Search for your ancestors in free Naturalization Records in U.S.A. and Canada. Find Declarations of Intent, First Papers, Alien Registrations, Passport Applications, Naturalization Petitions and Citizenship Certificates. Search substitute naturalization records - ships passenger lists, census records, oaths of allegiance, voters registration lists and more!
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CANADIAN NATURALIZATION RECORDS Step 1 What Canadian Naturalization Records are available? Step 2 Search Online Canadian Naturalization Records Step 3 What Canadian Naturalization Records have been filmed and where do I find them? Step 4 Search substitute records for Canadian immigration or naturalization year
The Canadian Citizenship Act began on 1 January 1947. From 1763 to that date, people born in the provinces and colonies of British North America were all British subjects. Taking the oath of allegiance meant becoming a British subject. Thus immigrants from Great Britain and the Commonwealth (England, Ireland, Wales or Scotland) did not have to be naturalized.
[You can also order the microfilm from LDS to your local FHC. Available as 2 films: Returns by county Vol. 1-6 1828-1841 - FHL US/CAN Film 1631550 and
Returns by county Vol. 7-8 1842-1850 - FHL US/CAN Film 1631551]
Citizenship and Immigration Canada holds records of naturalization and citizenship from 1854. The originals of records dated between 1854 and 1917 have been destroyed. However a nominal card index survives. It provides information compiled at the time of naturalization, such as present and former place of residence, former nationality, occupation, date of certification, name and location of the responsible court. The index rarely contains any other genealogical information.
Naturalization After 1917
Naturalization records created after 1917 are more detailed, indicating the surname, given name, date and place of birth, entry into Canada, and in some cases, the names of spouses and children.
A typical record may consist of an Application for a Decision, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Report, a Petition for Naturalization, an Affidavit Proving Petition, an Oath of Allegiance, and other documents and correspondence
The Canadian Naturalization databases contain references to about 200,000 people who applied for and received status as naturalized Canadians from 1915 to 1932. During that period, the Government of Canada published the lists of names of those naturalized subjects in the annual reports of the Secretary of State (Sessional Papers) and in the Canada Gazette.
These two databases, produced by the Jewish Genealogical Societies of Montreal and Ottawa, make it possible to search those annual lists by name. Search The Canadian Naturalization databases
Finding Naturalization Records
Under the 1914 Act, naturalization certificates were issued based on the category of naturalization. Each certificate bore a letter (A, B, D, C or E) referred to as "the Series," and a number. Certificates issued in French also include the letter F after the number.
Series A: Naturalization Certificates granted to Aliens.
Series B: Naturalization Certificates granted to Aliens where names of minor children are included.
Series C: Naturalization Certificates granted to Minors.
Series D: Naturalization Certificates granted to persons whose nationality as British Subjects is in doubt.
Series E: Naturalization Certificates granted to persons naturalized under prior Acts.
Series F and G: Repatriations
Requests for copies of naturalization/citizenship records should be mailed to:
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Public Rights Administration
360 Laurier Ave West
10th Floor
OTTAWA ON K1A 1L1
You must be a Canadian citizen or an individual present in Canada. Each application for copies must be submitted on an Access to Information Request Form (Download here or obtain from most Canadian public libraries and federal government offices). The cost is $5.00, payable to the Receiver General for Canada.
Enclose a signed consent from the person concerned or proof that he/she has been deceased twenty years. Proof of death can be a copy of a death record, a newspaper obituary or a photograph of the gravestone showing name and death date. Include the following information: full name, date and place of birth, and if possible, the number of the Canadian citizenship or naturalization certificate.
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