Long-form birth certificates for Canadian citizenship by descent: what you need to know
You’ve just realized that you might be eligible for Canadian citizenship based on your ancestry. The next natural step is to start collecting the right documentation so you can submit an application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), Canada’s citizenship department.
When collecting the required birth certificates, you might often be faced with two choices – getting a long-form or a short-form certificate.
Requesting the right document can help prevent delays or rejections of your proof of Canadian citizenship application.
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What is a long-form birth certificate?
| Type of birth certificate | What usually shows |
| Long-form birth certificate | Full name, date and place of birth, sex, parents’ names and details, and other birth registration information |
| Short-form birth certificate | Full name, date and place of birth and sex. |
A long-form birth certificate is the more detailed version of a birth certificate.
It includes the person’s full name, date and place of birth, sex, the names and details of the parents, and information about the registration of the birth.
A short-form birth certificate usually includes only basic information, such as the person’s name, date of birth, and place of birth. In many cases, it does not show the person’s parents.
For proof of Canadian citizenship applications, parentage can be important. In some cases, IRCC requires a birth certificate issued by the original provincial, territorial, or foreign authority that created or maintains the record, and that shows the parent-child relationship.
In those cases, applicants should request a long-form birth certificate rather than a short-form version.
When does IRCC need a long-form certificate?
IRCC’s proof of Canadian citizenship document checklist (CIT 0014), updated in June 2026, does not require a long-form birth certificate in every case.
Whether you need one depends on the scenario that applies to your application, and whether IRCC needs proof of the parent-child relationship.
For example, the checklist does not specifically ask for a long-form birth certificate if you were previously issued a Canadian citizenship certificate, or if you were born in Canada and have never been issued a Canadian citizenship certificate.
A long-form birth certificate may be the safer option if you were born outside Canada to a Canadian parent and have never had a Canadian citizenship certificate. This is one of the most common situations for citizenship-by-descent applicants.
In this scenario, the checklist asks for a country-specific birth certificate displaying the name of your Canadian parent or parents, issued by the original government authority in the country where you were born.
The checklist does not use the words “long form” for this scenario. But in practice, a short-form birth certificate often does not show the names of the parents. If your birth certificate does not show your Canadian parent’s name, it will not meet this requirement.
IRCC may also require proof of parentage and Canadian citizenship for each relevant parent, grandparent, or earlier ancestor in the chain of descent.
There are also specific historical scenarios where the checklist always requires a long-form birth certificate.
This includes applicants who were British subjects and lived in Canada before January 1, 1947, or in Newfoundland and Labrador before April 1, 1949, and who have never had a Canadian citizenship certificate. It also includes certain women who, before those dates, married a man who was born or naturalized as a British subject in Canada or Newfoundland and Labrador.
Note: The CIT 0014 checklist does not appear to make a long-form or short-form distinction for marriage certificates or death certificates.
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How to request the right document
Start with the province or territory where the birth was registered.
Each province and territory has its own vital statistics office. In most cases, this is where you order a current official birth certificate or birth registration document.
For older births, the vital statistics office may direct you to the relevant provincial or territorial archives. The age at which records move to archives varies by jurisdiction.
When requesting a document, keep in mind that provinces and territories may use different names for similar records.
For example, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick use the term “long-form birth certificate.” New Brunswick describes this document as including the parents’ names and their province or country of birth. Ontario refers to its equivalent document as a “birth certificate with parental information.”
If you need to prove parentage, do not just ask for a “birth certificate.” Ask for the official birth document that shows the names of the person’s parents.
The issuing office can confirm which document you should order.
In most provinces and territories, you will need to provide some combination of the following:
- the person’s full name;
- the person’s date and place of birth;
- information about the person’s parents;
- proof of your identity;
- proof that you are entitled to request the record; and
- payment.
Fees, processing times, and ordering methods can change. The table below lists the vital statistics office and archives for each province and territory.
Where to request birth documents by province and territory
For in-depth information on how to request supporting documentation (including long-form birth certificates) from Ontario, Quebec, or Nova Scotia, you can visit CanadaVisa's dedicated webpages on the topic.
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- Do you need Canadian immigration assistance? Contact the Contact Cohen Immigration Law firm by completing our form
- Send us your feedback or your non-legal assistance questions by emailing us at media@canadavisa.com
