Certified Translations for CIT 0001: What IRCC Requires

If any document in your CIT 0001 ancestry chain is not in English or French, IRCC will not process it without a certified translation. An untranslated Ukrainian baptismal certificate or German marriage record will cause IRCC to return your entire package, restarting the processing clock. Here is exactly what IRCC requires, who can provide the translation, and what the translation document must contain.

Every document submitted with a CIT 0001 application that is not written in English or French must be accompanied by a certified English or French translation. There are no exceptions and no grace period. If the document is in another language, the translation must be in the envelope.

Documents that commonly arrive in other languages for citizenship-by-descent applicants:

• Ukrainian Greek Catholic or Ukrainian Orthodox church records from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, often in Church Slavonic or Ukrainian
• German Mennonite or Lutheran church registers from communities in southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, kept in German
• Icelandic parish records from New Iceland settlements along Lake Winnipeg
• Polish church records from communities in Ontario, Alberta, and Manitoba
• Latin-language Catholic baptismal records from parishes that used Latin mixed with French in early Quebec registers
• Documents issued abroad before an ancestor emigrated to Canada, such as a birth record from a village in Galicia or a German state

What does not need translation: Quebec vital records and baptismal records written in French. French is one of Canada's two official languages. IRCC accepts French documents without translation, regardless of the document's age or province of origin.

IRCC accepts translations through two distinct approaches. The right one for you depends on who does the work.

If the translator is a member in good standing of a recognized provincial or territorial translator association in Canada, their signed translation and declaration are sufficient on their own. No additional affidavit is needed.

The recognized provincial associations are:

• Ontario: Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario (ATIO)
• Quebec: Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec (OTTIAQ)
• British Columbia: Society of Translators and Interpreters of British Columbia (STIBC)
• Alberta: Association of Translators and Interpreters of Alberta (ATIA)
• Saskatchewan: Association of Translators and Interpreters of Saskatchewan (ATIS)
• Manitoba: Association of Translators and Interpreters of Manitoba (ATIM)

Each association maintains an online member directory. Search by language pair to find a translator certified in Ukrainian, German, Polish, or whichever source language you need.

If the translator is not a member of a provincial association, the translation must be accompanied by a sworn affidavit. The affidavit must state the translator's full name and contact information, that they are proficient in both the source language and English or French, and that the translation is complete and accurate. The affidavit must be sworn before a notary public or commissioner of oaths. In Canada, commissioners of oaths include many lawyers, paralegals, and bank officers. In the United States, a notary public serves the same function.

One rule applies to both paths without exception: the applicant, the applicant's family members, and the applicant's representative cannot translate the document. IRCC treats this as a conflict of interest and will reject the application. Being a fluent Ukrainian speaker or a professional interpreter by trade does not change this rule.

A certified translation for IRCC is not a summary or a paraphrase. It must be a complete, word-for-word rendering of the original document, including:

• Every line of text, including stamps, seals, handwritten annotations, and marginalia
• Names, dates, and place names exactly as they appear (with transliteration conventions noted if the original uses a non-Latin script)
• The translator's full name, contact details, and signature
• A signed declaration that the translation is accurate and complete
• Either the translator's certification number and professional designation (certified translator) or the sworn affidavit (non-certified translator)

A clear copy of the original document must accompany the translation in the same submission. IRCC needs both to compare them.

For online submissions through IRCC's portal: upload the original document, the translation, and the affidavit as a single combined PDF file. The portal does not support separate uploads for each component.

Ukrainians who settled in the Canadian prairies between 1890 and 1920 often baptized their children in Ukrainian Greek Catholic or Ukrainian Orthodox parishes. Registers from this period were kept in Church Slavonic or Ukrainian. Many of these records are held by parish archives and the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Winnipeg, with significant holdings also microfilmed by FamilySearch. See our prairie province ancestry guide for details on where to locate these records.

If your Canadian great-grandparent's only birth evidence is a baptismal register in Church Slavonic, the path forward is straightforward: obtain a certified copy from the parish or archive, then engage a translator certified with ATIM or ATIS who lists Ukrainian or Church Slavonic as a specialty. The translated record and the translator's declaration go into your CIT 0001 package alongside the original.

Mennonite communities that settled in southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan kept detailed church registers in German. Both Mennonite Brethren and General Conference Mennonite records survive in good condition. The Mennonite Heritage Archives in Winnipeg and the Mennonite Heritage Centre Canada hold a large share of these materials. Find a translator certified with ATIM or ATIS for German-language documents.

Some Quebec Catholic baptismal entries from the early 1800s include Latin phrases, standard formulaic phrases that priests recorded alongside French text. IRCC generally accepts these as French documents because the dominant text is French. A fully Latin record is rare for Quebec but possible for certain religious order archives. If a record is entirely in Latin with no French, treat it the same as any other non-English, non-French document and obtain a certified translation.

Budget $50 to $150 per document for certified translation. The range reflects variation in language pair, document length, and provider. Some services charge by the page; others charge a flat rate per document. Rush options with 24-to-48-hour turnaround exist but carry a premium.

If your application requires two or three documents in the same language, order them together from one translator. Most providers discount multi-document orders, and it simplifies the paperwork. A typical CIT 0001 package requiring translations might add $100 to $300 to your total application cost.

MaplePass identifies which documents in your ancestry chain need translation before you order anything, so you are not paying for translations IRCC will not need or missing one they will require.

No. IRCC explicitly does not accept translations from the applicant or their family members, regardless of language proficiency.

No. A human translator must sign a declaration of accuracy. Machine translation is not accepted.

No. French is an official Canadian language. IRCC accepts French-language documents without translation.

IRCC will return your entire application package. You restart from the beginning, including waiting for a new acknowledgment of receipt.

Yes. A single certified translator can translate several documents as long as they are proficient in all the relevant source languages.

Contact the association directly and ask for confirmation of membership, or check their online member directory. Many associations let you search by name and verify current standing.