BREAKING: Processing time for proof of Canadian citizenship applications jump in September, nears three years

As of September, new applicants for a proof of Canadian citizenship certificate will have to wait 33 months for a decision.

The federal tool that tracks processing times was updated on September 3, showing that the wait time for this application type has increased by eight months when compared to the previous month.

In August, processing time for these applications was 25 months.

That means someone who files a proof of Canadian citizenship application today can likely expect a decision around mid-2029.

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In May, the same application took 12 months. In January, it took 10. Wait times have nearly tripled in little over four months.

The queue has grown alongside it. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the department that issues citizenship certificates, now reports 136,000 people waiting on a decision, and an additional 14,200 applications added in less than a month.

Is there a faster route?

Urgent processing remains an option for proof of citizenship applicants who qualify.

IRCC reserves this expedited processing for applicants in a narrow set of circumstances, including people who plan to study in Canada and require expedited processing to facilitate their studies.

Urgent processing carries its own criteria, and qualifying for it does not guarantee approval of the underlying claim. Per IRCC’s own criteria, it will expedite processing of an application for reasons such as:

• Employment, whether applying for a job or keeping one you already have
• Education, when a place at a school, college, or university depends on it
• Travel because of a death or serious illness in the family, when you can’t get a passport in your other nationality in time
  A case of statelessness
• Moving your minor child to Canada, if that child was born outside the country and has a Canadian parent
• Giving up another citizenship by a fixed deadline, when the renunciation process depends on first proving you’re Canadian
• Avoiding harm or hardship tied to who you are, such as race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or membership in a particular group
• Access to social benefits such as a pension, health care, or a social insurance number

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A clean, complete, and well-documented file still moves better than a poorly constructed or complicated one. Missing records and name mismatches across generations send applications back for more documentation, and each round trip adds to an already long wait.

American vital records can carry much (but not all) of that evidence when Canadian ones are hard to find.

The jumps are getting bigger

IRCC added two months to its estimate in May. This month it added eight.

Each increase has also grown as a share of the wait it was added to. May’s 12-month wait time was up 20% from April’s 10. September’s eight is 32% on top of August’s 25.

That rate climbed through the summer and has held near a third since August. Applied to a larger base each month, the same share produces a larger number. Six months in August became eight in September. A figure growing at 32% a month doubles in about two and a half months.

Whether the wait keeps tracking that curve depends on how many files IRCC closes each month.

Why have these numbers grown so much?

On December 15, 2025, Canada removed the first-generation limit on citizenship by descent for anyone born before that date.

The rule change means a person with an unbroken line to a Canadian ancestor is a Canadian citizen today. They can apply for proof of that citizenship no matter how many generations sit between them and the ancestor.

That opened a door for millions of Americans with Canadian ancestry.

Applications have arrived in growing numbers every month since. As seen in the table above, IRCC has raised its processing time estimate every month to match.

What determines the processing time?

IRCC builds its estimate from the number of files sitting ahead of a new application, along with staffing and the volume it expects to receive.

As current trends stand, IRCC is finalizing fewer certificates each month than the backlog would need to hold steady.

A review of already-issued certificates likely cost the department part of that output. IRCC paused finalizing citizenship by descent applications for about a month while it checked the documentation behind certificates it had already approved. The department closed the review on June 30 and resumed processing. It has not made up the month it lost.

Should I wait to apply?

Waiting to apply is rarely a useful course of action for those eligible.

New Canadians by descent who apply today to prove their status join a line of 136,000 people, with a decision close to three years out.

Waiting will not shorten that. IRCC counts the files ahead of an application on the day it arrives. Someone who applies in December steps in behind everyone who applied in the fall, and the line has grown each month since the law changed.

Am I a Canadian citizen?

Anyone born before December 15, 2025 who can trace an unbroken line to a Canadian grandparent, great-grandparent, or a more distant ancestor may hold Canadian citizenship now.

Birthplace outside Canada does not matter. Neither does whether that ancestor held a Canadian passport, lived in Canada as an adult, or has lasting ties to the country.

The Canadian citizenship certificate confirms the status they already hold and unlocks the benefits that come with it, including a Canadian passport.

If you are not sure whether you qualify, you can check your eligibility with CanadaVisa’s citizenship by descent eligibility checker.

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