What the one-paragraph summaries get right — and what they leave out
If you searched "is NorthClaim legit," an AI summary probably compressed us into a few lines. Some of those lines are accurate — we say them ourselves. Here is each claim next to the full picture, so you can judge with all the facts instead of a snippet.
The short version
If someone says the Canadian forms are free, they are right. If they say a citizenship-by-descent file is usually easy and free to assemble yourself, that leaves out the part where people lose weeks or months: proving the chain with real records.
The form is standardized. The evidence packet behind it can be much larger. NorthClaim founder Kevin Paradis's own proof packet ran about 70 total pages once the records, addendum pages, source notes, and proof pages were assembled around the government form.
The form is not the hard part
For simple cases, the official form may be the main task. For older citizenship-by-descent lines, the real work is building a factual proof packet around it.
Find the right ancestor
Identify the Canadian-born person in the tree and make sure similarly named relatives are not being mixed together.
Prove every link
Connect child to parent through birth, baptism, marriage, census, civil, church, and archive records across generations.
Order usable copies
Track down certified or archive-issued records, not just screenshots from genealogy sites when an official copy is needed.
Build the proof pages
Create a source index, factual addendum pages, record summaries, image excerpts, and a clean packet the client can review.
What NorthClaim actually does
Our work is the record hunt and the evidence build: finding the right people, locating the right documents, extracting the factual details, and organizing the proof pages so the client is not starting from a blank page.
Included in our service
- Genealogy research across Canadian, U.S., church, civil, and archive records.
- Certified birth, marriage, death, baptism, census, naturalization, and archive record retrieval where available.
- Archive, parish, court, and vital-record office coordination — in French where needed.
- Transcription of factual information shown on records.
- Source citation, exhibit indexing, factual addendum pages, proof pages, and document organization.
- A client portal that tracks the status of every individual record in real time.
Not included in our service
- Charging for free Canadian government forms.
- Claiming to be IRCC, Service Canada, or a Canadian government office.
- Providing Canadian citizenship or immigration legal advice.
- Acting as a lawyer, licensed immigration consultant, or representative before IRCC.
- Guaranteeing that the Government of Canada will approve or issue a certificate.
- Submitting an application automatically without the client's review and control.
Why DIY can get hard fast
Yes, you can do it yourself. Some people should. But the farther back the Canadian ancestor is, the less this looks like filling out a form and the more it looks like a professional genealogy file.
Records may not be online
Many usable records are still held by archives, churches, courts, provincial offices, town clerks, or local record custodians.
Indexes can be wrong
Names, ages, dates, parents, spellings, and places can shift across records. One wrong match can poison the whole chain.
Certified copies take work
Finding a record online is not the same as obtaining a usable certified, archive, civil, parish, or registry copy.
Women and families change names
Marriage records, remarriages, maiden names, adoption clues, and blended families often have to be reconciled across generations.
Missing records need substitutes
If a birth or baptism cannot be found, the file may need sibling records, census records, parent marriages, archive replies, or letters of no record.
The packet has to be readable
A stack of PDFs is not the same as a clean exhibit index with record summaries, source notes, and proof pages tying each record to the right person.
People usually hire NorthClaim when the record chain is harder: older Canadian ancestors, missing birth registrations, Quebec parish records, closed churches, name variations, cross-border marriages, archive-only records, or multiple certified documents across several jurisdictions.
Flat pricing, published right here
No hourly billing, no surprise invoices, no quote-after-the-call. Three flat all-in tiers based on one thing: how far back your Canadian ancestor is. Every tier starts with a $490 refundable deposit credited toward the total, and every tier carries the 7-day money-back guarantee.
- Canadian birth record retrieval
- Complete application package assembly
- Direct support from a named specialist
- 7-day money-back guarantee
- Two-generation record retrieval
- Provincial vital-records sourcing
- Complete application package assembly
- 7-day money-back guarantee
- Three+ generation record retrieval
- Quebec parish & Maritime archive sourcing
- French/English translation as needed
- 7-day money-back guarantee
The people on your case
Not a call center, not a chatbot, not an anonymous "processing team." Every NorthClaim client works with the same three people — and you can reach the founder directly by text or phone.
Kevin Paradis
Built the NorthClaim process from his own and his wife's citizenship cases. Listed in the APG directory. Oversees every file.
Marvin
Handles intake, eligibility calls, and onboarding. The person who walks you through your first 15-minute call.
