Processing times for "Search of Citizenship Records", how fast is "urgent?"

[OptGril24]

First of all, I hope it's allowed to post this here. My apologies if it isn't!

My dad is a German citizen who's lived in Canada for 40 years. He's a permanent resident here, has no interest in naturalizing. It's far too expensive and he has all the rights he needs anyways.

I was born in Canada and have Canadian citizenship, and now I'm trying to get my German citizenship recognized. For this I need a search of citizenship records of my dad to prove that he hadn't naturalized before I was born.

I was horrified to learn that it takes the government ten whole months to produce this document! (As per the CIC website, anyways. Who knows if that's actually accurate.) Has anyone had any experience ordering this document "urgently"? How long did it take?

I'm moving to Germany in just a few months and without this document I won't be able to find work or go to school in Germany. Does anyone know if that's an acceptable reason to get a "search of citizenship" made urgent? What kind of proof did they want? I have my plane ticket booked, and e-mails from the consulate saying I need this document.

I know it would be enough reason if I needed it to work here in Canada, but I'm not sure if they would care about whether or not I can work in Germany. :-[

If it matters we also need this document so that my dad can pick up his passports. The Germany embassy is refusing to give them back to my dad without this document.

 

[links18]

A copy of your Canadian birth certificate won't suffice to demonstrate Canadian citizenship to the German authorities?

 

[OptGril24]

Ahh, sorry, I wasn't very clear in my post. My Canadian citizenship is proven, but I'm getting German citizenship by descent. I'm German as long as my dad was a German citizen at the time of my birth.

Since you automatically lose German citizenship if you naturalize, they want proof that my dad never naturalized. So they want a Search of Citizenship Records on my dad.

 

[PMM]

Hi

Ahh, sorry, I wasn't very clear in my post. My Canadian citizenship is proven, but I'm getting German citizenship by descent. I'm German as long as my dad was a German citizen at the time of my birth.

Since you automatically lose German citizenship if you naturalize, they want proof that my dad never naturalized. So they want a Search of Citizenship Records on my dad.

1. There is a good chance that it will take the quoted time for the search. Since they have to search for 40 years back, when records were not digitized, it will take a while.

 

[links18]

Ahh, sorry, I wasn't very clear in my post. My Canadian citizenship is proven, but I'm getting German citizenship by descent. I'm German as long as my dad was a German citizen at the time of my birth.

Since you automatically lose German citizenship if you naturalize, they want proof that my dad never naturalized. So they want a Search of Citizenship Records on my dad.

Sorry, totally missed that. A sworn affidavit from your dad that he never naturalized along with a copy of his current unexpired Canadian PR card that shows he is still considered a German citizen to Canadian authorities won't do it?

 

[OptGril24]

No, it won't. He doesn't have a PR card (though he has PR status) and they won't give him one without his passport. But when he went to renew his passport a while back, they refused to give him back his passport without seeing a PR card! So he's been stuck in limbo unable to get either of these documents back.

Luckily he can use the search of citizenship record to get his passports back, but until that comes it I have nothing else. I really need it in a hurry.

 

[links18]

Sounds like a tough pickle. I would work both ends, If I were you. The German authorities are going to deny two German citizens the right to return home, because they can't produce a foreign government's document not readily available to them to prove a negative? I get that Germans aren't well known for a ready willingness to depart from standard operating procedure, but surely there is some other way to satisfy them your dad never became Canadian. If it is important enough to you not to delay your move, you might want to start working the chain of command at the Botschaft. Any German-Canadian organizations that could help? Essentially you dad has kind of been temporarily rendered stateless. I'd start getting a little outraged.

 

[OptGril24]

Thanks, links18. I'm going to try and figure out who to contact at the CIC tomorrow, and if/when I get that done I'll move on to trying to contact Germany. (I'm guessing the Canadian side will be a bit faster, since we're both in Canada at the moment. But who knows with these things, lol.)

I'm getting a little outraged over it too. It's just madness. The worst part is they had taken his passport renew application, (which included his latest passport), processed the whole thing, printed the passport in Berlin, mailed it to the consulate in Canada, called him to come pick it up... and then refused to give it to him. If they had asked for a PR card at the start, before he handed over his nearly expired passport, he would have been able to get a PR card no problem. But they took all his documents and now it's hell trying to get the extra documents! They won't even give back the old one, never mind the "new" one he was supposed to pick up. My blood boils just thinking about it. Sorry about the rant, haha!

Anyways, I tried calling CIC all day long. The phones are only open during the exact hours I work, and I spent all my breaks waiting in the queue. I got to a person once, at the end of the day, and she promised to send me a list of the requirements for an "urgent" application and an e-mail address to contact if I qualify, but I guess she heard my e-mail address wrong since I still haven't received any e-mails.

It's not linked anywhere on the "Search of Citizenship Record" application web page, but I did find this web page after spending a few hours on the site. I think this might have been the list she was talking about? It doesn't say anything about where to ask for urgent processing, but it gives the general criteria for urgent processing.

Links aren't allowed on this forum apparently, so the way to get to it is to go to the CIC websites, then Home > Departments and agencies > Citizenship and Immigration Canada > About us > Citizenship > Administration > Citizenship administration: General file processing >Procedures for accepting and processing citizenship applications > Urgent application of cases


Required documents
Documents must support urgent case requests.

For instance, for an applicant facing the loss of employment or employment opportunity, the applicant must submit a letter from the employer.

The letter should say that the applicants will lose employment or potential employment if they are not Canadian citizens. The letter must also say why Canadian Citizenship is a job requirement, and why the employer cannot make other arrangements.

Note: Even in urgent cases, clients must still demonstrate they meet all the requirements of citizenship and provide all necessary documentation.

