Going after Canadian citizenship by descent isn’t just a matter of filling out government forms. For most families, it’s personal: reclaiming a lost connection to your roots, picking up a valuable second passport, or giving your kids more options for their future.
That said, tracking down historic records, proving a paper trail, and submitting an airtight file to the Canadian government takes work. Here is a realistic, straightforward look at what it costs to hire a legal team to handle the process for you, whether you’re doing this on your own or pulling your whole family into the mix.
What You’re Actually Paying For
You don’t bring in an immigration lawyer just to type up basic paperwork you could grab off the government website for free. You hire them to dig through old records for missing documents, catch subtle mistakes in decades-old files, clear up confusing name changes across generations, and put together a bulletproof application that won’t get rejected half a year down the line.
To keep things straightforward, legal fees are split into two tracks: solo applicants and family groups.
Going It Alone: Individual Rates
If you’re the only person in your family applying right now, your case is handled as a single file.
- Total Legal Fee: $3,250 USD
How the Payments Are Split
Nobody likes dropping a massive lump sum upfront, so the legal fee is broken into installments to make it easier on your wallet:
- The Starting Deposit (Retainer): You pay $2,000 USD to open your file and get the legal team started on researching your case and pulling records.
- Using Your Consultation Credit: If you paid for an initial legal assessment or consultation call to figure out if you even qualified, that full amount gets subtracted directly from your $2,000 USD starting deposit. You don’t lose that money.
- The Final Balance: The rest of the legal fee is paid later on, once your application packet is fully put together and ready for final review before submission.
Out-of-Pocket Extras to Remember
The $3,250 covers the legal work, but it doesn’t cover government charges or physical shipping costs. You need to budget for these as well:
- Government Processing Fees: The official fees charged directly by the Canadian government to process your paperwork are separate. You pay those directly to the government.
- Courier and Printing Fee: There’s a flat $100 USD charge for printing high-quality copies of your official documents and sending the entire physical file to the Canadian authorities via a tracked courier service.
Applying with Family: Group Rates (2+ People)
It’s extremely common for citizenship claims to become a family affair. Once one person realizes they might qualify through a parent or grandparent, brothers, sisters, cousins, and adult kids usually want in on it too.
If two or more of you apply at the same time using the same Canadian parent or grandparent (your “anchor relative”), it saves the legal team time on the background research. Because everyone shares the same ancestral proof, those savings get passed down to your family through discounted rates.
The Group Pricing Structure
The primary applicant pays the regular $3,250 USD fee. After that, every relative added to the application gets a discounted rate of $2,500 USD per head, no matter how many people join.
- Lower Upfront Deposit: To make starting a group file less painful, the initial retainer deposit drops from $2,000 to $1,850 USD.
Just like individual files, if anyone in your group paid for a consultation call early on, that exact amount gets credited straight toward the family’s $1,850 starting deposit.
Group Expenses to Keep in Mind
Even though you’re applying as a group, the Canadian government treats every person as an individual file. That means a few costs still apply per applicant:
- Individual Government Fees: Every single person in your family group has to pay their own government filing fee.
- Per-Person Courier Fee: The $100 USD printing and secure shipping fee applies to each applicant, since every file is printed, bound, and shipped individually.
Big Groups (10 or More Relatives)
If you have a huge extended family, think a big group of siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews all tracing their line back to the same Canadian grandparent; costs can climb fast.
If you’re bringing a group of 10 or more people to the table, custom group rates are available. Instead of sticking to the standard tiered pricing, a custom package is put together to keep things as affordable as possible for everyone involved while keeping the whole group organized under one master file.
Why Put a Legal Team on It?
Trying to track down old documents across different countries, order certified records from government offices, and prove your family line holds up legally can get overwhelming pretty fast. Having a structured payment plan makes it easier to handle the expenses over time, cuts costs if your relatives apply with you, and takes away the stress because you know a professional is reviewing every document before it goes out.
If you are looking to access the evaluation form or consultation booking page corresponding to this text, you can find it directly on their portal:
Immigration.ca Free Online Evaluation & Consultation Portal
(Note: If you are looking to apply directly to the Canadian government without using private legal services, official citizenship applications must be submitted directly through IRCC’s Official Application Portal.
