In person ceremony but e-certificate?

[erikyle]

I was lucky enough to be selected to participate in the in-person ceremony. When I applied for citizenship, I asked for the e-certificate and I prefer e-certificate. I saw that the in-person ceremony will hand out paper citizenship certificates. I was wondering if e-certificates are also available for download upon request? How long will that be taken?

 

[armoured]

I was lucky enough to be selected to participate in the in-person ceremony. When I applied for citizenship, I asked for the e-certificate and I prefer e-certificate. I saw that the in-person ceremony will hand out paper citizenship certificates. I was wondering if e-certificates are also available for download upon request? How long will that be taken?

There has been here I think only ONE report of IRCC staff offering the option of the e-certificates at the in-person ceremony; all other cases I'm aware of, they have just given the paper one with no options.

So I don't know if it's really (practically) going to be possible. So you could try and get the e-certificate, accepting it might not happen. If you really insist or it's that important to you, you might have to switch to virtual ceremony.

That said: my PERSONAL point of view is that for new ones, it's probably not going to matter. The new ones have bar codes for the important info on the back, and I'm somewhat confident that basically this means that they are also 'electronic' in most respects (or will be treated as such).

Also there is evidence to support this on the IRCC website, where for one purpose, they state that citizenship certificates issued after [some date] can be used in copy instead of original.

Plus, who ever asks for the citizenship certificate except for IRCC/passport office anyway?

So my view is: get the original (it looks nice! it's in colour!). Get a good scan of it done (on home scanner) in colour, greyscale and B&W, and use that scan or a printout whenever someone asks. Keep the original somewhere safe just in case.

YMMV. And if you really want the e-certificate, get that.

[I'm going to look for the reference about the certificates issued after some date.]

 

[armoured]

Also there is evidence to support this on the IRCC website, where for one purpose, they state that citizenship certificates issued after [some date] can be used in copy instead of original.

Plus, who ever asks for the citizenship certificate except for IRCC/passport office anyway?
...
[I'm going to look for the reference about the certificates issued after some date.]

Here is the discussion I was referring to:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-i...citizenship-applications.859935/post-11039165

However, I am going through the passport application for the occupation-based guarantor form (PPTC 140) and it states in the requirements checklist:

Proof of Canadian citizenship; the document will be returned to you

• Birth certificate: ORIGINAL
• Citizenship certificate, if issued:
  • Before February 1, 2012: ORIGINAL
  • On or after February 1, 2012: ORIGINAL OR COPY (emphasis mine)

...
The form says "Note: Copies of Canadian citizenship certificates are accepted if the certificate number begins with a K or an X."

Could someone who got a paper certificate recently tell me what theirs starts with? I'm back to not knowing whether or not most people can submit a copy of a paper certificate.

These quotes from the thread lay out the details. I can confirm new ones have the K or X series number.

And I repeat my point from above: about the only thing you will EVER use a citizenship certificate for is applying for a passport - so if the passport office accepts a copy of the paper certificate, there is - effectively - no difference. (After that you're going to use the passport anyway, because that proves you're a citizen AND has a photograph).

I mean, you could use the certificate for other things - but no-one outside of IRCC or government has any idea about this 'only originals count' thing.

So it's pretty obvious that IRCC has bascially been issuing 'paper' certificates that meet all or most of the requirements of the e-certificates.

 

[erikyle]

Here is the discussion I was referring to:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-i...citizenship-applications.859935/post-11039165



These quotes from the thread lay out the details. I can confirm new ones have the K or X series number.

And I repeat my point from above: about the only thing you will EVER use a citizenship certificate for is applying for a passport - so if the passport office accepts a copy of the paper certificate, there is - effectively - no difference. (After that you're going to use the passport anyway, because that proves you're a citizen AND has a photograph).

I mean, you could use the certificate for other things - but no-one outside of IRCC or government has any idea about this 'only originals count' thing.

So it's pretty obvious that IRCC has bascially been issuing 'paper' certificates that meet all or most of the requirements of the e-certificates.

Thank you so much for the detailed reply!