When a case is urgent
Applications for proof of citizenship, search of citizenship records for Canadian citizens, resumptions, and applications for grant of citizenship are expedited if documents support the need for urgency in the following situations:

a request is received from the office of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada;

the applicants need to travel because of death or serious illness in the family and cannot obtain a passport in their present nationality (which includes the Canadian passport);

A grant applicant has been in Canada for 1,095 days or more and faces loss of employment or employment opportunity because they are not Canadian citizens;

the applicants are Canadian citizens and face the loss of employment or employment opportunity because they are not in possession of a document establishing Canadian citizenship;

an application delayed due to an administrative error;

an applicant for grant of citizenship whose appeal to the Federal Court is successful;

any situation in which not expediting the citizenship application harms the applicant, such as the need to renounce foreign citizenship by a certain date;

the applicants need a citizenship certificate to access certain benefits such as a pension, Social Insurance Number or health care.

I'm hoping I can fall under the last or second-to-last point, since without this document I would be able to receive any benefits in Germany, and chiefly I need health care, student aid, and permission to work. Without proving my (lack of) Canadian parentage I can't get any of that.

For the most part I'm typing this all out just in case someone needs the same information I do later and finds this on google. CIC doesn't make it easy to find these things!

 

[links18]

It sounds like you might qualify for urgent processing under category 6 above--potential loss of employment opportunity, but I am not sure if that refers to an actual job offer or if the fact that you couldn't work in Germany in a general sense is sufficient. I know nothing about German nationality law, but if someone in Germany was already satisfied of your guys' citizenship and printed your passports, I wonder what authority a consular official has not to release them? I'd be fuming if it were me.

 

[natalieh]

Hi we just did this for my son as he doesn't have a PR card and has to apply for his German passport. We requested urgent processing and it took about a month.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, links18. I'm going to try and figure out who to contact at the CIC tomorrow, and if/when I get that done I'll move on to trying to contact Germany. (I'm guessing the Canadian side will be a bit faster, since we're both in Canada at the moment. But who knows with these things, lol.)

I'm getting a little outraged over it too. It's just madness. The worst part is they had taken his passport renew application, (which included his latest passport), processed the whole thing, printed the passport in Berlin, mailed it to the consulate in Canada, called him to come pick it up... and then refused to give it to him. If they had asked for a PR card at the start, before he handed over his nearly expired passport, he would have been able to get a PR card no problem. But they took all his documents and now it's hell trying to get the extra documents! They won't even give back the old one, never mind the "new" one he was supposed to pick up. My blood boils just thinking about it. Sorry about the rant, haha!

Anyways, I tried calling CIC all day long. The phones are only open during the exact hours I work, and I spent all my breaks waiting in the queue. I got to a person once, at the end of the day, and she promised to send me a list of the requirements for an "urgent" application and an e-mail address to contact if I qualify, but I guess she heard my e-mail address wrong since I still haven't received any e-mails.

It's not linked anywhere on the "Search of Citizenship Record" application web page, but I did find this web page after spending a few hours on the site. I think this might have been the list she was talking about? It doesn't say anything about where to ask for urgent processing, but it gives the general criteria for urgent processing.

Links aren't allowed on this forum apparently, so the way to get to it is to go to the CIC websites, then Home > Departments and agencies > Citizenship and Immigration Canada > About us > Citizenship > Administration > Citizenship administration: General file processing >Procedures for accepting and processing citizenship applications > Urgent application of cases


Required documents
Documents must support urgent case requests.

For instance, for an applicant facing the loss of employment or employment opportunity, the applicant must submit a letter from the employer.

The letter should say that the applicants will lose employment or potential employment if they are not Canadian citizens. The letter must also say why Canadian Citizenship is a job requirement, and why the employer cannot make other arrangements.

Note: Even in urgent cases, clients must still demonstrate they meet all the requirements of citizenship and provide all necessary documentation.

When a case is urgent
Applications for proof of citizenship, search of citizenship records for Canadian citizens, resumptions, and applications for grant of citizenship are expedited if documents support the need for urgency in the following situations:

a request is received from the office of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada;

the applicants need to travel because of death or serious illness in the family and cannot obtain a passport in their present nationality (which includes the Canadian passport);

A grant applicant has been in Canada for 1,095 days or more and faces loss of employment or employment opportunity because they are not Canadian citizens;

the applicants are Canadian citizens and face the loss of employment or employment opportunity because they are not in possession of a document establishing Canadian citizenship;

an application delayed due to an administrative error;

an applicant for grant of citizenship whose appeal to the Federal Court is successful;

any situation in which not expediting the citizenship application harms the applicant, such as the need to renounce foreign citizenship by a certain date;

the applicants need a citizenship certificate to access certain benefits such as a pension, Social Insurance Number or health care.

I'm hoping I can fall under the last or second-to-last point, since without this document I would be able to receive any benefits in Germany, and chiefly I need health care, student aid, and permission to work. Without proving my (lack of) Canadian parentage I can't get any of that.

For the most part I'm typing this all out just in case someone needs the same information I do later and finds this on google. CIC doesn't make it easy to find these things!

 

[OptGril24]

Hi we just did this for my son as he doesn't have a PR card and has to apply for his German passport. We requested urgent processing and it took about a month.

Hope this helps.

Thanks! I'm glad to hear it went well for you and your son! It gives me hope, haha.

I managed to get through to someone today on the CIC phone line. She didn't e-mail me anything this time, but asked for the reason I need urgent processing (no job, no healthcare, no school without this document). She said she had placed a note on my file. She was very clear that she couldn't guarantee that they would process urgently, and mentioned that they "don't generally process these urgently".

But I'm hopeful none the less!