and an additional fee will be charged in addition to the standard research fee for that feasibility analysis.
At the start of the project, you pay one flat rate research fee (in full, upfront), which includes any record request, shipping, and notarization fees incurred by Airloom Genealogy that is required to gather evidence for your citizenship application and coordinate with your immigration attorney. This does not include any fees incurred by the client on their own (ie. document request fees and notary fees that a government agency or archive may require be made by the client themselves or from the client’s physical location).
Pricing is based on the generation of the youngest post-college-age adult who is an applicant in the family. This pricing structure is intended to provide a transparent and predictable fee for projects involving multiple generations of a family without penalizing growing families.
There is no extra fee if you are going in on multiple citizenship by descent applications with other family members on the same line (ie. children, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparent, or cousins). We can quickly prepare final genealogical reports customized for each applicant in your family. However, each person from a separate lineage (siblings/cousins) will be required to request any birth certificates connecting them to the lineage shared with the primary client.
Throughout the course of the project, we may encounter a “Brick Wall” and an additional scope may be required to proceed further. A brick wall (for the purposes of Canadian citizenship by descent research) is a missing birth/baptismal record for any ancestor along the lineage from the primary applicant to the Canadian ancestor. At this point, we will provide you with an estimate for any additional work required to gather alternative genealogical evidence to support your claim.
There are no discounts available for vital records acquired prior to engaging Airloom Genealogy, as additional records will most likely need to be requested, re-requested, or corrected to meet the IRCC’s evidentiary standards and ensure a successful application.
Need a referral to a qualified Canadian immigration attorney?
This partnership allows us to leverage Letters of Legal Need, which are essential for streamlining and expediting the acquisition of restricted vital records.
Need a referral? We can provide a list of qualified Canadian immigration attorneys during your intake session. In our intake session, please ask us for a referral.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
My attorney requires a genealogist before I can retain their firm. How should I let them know I'm working with Airloom Genealogy?
- Initial consultation: We confirm your project fits my forensic scope of practice.
- Professional intro: We provide a formal brief for your attorney to confirm I am ready to begin once they are retained.
- Coordinated retention: Once you hire both of us, your attorney issues the Letters of Legal Need, and Airloom Genealogy begins building your evidentiary portfolio.
How long will it take to gather all of the documents I need?
Timelines vary greatly depending on a number of factors, but projects take from 3 to 6 months from project start to application submitted. We will provide you regular updates as we locate new records. You can get a head start by scanning the driver’s license, passport, name change court orders, and birth certificates for all of the living individuals who will be on your citizenship application. We will provide a secure folder to upload your files to.
How long will it take for my Canadian citizenship application to be processed?
Once your application is submitted, we cannot guarantee a timeline. However, based on self-reported data from successful applications, we are seeing applications taking anywhere from a few weeks to a year to process.
What are my chances of success?
How we wish we could answer that! The reality is that immigration law is complex and ever-changing. We can, however, ensure that you have the best support in submitting and troubleshooting your vital records requests and that you have the strongest genealogical evidence to support your application for citizenship by descent.
Do I have a claim for Canadian citizenship?
Under Bill C-3: An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act, individuals born on or before December 15, 2025, with a direct Canadian ancestor may qualify for citizenship. However, eligibility relies on meeting strict legal evidentiary standards. Because user-generated platforms like Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org often contain kinship errors, our role is to forensically verify your lineage to ensure your claim is supported by documented proof rather than unverified hints.