We were told Little MPB’s Canadian Citizenship would take 8 months to process.  We have learned to expect things to take longer then expected, so we decided to assume it would take a full year, at least.  We submitted in early July and were just hoping that we would have his Canadian Citizenship for next years Canada Day celebration.

Knowing these timelines and having just survived the fiasco over his amended birth certificate, you can imagine my complete and utter worry when I checked the mail yesterday to discover a letter from the Government of Canada Immigration Section.  Trust me, nothing positive ran through my mind!

While sitting in my car, on my way to a meeting, I braced myself for bad news as I opened the letter.

I began to read:

This letter is to inform you that Little MPB has been granted Canadian citizenship…on xxx, 2017.

Tears were instantly running down my cheeks.  I called Mr. MPB immediately to tell him.  I even texted him a picture of the letter so he could read it himself.

Our son is officially a Canadian Citizen!!!! 

Which means he officially now a dual Canadian/US citizen.  Which means, he has all the right and responsibilities of both countries.

How they processed this in under 6 weeks, including the amended birth certificate delay, is beyond me.  But, hey, I’m definitely not complaining!

Of course, we still aren’t done.  This letter simply told us he is a Canadian Citizen and indicated that the official Citizenship Certificate will be mailed to us separately.  And the Citizenship Certificate is required to apply for a Canadian Passport and to apply for Canadian Social Services.

But this letter, even without the official Citizenship Certificate, is so incredibly important because it’s clear that he is now a Canadian Citizen.  And all the other paperwork that needs the Citizenship Certificate can wait a few weeks or months longer without impacting our daily lives.  In so many ways, this was our last hurdle.

Truthfully, I feel accomplished that we’ve managed to navigate international adoption and immigration without any paid support.  And, I have to admit, I’m selfishly excited that this step is done, because now we are so incredibly close to being finished with all the adoption paperwork and I wont have to dedicate valuable time to sorting through all this paperwork and navigating this process.

So this weekend we are going to celebrate! I have no idea how we will celebrate, but as far as I’m concerned, this is defiantly an occasion worth celebrating!  Maybe Little MPB can have a red and white cake? Or maybe we can visit some sort of significant Canadian historical place?  I’ve never planned a Canadian Citizenship celebration before, so suggestions are welcome!

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