Citizenship tests, timelines, oaths, eligibility, application process, requirements
First Name Changed on the Citizenship Certificate
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alexmazy Posts: 1
Posted On: 2/9/2015
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Hello,
I seem to get stuck with the name change issue, as do not really know where to call for additional clarifications.
Here is my story by steps (sorry for the long one):
1. In 2013, I submitted a citizenship application for my daughter (15 y.o. at that time) and requested to change spelling of her first and last names (to transform them into more traditional transcription, e.g. "x" instead of "ks", etc.)
2. In early 2014, I received a request from CIC to provide documents issued by Ontario organizations showing the new spelling of her names. Since it was just a change in spelling, I was unable to provide any of such documents that would prove new spelling, so I sent them a letter asking to disregard my request to change the name as was unable to provide sufficient justification.
3. In late 2014, during the citizenship ceremony, she got a citizenship certificate with the first name surprisingly changed to the one we initially requested. I asked the judge's assistant if it was a typo or the first name has been truly/officially changed, and he said that my daughter has got what she had asked for: the new first name
4. In early 2015, in preparation to the passport application for my daughter, I requested to change her first name in her school's record according to the citizenship certificate but the school rejected doing that, as the only documents they would have accepted were the Legal Name Change Certificate or the Birth Certificate with the corrected first name. Needless to say, I only had a notarized translation of my daughter's birth certificate issued outside Canada which was not accepted either.
5. I called CIC to check if they could provide me some document confirming that the name was changed officially along with obtaining a citizenship. The CIC operator said that there was nothing they could provide other than a citizenship certificate, so I should to deal either with the school or call Ontario Services to get clarifications on the name change.
6. I called Ontario Services, and they confirmed that according to their records, the name of my daughter has never been changed since we became permanent residents of Canada. They also told me that I could apply for the Legal Name Change if I wished to, but rejected to provide any feedback on the possible mismatch between provincial and federal databases. They recommended to deal with CIC again to clarify the situation.
7. The bottom line is that I cannot proceed with my daughter’s passport application because there are no documents available that would show the new first name’s spelling. And I do not really know what her legal name is now: the one found in the Ontario Government's record or the one written in her citizenship certificate.
So I feel I am going in circles now…
Should I ask CIC to change her name back to what it used to be?
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eltorpe Posts: 4
Posted On: 2/12/2015
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Applying for a legal name change through the Office of the Registrar General, Ontario would probably be faster (6 to 8 weeks) than getting the citizenship certificate changed (5 months).
References:
https://www.ontario.ca/faq/how-long-does-process-take-legally-change-my-name
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/canada/certif-processing.asp
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