When you need your Canadian citizenship certificate fast, because of an urgent situation where speed is of the utmost importance, the good news is that you can indeed apply for urgent processing.
First, however, you must meet IRCC requirements for the urgent processing of your citizenship certificate. This means understanding the acceptable reasons for urgent processing and knowing how to prove your case.
How Long does Urgent Processing of a Citizenship Certificate take?
First of all, the standard processing of a citizenship certificate takes 17 months (almost a year and a half). However, urgent processing can take anywhere from 2 weeks to around 8 weeks, if done correctly! depending on the details of your situation. If you haven’t received your certificate within 8 to 10 weeks, then your request for urgent processing has likely been denied. Scroll down for more information on this.
Tip: What if you did file and 8-10 weeks did pass? The best thing to do is file a new application, but this time your urgent request needs to be a lot better.
Note: 90% of the urgent request do not work because of a lack of documentation proving the urgency.
Tip: Your documents proving your urgency must be extremely convincing. If you skip this part thinking that your travel will suffice, you will be greatly disappointed.
Need an easier way to get a replacement citizenship certificate?
Why not get some support?
1. We make sure everything is perfect! No returned applications.
2. We track and deal with the government for you. Try calling IRCC yourself. It’s a mess.
3. Need your document fast? Again, we can help.
How can I get my citizenship certificate replaced urgently? Follow our 4 steps!
- See if you qualify for urgent reason – see reasons below
- Gather your evidence of the urgency – see below
- Apply online or on paper – see here whether you can file online or on paper
- Track your urgent application with the government – see here how to track your application
Tip: your proof of urgency is the key. Without rock-solid proof, your request for urgency will be a waste of your time.
Five Reasons for Urgency that Work! What IRCC Officials Need
Reason 1 – Urgent Reasons due to Family emergencies
When you have to travel to and from Canada because of a family emergency like the illness or death of a family member, you often have the best chance of obtaining urgent processing from IRCC officials. This includes a death in the family or a potentially life-threatening, serious illness of a family member and involves your having to travel urgently to visit them or attend their funeral overseas.
How to Prove Urgency for Family Reasons?
You’ll need a clear and convincing letter of explanation (see below) outlining the basic facts of your family member’s condition or death and explaining you need a certificate to get a passport to travel, as well as supporting documents including:
- A letter on official letterhead from the family doctor, or the hospital, stating the condition of your family member, dated and signed.
- A copy of the death certificate in the case of a death of a family member
- Proof of your relationship to the family member can include things like a long-form birth certificate that lists the parents. Remember that only immediate family members are typically granted urgent processing.
- A copy of your purchased plane ticket and itinerary
Reason 2 – Work reasons for fast-tracking your certificate application
When you need to prove you’re Canadian to accept a job offer or keep your current job, you often do not have the luxury of waiting 17 months to get your certificate. Urgent processing is a natural request to enable you to keep or take on a job. Another work reason is having to travel urgently and needing a passport, which means you need your certificate to get your passport.
How to Prove Urgency for Work Reasons?
A well-written letter of explanation is the starting point to make your case to IRCC officials. As well, you’ll need documents such as:
- A letter on company letterhead from your employer stating that you need a passport and/or certificate by a given date. It should clearly state the consequences of not getting your certificate (and/or passport) – losing a contract, being dismissed from work, etc.
- A purchased plane ticket and travel itinerary, if you have already booked a flight.
Reason 3 – Destination Wedding requiring Urgent Citizenship Certificate
Please note that this one often is denied, but you may, in some instances, qualify for urgent processing if it is a close family member and the circumstances are compelling. Again, you need to have realistic expectations, and you need to put together some effective supporting documents
How to Prove Wedding as a Reason for Urgent Processing?
