Understanding Primary and Secondary Documents for Citizenship by Descent Applications

Citizenship by descent applicants often have a document for every generation, from their Canadian ancestor down to them. However, not all submitted documentation is classified in the same way by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). The department sorts evidence into two tiers: primary and secondary.

## What are primary and secondary documents? Primary documents are those that IRCC says must be provided, one or more for each ancestor in the chain. Secondary documents are those that IRCC says may be considered as part of a submission. The distinction between primary and secondary documents lies in the evidentiary weight given to each type.

## Primary evidence For each ancestor between the applicant and their Canadian relative, IRCC asks for one or more of the following documents, issued by the original authority that created or keeps the record: - A Canadian provincial or territorial birth certificate - A birth certificate from another country showing the parent-child relationship in that generation - A Canadian citizenship or naturalization certificate - A Certificate of Registration of Birth Abroad, or a Certificate of Retention of Canadian Citizenship - A British naturalization certificate issued in Canada or Newfoundland and Labrador - Proof of British subject status before January 1, 1947, or April 1, 1949 for Newfoundland and Labrador - Proof of landed immigrant status in Canada before January 1, 1947, or April 1, 1949, for Newfoundland and Labrador

## Secondary evidence The second tier includes: - Hospital records of birth - Records from a physician or midwife who witnessed a birth - Baptismal certificates and records - Census records - Canada Gazette records - Boat manifests - Marriage records - Death records - Immigration records, including homestead records - Military records - Passports IRCC's slide deck states that the secondary list is not exhaustive.

## What to do when you can’t get a primary document Where you cannot obtain a primary document, there are still steps that you can take which follow IRCC guidance and can help strengthen your application. The first is substitution, where secondary records from the original authority can carry part of the weight a birth certificate would have carried. The second is submitting proof of the search for the primary document. IRCC states that an applicant who cannot source an original record must demonstrate in writing what efforts they made and explain why the record cannot be provided.

## Four mistakes that weaken a file - Treating the discovery document as proof - Downloading rather than ordering - Leaving a gap unexplained - Assuming more paper means more weight