Alberta Birth Registration, Births Over 120 Years Old, for Citizenship by Descent
Alberta sends birth registrations that are 120 years old or older, and those of people who died 50 or more years ago, to the Provincial Archives of Alberta. The Archives hold registrations from 1870 to 1906 and publish a free birth index.
This is the Canadian-side record for one ancestor. Citizenship by descent needs a record for every generation in your line, from you back to that ancestor.
The short answer
- Who has it
- Provincial Archives of Alberta
- What to ask for
- Copy of the birth registration (the Archives hold registrations from 1870 to 1906)
- What it costs
- The Archives page does not publish the fee.
- How long
- No official estimate.
How to order it
Find the name, registration number, place and year in the free birth index, then send a Vital Statistics Request through the Archives’ online payment system. People outside Alberta are pointed to Registry Connect.
What IRCC wants for every document
- IRCC asks for authentic, verifiable documents for every generation, from you back to the Canadian-born ancestor. Repeat this lookup for each link in the chain.
- If an official birth certificate does not exist, IRCC may accept a baptismal, hospital, census or boat-manifest record, with a written explanation of why the certificate is unavailable.
- Records not in English or French need a translation with the translator’s sworn statement.
- Family-tree website printouts are not accepted as proof.
What we have not confirmed yet
The fee, and whether the Archives accept orders from outside Canada.
More
- Québec Baptism Record for Canadian Citizenship by Descent (BAnQ)
- Québec Birth Record for Canadian Citizenship by Descent (Births in the Last 100 Years)
- Ontario Birth Registration, 1869 to 1919, for Citizenship by Descent (Archives of Ontario)
- Ontario Birth Certificate, 1920 and Later, for Citizenship by Descent (ServiceOntario)
- Nova Scotia Long-Form Birth Certificate, 1924 and Later, for Citizenship by Descent
- Nova Scotia Birth Registrations from the Archives (1864 to 1877 and 1908 to 1923)
- New Brunswick Birth Certificate, 1888 and Later, for Citizenship by Descent
- Newfoundland and Labrador Birth Certificate, 1949 and Later, for Citizenship by Descent
- Newfoundland Birth Records Before Confederation (1891 to 1948) and Citizenship by Descent
- Manitoba Birth Record, Births Over 100 Years Old, for Citizenship by Descent
- Manitoba Birth Record, Births in the Last 100 Years, for Citizenship by Descent
- Saskatchewan Birth Record, Births Over 100 Years Old, for Citizenship by Descent
- Saskatchewan Birth Certificate, Births in the Last 100 Years, for Citizenship by Descent
- Alberta Birth Document, Births in the Last 120 Years, for Citizenship by Descent
Fees and times are approximate, checked against official pages on 2026-10-06. Confirm with each office before ordering. Legal questions go to a licensed Canadian lawyer or consultant.