Read Before Your Call

What Getting Canadian Citizenship Actually Takes

We put this together so you know exactly what's involved before we speak. Most people are surprised by how complex the process really is — and how many ways it can go wrong.

20–40%
of family data is wrong
100+
hours for DIY
~2 hrs
with NorthClaim
● The Reality

This isn't paperwork. It's an archival research project.

Most people picture filling out a form. In reality, Canadian citizenship by descent requires tracking down vital records across multiple generations — from churches, provincial archives, and municipal offices — many handwritten, in French, and over 100 years old.

20–40%
Of client-provided data

turns out to be factually wrong when cross-referenced against original source documents. Birth provinces, dates, and even names are routinely incorrect in family records and online trees.

6+
Parishes sometimes searched

for a single record. Baptism registers, marriage records, and civil certificates are scattered across churches, towns, and dioceses — and one ancestor's record often isn't where you'd expect.

3–9
Months of calendar time

is a realistic DIY timeline factoring in archive response times, shipping documents, identifying the correct institutions, and dealing with missing or incomplete records.

1800s
Handwritten records

in French cursive are what you'll be reading and cross-referencing. If the handwriting is unclear, the ink has faded, or margin notes are missing — you may not realize you're looking at the wrong person.

● What It Actually Looks Like

A real response from a real parish.

This is an actual email received during a client case. This is the kind of correspondence you'll navigate — assuming you can identify the correct parish to contact in the first place.

● Compare Your Options

Four paths to citizenship. One clear winner.

Every path eventually requires the same documents. The question is who does the work, how much it costs, and how long it takes.

DIY Lawyer Genealogist + Lawyer NorthClaim
Total Cost $3,000–$14,500in your own time alone $5,000–$8,000+ $7,500–$12,000+ A fraction of these costsdetails on your call
Your Time 65–145 hours 10–25 hours 5–15 hours ~2 hours
Timeline 3–9 months 3–6 months 4–8 months 3–6 weeks
Lineage Research You do it Not included — they tell you to hire a genealogist Included, billed hourly ($160+/hr), no completion guarantee Included
Document Retrieval You contact every church, archive & municipality Not included — they expect you to bring documents Partial — genealogist locates, you may still need to order Included
Document Conversionbaptism → civil record You figure it out — most don't know this step exists Not included — outside scope of immigration law Not included — falls between both professionals' scope Included
Translation You source, vet, & pay translators individually Referral provided, billed separately Referral provided, billed separately Included
Affidavit You draft it — one error can delay everything Included (their specialty) Lawyer drafts, genealogist provides data Included
IRCC ApplicationForm CIT 0001 (13 pages) You complete & file yourself Included Included (lawyer portion) Included
Missing Record Strategywhen a record doesn't exist You're stuck — most people give up Lawyer tells you "try to find it" Genealogist may know workarounds, billed hourly Included — sibling records, letters of non-existence, alternative evidence
Risk of Rejection High — wrong province, wrong church, incomplete evidence Medium — depends on documents you provide Medium — two professionals who don't coordinate Low — single team, end-to-end
● If You Go DIY

Here's what 100+ hours actually looks like.

These steps mostly run in sequence — each depends on the last. A mistake in Phase 2 means restarting Phase 3.

1

Lineage Research & Verification

Build your family tree using FamilySearch and Ancestry.com. Then cross-reference every data point — because 20–40% of what you think you know turns out to be wrong. That "New Brunswick" birthplace? Might actually be Quebec. You won't know until you verify against original source documents.

10–20
hours
2

Locating the Right Institutions

Figure out which church, diocese, or archive holds each record. For ancestors born before civil registration, you'll need the correct Catholic parish — which may have merged, closed, or transferred its registers to another location over the past 150 years.

15–30
hours
3

Requesting & Chasing Records

Contact each institution. Wait. Follow up. Pay individual fees ($10–$30 per certificate). Receive records by mail. Discover a key record doesn't exist where you expected. Search surrounding parishes. Wait again. This phase alone often takes 2–6 months.