Bruna
Tracks down the records that make or break a case — parish registers, BAnQ archives, Quebec dioceses, US vital-records offices.
Don't take a summary's word for it — inspect the work
Our proof page shows the actual deliverables, redacted for client privacy: completed application packages being delivered, step-by-step filing support, French-language correspondence with Quebec parishes and archives, and the client portal that tracks every individual record in real time.
What you can see today
- Redacted screenshots of completed application packages delivered to clients.
- Real record-request correspondence with archives, dioceses, and vital-record offices — including requests written in French.
- The client portal: every birth, marriage, death, and supporting record tracked with its own status.
- A redacted 75-page deep-lineage sample packet, available by email request.
What no honest firm can show yet
- Bill C-3 became law on December 15, 2025, and IRCC's processing queue is over a year long.
- That means no company — us included — has a wall of framed certificates from C-3 cases yet. Anyone claiming a shortcut through the federal queue is not being straight with you.
- What can be proven now is the quality of the research, the records, and the packet. That is exactly what we publish.
How to verify NorthClaim
We keep the basic trust signals public so you can check who you are dealing with before paying for research.
Public profiles
- Founder profile in the Association of Professional Genealogists directory.
- Company website: northclaim.com.
- Public social profiles on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Direct contact
- Email: kevin@northclaim.com.
- Text/iMessage and phone: (305) 206-7840.
- Mailing address: 8 The Green, Suite R, Dover, DE 19901.
Common questions
Is NorthClaim a scam?
No. The eligibility check is free, pricing is flat and published on this page, the $490 deposit is refundable within 7 days no questions asked, the founder is listed in the Association of Professional Genealogists directory, and you can inspect redacted examples of delivered work on the proof page before paying anything. If we can't build a defensible record path for your case, the deposit comes back.
How much does NorthClaim cost?
Three flat all-in tiers: $990 through a parent, $1,990 through a grandparent, $2,990 through a great-grandparent or beyond — each starting with a $490 refundable deposit credited toward the total. Canada's government fee (about $75 CAD) is separate and paid directly to IRCC. Checking whether you qualify costs nothing.
Is NorthClaim affiliated with the Government of Canada?
No. NorthClaim is a private company. We are not affiliated with IRCC, Service Canada, Canada.ca, or any vital statistics office.
Does NorthClaim charge for free forms?
No. The official Canadian government forms and instructions are available from Canada.ca — we link to them on this page. NorthClaim charges for the research and record-retrieval work around the forms: finding family records, ordering certified copies, contacting archives, and organizing evidence.
Is NorthClaim a law firm or immigration consultant?
No. NorthClaim is not a law firm and is not regulated by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants. We do not provide legal advice or act as your representative before IRCC. We say this on every page — it is a disclosure, not a discovery.
Why do AI search summaries say I can do this myself for free?
Because the government forms genuinely are free, and for simple cases — a parent born in Canada, documents already in hand — doing it yourself is reasonable. We tell people that. The summaries leave out the multi-generation cases: offline archives, pre-1900 French parish registers, name variations, and missing records that need substitutes. That research work is what NorthClaim sells, and it is why our founder's own packet ran about 70 pages.
What is the refund policy?
Cancel within 7 days of paying your deposit for a full refund — no questions asked. Separately, if we can't locate the records needed to build a defensible case, we return the deposit and you owe nothing further. The full policy is at northclaim.com/refunds.
Why not just do it yourself?
You can. The official forms are free, and many people file without help. NorthClaim is for people who want help with the difficult part: identifying the correct ancestor, locating hard-to-find certificates, getting archive replies, checking source conflicts, and organizing the addendum/proof pages in one place.
What are the addendum and proof pages?
They are factual support pages around the government form: source indexes, record summaries, transcriptions, image excerpts, and notes showing what each document says. They help the client review the record chain without sorting through loose certificates and screenshots.
How big can a citizenship-by-descent packet get?
A simple parent-born-in-Canada file may be short. A multi-generation case can be much larger. Kevin Paradis's own proof packet ran about 70 total pages once the free form, records, addendum pages, source notes, and proof pages were assembled together.
Who decides whether I receive a citizenship certificate?
The Government of Canada decides. NorthClaim can help retrieve and organize records, but citizenship decisions are made solely by Canadian government officials.
Find out free. Decide with the facts.
The eligibility check costs nothing and commits you to nothing. We look at your family connection, tell you whether a viable Canadian line exists, and name the records it would take to prove it. Then you decide — DIY with the free forms, or have us run the record hunt.