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Post by twoj on Aug 27, 2015 22:03:39 GMT -5
I feel like I've come fashionably late to the party. I think I found out about the reclaiming citizenship about 6 weeks ago and since then I have been on a mad hunt to obtain the necessary certificates. I think the lineage is fairly straight-forward that my father and all their fathers back to the 17th century were born in Luxembourg. My Grandparents and their children (including my father) immigrated to Canada, and took Canadian citizenship, since partly I believe that at that time Luxembourg didn't allow dual citizenship. So naturally I only have Canadian citizenship. The process of getting the birth, marriage, death certificates has been harder than I would have thought. On the Canadian side, more specifically Quebec where I live, they have been fairly good about getting me the documents, with the criteria that I pay $33/certificate.
Luxembourg has been a mixed bag; When I initially contacted them they told me that civil documents (birth / marriage / death) were split that before 1923 were kept in the national archives 'archives.nationales@an.etat.lu' , and the after 1923 were in the etat civil 'standesamt@vdl.lu' although the etat civil was able to provide me with some pre-1923 documents. The majority of the problem is that I seem to need to send 4-5 emails every couple of days before I get a reply from them. At the beginning I gave them a week, now it feels like I just going directly into the spam filter. Fortunately I only have 2 more documents I need from them so hopefully I will have those shortly.
The other problem I am having is that 2 ancestors died in Germany, so I have been having a real fun experience about obtaining death certificates from there.
So one question I have is; has anyone had to get certificates from a 3rd country, ie Germany? I did get them to send a me a pdf scan, but it is not certified and I am concerned about whether they would accept it?
I'm just curious about how long it has taken other people to get their phase 1 stuff together?
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Post by moike92 on Aug 28, 2015 5:03:14 GMT -5
The documents need to be certified photo copies. You just need to know where they were born and died and contact the communes of those towns, villages, cities, etc. Everything I needed from Europe was found, certified, and mailed to me, all for free. So I would assume there is no cost for you either. I obtained documents from France, Luxembourg, and the U.S. I needed some documents that were created before 1900 from the communes, so it should not be too difficult to get them for you either. Main thing is actually knowing where the births, deaths, and marriages took place. Also you should only need the death certificate of the main person you are connecting to for citizenship. iE: the ancestor who has citizenship on 1 jan, 1900.
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Post by twoj on Aug 28, 2015 10:29:11 GMT -5
I was actually doing the Genealogy research which lead me to the discovery of the possibility of reclaiming citizenship, so I was already starting to get the birth and death information of the people involved. I need/needed certificates from France, Luxembourg, Canada, and Germany. France and Luxembourg has been free. Canada is charging $33 a pop. Germany seems to be charging - it almost seems different from the different cities. One from Bonn is asking 25 Euros which is fine but they only seem to accept bank deposits. so right now i'm waiting for a money transfer to finish and then presumably they will send the certificates.
If Luxembourg needs the certificates to be certified then I need to re-request the other German certificate - as I said it is just a pdf scan of the document - there is no stamp or indication that someone from the government signed it to say that it is certified.
My understanding is that they want birth/marriage/death certificates from everyone between me and the ancestor from 1900, including his birth, marriage and death certificates.
When I talked to the person at the nationality hotline they also asked for my marriage certificate.
Just got an email from Luxembourg this morning to say they have sent the last certificates I should need from Luxembourg, just need those German certificates now!
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Post by moike92 on Aug 28, 2015 13:01:21 GMT -5
Hmmm. I was told I only needed the death certificate of my great grandfather. I emailed them a list of all of the documents I had ready to send and the response was just that I would also need my great grand fathers death certificate. Did you explain to the people that you needed certified copies of the certificates when you ordered them and explain what t was for? I just simply told them I needed certified photocopies of the certificates and that I needed it for citizenship and everything they sent was signed and stamped.
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Post by twoj on Sept 1, 2015 9:58:49 GMT -5
Maybe I should call them and see if the German death certificates are necessary. At this point I've already started the process so I'm inclined to wait to see what documents I get. The communication with Germany has been difficult since I hardly speak German, and the only document that I received by email, so far was just a scan so no certification. I guess another 2-3 weeks and I should receive the 2 documents which should complete all the documentation.
How do you send the final envelope - registered mail?
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Post by moike92 on Sept 1, 2015 14:16:53 GMT -5
However you want to send it really. I paid a little extra for mine so I could have a tracking number and see when they have actually received and signed for it. That way I knew it made it there instead of waiting for months and months and then finding out it was lost or something ridiculous.