20–40
hours
4

Document Conversion

Church baptism records need to be converted to civil birth certificates. Most people don't know this step exists until their application gets rejected. Immigration lawyers don't handle it. Genealogists don't handle it. It falls in the gap.

5–15
hours
5

Translation & Certification

Every non-English document needs a certified translator and notarization. You'll source, vet, and pay translators — for French, Latin, or other languages depending on the era and region.

5–20
hours
6

Affidavit of Direct Lineage

A sworn legal document establishing your unbroken line of descent. Must be precise — a single inconsistency between the affidavit and supporting documents can mean rejection.

3–5
hours
7

IRCC Application (Form CIT 0001)

Complete the 13-page Citizenship Certificate application, organize all supporting documents in the correct order, and submit. One missing document or inconsistency triggers a request for additional information — restarting your waiting period.

5–10
hours
8

Quality Review & Submission

Do all names match? Do dates align? Are all translations certified? Are certificates sealed? Missing one detail costs you months. Most first-time DIY applicants get kicked back.

3–5
hours
100+ hrs
DIY over 3–9 months
VS
~2 hrs
NorthClaim in 3–6 weeks
The Question
What's your time worth?
DIY takes 100+ hours over 3–9 months. Lawyers and genealogists charge $7,500–$12,000+ combined. On your call, we'll show you what NorthClaim costs — and why most people say it's the easiest decision they've made.
Kevin Paradis, NorthClaim founder
Kevin Paradis
Founder, NorthClaim
● Why I Built This

A month and a half. For one document.

That's how long it took me to track down a single marriage record for my wife's Romanian citizenship case. I already had the names. I had the dates. I had the town. None of it mattered — because the record wasn't in any archive I could find.

I ended up emailing a stranger I'd found on a genealogy forum — someone who happened to be a specialist on the history of one specific small town, 200 years ago. I was asking him things like "where did people actually keep their birth records back then?" He knew. Nobody else did. That's the kind of detective work this requires — for one document.

Then I found out my own great-great-great grandfather was from Quebec. I might qualify for Canadian citizenship by descent. So I started digging into my own case.

Same nightmare. Different country. Maine vital records told me they had nothing from before 1890. The churches sent me to the diocese. The diocese sent me to a different department. I tracked one institution after another for weeks — and when I finally found what I needed, some records simply didn't exist. I had to build a corroborating case from scratch — census records, death records, sibling baptisms — just to prove my ancestor was a real person. A month and a half of that before I could even start the 13-page IRCC application.

And after doing all that work myself? The lawyers still wanted thousands just to submit the application.

That's when it hit me. I'd now done this process twice — two countries, two bureaucracies, hundreds of hours. And every single obstacle was one I had to figure out from scratch, with no one to ask. The problem wasn't that the process was hard. The problem was that nobody had built a system for it.

So I built one. What took me a month and a half the first time, my process now handles in an afternoon. But that's only possible because I made every mistake, hit every dead end, and solved every problem the hard way first.

Today, between my wife's Romanian citizenship and my Canadian case, our family can live and work anywhere in the US, Europe, or Canada. Bill C-3 passed just three months ago — my own application is in, built with the exact same process I use for every NorthClaim client.

Here's what I tell everyone: You don't know what you don't know. The first few steps feel manageable — that's what pulls people in. It's step 4, step 5, step 6 where you get stuck, lose months, and either give up or pay a lawyer $8,000 to finish what you started. I built NorthClaim so you don't have to.

Questions before your call?

If anything here raised a question about your specific situation, reach out directly. I'll answer before we speak — no pressure, just clarity.

Email Me Directly → mike@northclaim.com
● Often Overlooked

The hidden costs of every other path.

Even if you hire a lawyer or genealogist, costs fall between the cracks — because no single professional covers the full process.

$2,500–$5,000+
Genealogist Fees

Most charge $160+/hour with no guarantee of completion. A 10-hour retainer ($1,600) may not locate all the records. And they don't file your application — you still need a lawyer.

