How to fill out the CIT 0001 form: step-by-step guide

CIT 0001 is the form you use to claim a Canadian citizenship certificate. It's the only path right now for Bill C-3 applicants — IRCC hasn't yet built an online portal, so it's print, sign, and mail.

The form is 14 pages. Most applicants only fill out a small subset of those pages because the form has aggressive skip-logic — sections you can leave blank if a gate question (like "Were you born before 1977?") doesn't apply.

This guide walks through every section. If you're a modal Bill C-3 applicant — adult born outside Canada between 1977 and December 14, 2025, claiming through a Canadian-born grandparent — you'll fill maybe 70 of the form's 261 fillable fields. The rest are skip branches.

Top of page 1: "Reason for application"

There are four reason checkboxes. For Bill C-3 first-time applications, the relevant one is:

I never had a citizenship certificate and I was born outside Canada AND my parent was a Canadian citizen before I was born.

Tick that. Leave the others blank. Below the checkboxes, answer "Yes" to the "Should you proceed with this application?" question.

§1 — Language

Pick English or French. This is just IRCC's communication preference for letters they send you. Most US applicants pick English.

§2 — UCI / Replacement gate

Leave UCI blank unless you've previously interacted with IRCC. The "Are you applying to replace an existing certificate?" question gets No for first-time applications. That single "No" skips all of §3 (which is replacement details).

§4 — Certificate type

Choose Paper or Electronic. Paper is the traditional certificate; electronic is a digital copy. For most people the paper certificate is more useful long-term — it's what you'll show employers, banks, the passport office.

§5 — Tell us about yourself

Fill in everything from your birth certificate exactly as written. This is critical — IRCC will compare your form to your birth certificate, and any mismatch can trigger a request for clarification.

• Surname / Last name: as on birth cert
• Given names: as on birth cert
• Date of birth: YYYY-MM-DD
• Place of birth: city or town only (not full address)
• Country of birth: full English name in upper case (e.g. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA)
• Gender: F / M / X
• Height: in centimeters or feet/inches (one or the other)
• Eye colour: BROWN / BLUE / GREEN / etc.
• Other names you've used: maiden names, legal name changes, "NA" if none

§6 — Personal detail change request

For most people: No. This section is for people who want to change their legal name or DOB on the certificate from what's on their birth certificate. Almost nobody does that on first-time applications. Skip the rest.

§7 — Birth certificate change

For most people: No. This is for people whose birth certificate has been amended (e.g., late registration, court-ordered name correction, gender marker change). If your birth certificate is the original you got at birth, answer No.

§8 — Tell us about your parents

This is where the C-3 case lives. Two parallel columns: Parent 1 and Parent 2.

For both parents, fill in:

• Surname / Last name (use the surname on their birth certificate, not yours)
• Given names
• Other names used (or "NA")
• Country / territory of birth
• Date of birth (YYYY-MM-DD)
• Canadian birth certificate registration number (only if they have one — most don't, write "NA")
• Date and place of marriage (their marriage to each other)
• Date of death (if applicable)

Part A — Relationship to you: Pick biological parent for both unless you were adopted or have a legal-parent-at-birth situation.

Part B — Citizenship Status: This is the heart of the form for Bill C-3.

For Parent 1 (your Canadian-citizen parent), tick: "Parent 1 is/was a Canadian citizen". Then in "How did parent 1 obtain Canadian citizenship?" write something like:

By descent through her Canadian-born father, [grandparent's name], who was born in Canada in [year]. Restored to citizenship by operation of law under Bill C-3 (in force December 15, 2025).

For Parent 2 (the non-Canadian one, in the modal case), tick: "Parent 2 is not / was not a Canadian citizen — skip to section C". This is huge — it skips you out of the rest of Parent 2's Part B (entry dates, absences, 1947 questions, etc.).

Part C — Foreign Government Employment: For both parents, tick "Not applicable, not born in Canada" (assuming both were born outside Canada — which is the modal case). This is the simplest answer.