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Post by twoj on Nov 28, 2015 19:40:01 GMT -5
Did anyone get some sort of confirmation communication from the ministere de la Justice that they received your phase 1 application?
I finally sent off the application and sent it registered mail, but then someone screwed up somewhere. The Canada post tracking says that the envelope got to Luxembourg and then "Attempted delivery. Notice card left indicating where item can be picked up.". I then talked to the ministry, according to them they don't pick up mail! But then I talked to POST Luxembourg, according to them they sent me a sort of confirmation that they did deliver it.
So before wasting more time trying to get a confirmation from the ministry that they have my application, I was hoping that they might send some type of letter just stating that they received your application?
thanks
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Post by moike92 on Nov 29, 2015 3:11:05 GMT -5
They won't send you anything stating that they received it. You can email and ask and they should inform you that it had been received and that the documents will be reviewed in chronological order.
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Post by dreamingsarah on Nov 29, 2015 17:46:42 GMT -5
Did anyone get some sort of confirmation communication from the ministere de la Justice that they received your phase 1 application? I finally sent off the application and sent it registered mail, but then someone screwed up somewhere. The Canada post tracking says that the envelope got to Luxembourg and then "Attempted delivery. Notice card left indicating where item can be picked up.". I then talked to the ministry, according to them they don't pick up mail! But then I talked to POST Luxembourg, according to them they sent me a sort of confirmation that they did deliver it. So before wasting more time trying to get a confirmation from the ministry that they have my application, I was hoping that they might send some type of letter just stating that they received your application? thanks How frustrating! I hope it all works out... |
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Post by twoj on Nov 30, 2015 10:16:41 GMT -5
All is good now, I just got am email from Xavier DREBENSTEDT, Chef de bureau adjoint, he has confirmed reception of my application.
Now to start looking at that phase 2 stuff ...
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Post by melliottr on Apr 30, 2016 3:19:50 GMT -5
All is good now, I just got am email from Xavier DREBENSTEDT, Chef de bureau adjoint, he has confirmed reception of my application. Now to start looking at that phase 2 stuff ... Did you receive this confirmation after inquiring with them, or did it come unsolicited? If the latter, how long after sending them did you get the email? I sent my documents in six or eight weeks ago, and am wondering whether I should inquire after their receipt. Thank you! |
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Post by bt001 on Apr 30, 2016 15:05:48 GMT -5
You should inquire to check, as far as I know they won't send a confirmation unsolicited. I received the certificate recently, around 4 months after I mailed the docs.
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Post by twoj on Apr 30, 2016 22:23:13 GMT -5
It was after inquiring with them, I had sent my application by registered mail, and stupid Canada Post had my package as undelivered or 'status unknown' for the longest time. I eventually contacted Luxembourg Post and the Ministry of Justice to confirm that the package was delivered, and the Ministry acknowledged reception of my application.
If you sent it registered and you have confirmation that it was delivered then I would not worry - highly likely they are processing your application and will only contact you once they have finished processing it. If you sent it just plain letter mail you could contact them, they should be able to tell you that they have it.
I was contacted by Xavier Drebenstedt, who is the Chef de bureau adjoint, he would probably be the person to contact;
xavier.drebenstedt@mj.etat.lu
I think they are catching up with the demands, mine was, I think fairly simple, and I had my reply in 3.5 months, so depending on your particular file it sounds like you don't have too much longer to wait.
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Post by melliottr on May 1, 2016 16:42:46 GMT -5
You should inquire to check, as far as I know they won't send a confirmation unsolicited. I received the certificate recently, around 4 months after I mailed the docs. Will do. Thank you so much! |
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Post by melliottr on May 1, 2016 16:46:06 GMT -5
It was after inquiring with them, I had sent my application by registered mail, and stupid Canada Post had my package as undelivered or 'status unknown' for the longest time. I eventually contacted Luxembourg Post and the Ministry of Justice to confirm that the package was delivered, and the Ministry acknowledged reception of my application. If you sent it registered and you have confirmation that it was delivered then I would not worry - highly likely they are processing your application and will only contact you once they have finished processing it. If you sent it just plain letter mail you could contact them, they should be able to tell you that they have it. I was contacted by Xavier Drebenstedt, who is the Chef de bureau adjoint, he would probably be the person to contact; xavier.drebenstedt@mj.etat.lu I think they are catching up with the demands, mine was, I think fairly simple, and I had my reply in 3.5 months, so depending on your particular file it sounds like you don't have too much longer to wait. That's great. I will check with Xavier this week. Thank you! |
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