$5,000–$8,000+
Immigration Lawyer

Handles the application and affidavit, but does not do lineage research or document retrieval. They expect you to arrive with all documents in hand.

$500–$2,000+
Certificates & Translation

Individual certificates ($10–$50 each), apostilles, certified translations ($30–$80/page), notarizations, and shipping. These add up fast — even on top of lawyer and genealogist fees.

● The Bigger Picture

How other second passports compare.

If you qualify under Bill C-3, Canadian citizenship by descent isn't just a heritage project — it's a second passport. Here's what every other path to dual citizenship costs:

Portugal Golden Visa$500,000+
Turkey Citizenship by Investment$200,000+
Caribbean Citizenship (Dominica, St. Kitts)$100,000–$150,000+
Italian Citizenship by Descent (lawyer + genealogist)$8,000–$15,000+
Irish Foreign Birth Registration$5,000–$10,000+
Canadian Citizenship with NorthClaimA fraction of these
● What You Get

Everything handled. Start to finish.

NorthClaim handles the entire process from lineage verification to IRCC submission. Your total involvement is approximately two hours. We'll walk you through exactly how it works on your call.

✓

Lineage Research & Verification

We verify your full descent line against original source documents, catching the errors online trees get wrong.

✓

Document Retrieval

We contact every church, archive, and municipal office. We know which institutions hold which records.

✓

Document Conversion

Church baptism records converted to civil certificates — the step most people don't know exists.

✓

Translation & Certification

All non-English documents translated, certified, and ready for IRCC submission.

✓

Affidavit of Direct Lineage

Professionally drafted sworn declaration, consistent with all supporting documentation.

✓

IRCC Application (CIT 0001)

Complete application prepared, organized, and ready for your signature and submission.

✓

Missing Record Strategy

Sibling records, letters of non-existence, alternative evidence chains — we know the workarounds.

✓

Client Portal

Track your case in real time. Every document, every milestone, fully transparent start to finish.

● Why Timing Matters

The window is open now. It won't stay this way.

⏰

IRCC wait times are 11–13 months — and growing

Every month you wait is another month added to the back of the queue. The sooner your application is submitted, the sooner you're in line.

⚠️

Legal experts expect the law could tighten

Bill C-3 is the most liberal version of Canadian citizenship by descent ever passed — no connection test, no residency requirement for those born before December 15, 2025. Immigration lawyers widely expect future amendments will add stricter requirements. The current rules are the most favorable they will ever be.

Bill C-3 has been described as "a significant modernization of Canada's citizenship framework" that "broadened access to citizenship" by largely eliminating the first-generation limit. — Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel LLP, March 2026

✅

We verify your eligibility within 7 days.

If we can't find a viable path to Canadian citizenship for you, you get a complete refund. No risk, no guesswork — just a clear answer.

● Common Questions

Before your call.

Will I definitely qualify?
We'll review your lineage on the call and tell you upfront. If we take your case and later determine there's no viable path, you get a full refund. We don't string people along — if it's not going to work, we'll tell you.
What if a key record is missing?
This happens more often than you'd think — and it's one of our specialties. We use sibling records, letters of non-existence from parishes, census data, and alternative evidence chains to build a corroborating case. The real parish email above is a real example of exactly this.
How long does IRCC take after I submit?
Current processing times are 11–13 months from submission, and the wait is growing. That's why getting your application in sooner matters — every month you delay adds to the back of the queue.
Do I need to hire a lawyer separately?
No. NorthClaim handles the entire process end-to-end: lineage research, document retrieval, translations, the affidavit, and the full IRCC application. You don't need a genealogist or a lawyer — that's the whole point.
What does the call cover?
We'll review your specific ancestry, confirm whether you're likely eligible under Bill C-3, walk through what your case would involve, and give you a clear picture of timeline and cost. It's a consultation, not a sales pitch — if you're not a fit, we'll tell you.

You've done the reading. Now let's talk about your case.

On your call, we'll cover everything specific to your situation:

Questions before then? mike@northclaim.com