§8 continued — page 4 of the printed form

If you ticked "is/was a Canadian citizen" for Parent 1, you'll need to fill in Part B continuation:

• Citizenship certificate number (if your parent has one — many newly-eligible Bill C-3 parents don't yet, write "NA")
• Date entered Canada (only if they ever lived in Canada — for the modal C-3 case Parent 1 was born abroad and never moved to Canada, so write "NA" or leave blank)
• Pre-1977 absences (skip — Parent 1 was probably born after 1977)
• Citizen of another country before 1977 (skip — same reason)
• 1947 questions (skip — Parent 1 was born after 1947)

Most of this section is empty for modal C-3 cases.

§9 — Tell us about your grandparents

Two big blocks: grandparents on Parent 1's side, grandparents on Parent 2's side.

For Parent 1's grandparents block (the chain anchor):

• Full name of Parent 1: re-enter
• Was Parent 1 born outside Canada? Yes (this is the C-3 hook)
• Was one of Parent 1's parents Canadian and/or a Crown servant at the time of Parent 1's birth? Yes

Then fill in Grandparent A (the Canadian-born one):

• Full name (surname, given names, any maiden/other names)
• Country of birth: CANADA
• Date of birth (YYYY-MM-DD)
• Canadian birth certificate number: usually a province + year + digit string, copy from their long-form birth certificate
• Citizenship certificate number: usually "NA" — they're Canadian by birth, no certificate needed
• How did this grandparent obtain Canadian citizenship: write something like "By birth in [city, province] in [year]."
• Date of death (if applicable)

Grandparent B (the non-Canadian one on Parent 1's side) can usually be left blank or filled in lightly. Some people fill it in for completeness — IRCC isn't strict here.

For Parent 2's grandparents block: Most modal C-3 applicants leave this empty. Parent 2 isn't Canadian, so Parent 2's grandparents aren't part of the chain.

§10 — Lived in Canada

Have you ever lived in Canada? Most US applicants answer No. If you've never lived in Canada, that's the entire section. Skip the date fields.

§11 — Born before 1977

For most modal applicants: No. (You're filling out this form because of Bill C-3; you're probably under 50.) Skip the absences table.

§12 — Born before 1950

No. Skip everything.

§13 — Born on or after December 15, 2025

For most readers of this guide: No. This section is for the substantial-presence test under Bill C-3 going forward. If you're reading this in 2026 as an adult, you were born before the cutoff.

§14 — Contact information

This is what IRCC uses to mail your certificate back to you. Be careful and accurate.

• Family name + given name (your legal name)
• Email + confirm email
• Home address: street, apt, city, state/province, country, postal/ZIP
• Mailing address: tick "same as home" if it's the same; otherwise fill it in
• Home phone, work phone, cell phone

§15 — Use of representative

If you're filing yourself: No. Skip the rest. (If you hired a lawyer or RCIC, they'd be filling this in plus a separate IMM 5476 form.)

§16 — Declaration & signature

Tick all six declaration boxes. They're the standard "I declare these statements are true / I authorize IRCC to use this information / etc." If you don't tick all six, IRCC won't process the application.

Then on page 9:

• Applicant's signature in the top box, in black ink only (this is repeated on the form for a reason — IRCC will reject anything else)
• City where signed
• Date signed (YYYY-MM-DD)

The bottom signature box ("Parent's/Guardian's") is for minor applicants (under 14). If you're an adult, leave it blank.

After the form

You're not done after the form is filled. Before mailing:

1. Print everything (the form + your supporting documents + your cover letter + your photo IDs)
2. Pay the $75 CAD processing fee online at the IRCC fee portal and print the receipt
3. Get two passport-style photos taken (within last 6 months, plain background)
4. Assemble the package in this order: cover letter, narrative, checklist, signed CIT 0001, fee receipt, photos, supporting documents
5. Mail to:

Case Processing Centre — Sydney
Proof of Citizenship
P.O. Box 10000
Sydney, NS  B1P 7C1
CANADA

Ship via tracked international service (USPS International Priority Mail with tracking, or FedEx / UPS International). Insure for $200-500 since the package contains original civil documents.

Save yourself the work

Filling CIT 0001 by hand takes most people 3-5 hours, plus another 4-6 hours assembling the chain-of-descent narrative and document checklist. We built arryv to do this in about 10 minutes — answer questions, upload supporting docs, click Build, get a printable package.

Either way: if you're eligible, file. Bill C-3 didn't just make you Canadian — it made you a Canadian who's been Canadian since the day you were born. The certificate is how you prove it to passport offices, employers, and the government of Canada.