February 10, 2012

New Citizenship Certificate

As of February 1st, 2012, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will no longer make the current plastic wallet-sized citizenship certificate. Instead, new citizens and those applying for proof of citizenship will receive a letter-sized paper citizenship certificate, which will display information that can be validated through a new electronic validation system. This will allow other government departments to validate citizenship information and reduce the possibility of citizenship fraud.

Unlike the plastic card, the new certificate will not contain a photo. The citizenship certificate’s sole purpose it to prove Canadian Citizenship.

Citizenship certificates issued before February 1, 2012, remain valid. This means that any Canadian who currently holds a citizenship certificate does not need to apply for a new one.