Your letter of explanation needs to focus on a few notable reasons why your attendance at this wedding is vital and how you urgently need your certificate to get your passport and travel to the event. Explain who is getting married and your relationship to them clearly and simply. You’ll also need:
- A Wedding Invitation in your name with the place and date of the ceremony included if possible
- A plane ticket and itinerary if already booked
Reason 4 – Pensions and Other Personal Reasons for Processing your Certificate Application Quickly
This can be any situation where you need to prove your status as a citizen of Canada by a specific date. Often this involves qualifying for a government pension or provincial health plan. Or it can be a matter of applying for your Social Insurance Number. Another example is that if you are a student, you may have to prove your status to the educational institution you attend. Or perhaps you are an academic who needs to travel to a conference, and you urgently need your certificate to apply for your passport.
How to Prove Personal Reasons for Expedited Processing?
Aside from your letter of explanation outlining your case, you’ll need the following:
- A signed and dated letter on official letterhead from whatever government agency, organization, or institution asks you to provide a citizenship certificate by a given date, which should be mentioned in the letter. No date, no urgency is how IRCC officials often see things.
- If applicable, any plane ticket you have already purchased to travel.
Reason 5 – Humanitarian & Compassionate Grounds for Citizenship Certificate Urgent Processing
To be honest, this is your last effort if you feel the other reasons do not work for you. Your letter of explanation is even more crucial in this case than in any of the other reasons for urgency we’ve just outlined above. When your case doesn’t fit in any of the above situations, you will have to convince IRCC officials that you require urgent processing for your certificate. For example, it may be a family member who is ill or has died but is not an immediate family member. In your home country’s culture, it might be that this relative is of crucial social and personal importance, and it is of vital interest for you to attend their funeral.
PLEASE NOTE: The decision in these types of urgency requests is at the officer’s discretion, which means they can deny your request even if you list a strong reason for urgency.
Tip: most requests for urgent processing don’t go smoothly and are not successful. As we mentioned above, if by around 8 to 10 weeks you haven’t received your citizenship certificate, then your request for urgency has almost certainly been denied. You now have several options:
- Accept that your application will be processed regularly and will take almost a year and a half (17 months).
- File another application with more decisive proof, although IRCC does warn about duplicate filings, so you will have to present new reasons with modified supporting documents. In other words, don’t send the same thing; send a stronger proof of urgency.
- Hire us to do it for you. Yes, it will cost you a few hundred dollars (or sometimes a little more, depending on the complexity of your case), but it will now be in the hands of professionals.
Tip: Dual citizens can apply for urgent processing of a citizenship certificate as long as:
- Their other nationality is from a visa-exempt country.
- They have proof of air travel to Canada within 6 months or less of submitting their application.
- They apply at the same time for their citizenship certificate and their Canadian passport.
If you’ve already submitted your application – and need urgent processing
If you have already submitted your application, you must submit your urgency request by referencing your application. Include your Unique Client Identifier (UCI) and your application number, depending on whether you know one or both.
These should be mentioned in the letter and indicated in or on the package. If you omit both of these numbers from your letter, IRCC will have no way of knowing which file to process urgently.
You should submit an urgent request by courier to this address:
Case Processing Centre, Sydney
Proof of citizenship
49 Dorchester Street
Sydney, NS
B1P 5Z2
Tip: Always keep your courier tracking number so you can ensure delivery!
Request for Urgent Processing – Letter Sample
As we’ve stressed, a well-written letter of explanation is perhaps the most important supporting document you should include in your urgent application. Here’s an example of how one should look:
Apply for Urgent Citizenship Certificate – Online or On Paper?
Click here to learn more about whether you should apply online or on paper. If you are applying on paper remember to write “Urgent – Citizenship Certificate (Proof)” on the envelope in large, dark letters.
How to Track your Application once you Submit
Go here to see our page on tracking your certificate application once you have submitted it to IRCC
Urgent Citizenship Certificate
Yes, in some circumstances you can get your citizenship certificate urgently (faster than the 5-6 months normally required). You need to meet the requirements for urgent processing. Acceptable reasons include family and personal emergencies. To do so, you have to provide proof of urgency, i.e. an emergency situation and your need to have the certificate as soon as possible.
You start your urgent application on this page.
Acceptable Reasons for Urgency Processing
In order to get your citizenship certificate in less time than 5 months, you need to prove to Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that you need your certificate urgently. Only emergency situations are usually accepted as reasons for urgency.
Family Emergencies
A death in the family, or a serious (potentially life-threatening) illness to a family member plus the need to travel is the most commonly accepted reason for urgent processing of your Canadian citizenship certificate application.
How to Prove Urgency for a Family Emergency
If your family member has died and you need to travel to attend the funeral and/or take care of the estate, or if your family member is near-death, you can can apply for urgent processing. You will need to submit the following documentation along with your citizenship certificate application:
- Copy of the death certificate (in case of death);
- Letter from your family member’s doctor or hospital on letterhead (in the case of a serious illness);
- Proof of your relationship to the family member (long-form birth certificate, for example) – only immediate family members are usually considered for urgent travel;
- Purchased plane ticket,
- Letter explaining that you need your citizenship certificate to get your passport to travel to the funeral or to see your relative.
Weddings
Occasionally, a destination wedding may be accepted as a reason for urgency. In this case, you will need:
- the wedding invitation with your name on it;
- a plane ticket;
- a letter explaining that you need your certificate for your passport application.
Please note that destination weddings are rarely accepted for urgency processing. Urgency processing is at the discretion of the officer.
Personal Emergencies
If you need your citizenship certificate to prove your status in Canada urgently, you may be able to get the application processed faster. An example of this kind of situation would be that you need to prove your citizenship to either accept a job offer or to keep your current job, and you don’t have your citizenship certificate.
If you do not have a citizenship certificate and you need an urgent passport for urgent travel to perform your job, you might also be granted urgency.
How to Prove a Personal Emergency for Urgency Processing
- Letter from your employer, educational institution, or from the organizing committee of an event you are attending abroad, on company/organization letterhead, stating you need to have your citizenship certificate/passport by a given date (letters without dates are not normally acceptable), and stating the consequences of not providing your proof citizenship/attending the event/etc. (such as losing a business contract, losing your job, etc.);
- Purchased plane ticket (if applicable);
- Letter from you explaining why you need your citizenship certificate urgently (to get the job, get your passport, etc).
Submitting Proof of Urgency for Your Citizenship Certificate Application
If you haven’t yet submitted your application, you need to write “URGENT” in large letters on the front of the envelope you submit your application, and include your proof of urgency in the application package.
If you have already submitted your application, you will need to submit your urgency request with reference to that application, including your Unique Client Identifier (UCI) and your application number, if you know one or both. These should be mentioned in the letter and clearly indicated in or on the package. If you omit both of these numbers from the letter, IRCC will have no way of knowing which file to urgently process.
You should submit an urgent request by courier to this address:
Case Processing Centre, Sydney
Proof of citizenship
49 Dorchester Street
Sydney, NS
B1P 5Z2
Always keep your courier tracking number so you can ensure delivery!
Next Steps: Following on Your Urgent Citizenship Certificate Application
You can follow up on your urgency request in one of two ways:
Citizenship Certificate Application Online Status Check
To check the status of your application and to see whether or not your application will be processed in time, you should use the online status checker at cic.gc.ca
You will need to provide information about your application in addition to your personal information in order to access the online portal.
The online portal is not always updated regularly so the information may be out of date or no information may be available online.
Citizenship Certificate Application Status Check By Phone
If you cannot see information about the processing of your application online, you can call Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) at 1-888-242-2100. You will have to navigate the phone system menu and provide information about your application in order to speak to someone.
Need an easier way to get a replacement citizenship certificate?
Why not get some support?
1. We make sure everything is perfect! No returned applications.
2. We track and deal with the government for you. Try calling IRCC yourself. It’s a mess.
3. Need your document fast? Again, we can help.
Riley Haas has been a leading expert since 2011 on immigration matters, with hundreds of publications online. Published author of three books about political philosophy, the Beatles and the Toronto Maple Leafs, respectively. BA from Bishop’s University, MA from McMaster University. You follow Riley on Substack https://rileyhaas.substack.com.
