Birth certificates

[Swede]

Is the small, pocket-size birth certificate for my Ontario-born sponsor enough for our application, or do we need a longer version?
Also, my country of origin doesn't have birth certificates, so I have to find an alternative. What information needs to be on the document in question?

[ariell]

The pocket-size is fine. Or you can submit a copy of his/her passport. Follow the country-specific guidelines for the country that you are applying from.

Which country are you applying from? You'll have to check the country-specific guidelines to see if another document would be acceptable in place of a birth certificate.

[Karlshammar]

Are you sure that a birth certificate is necessary at all? My wife was approved as sponsor, and we didn't send any birth certificate in with the application. We sent a copy of her PR card, and we may have sent a copy of her passport.

The pocket-size is fine. Or you can submit a copy of his/her passport. Follow the country-specific guidelines for the country that you are applying from.

Which country are you applying from? You'll have to check the country-specific guidelines to see if another document would be acceptable in place of a birth certificate.

[ariell]

Like I said, you will have to consult the country-specific guidelines. Typically the sponsor submits a copy of his/her birth certificate OR passport OR PR card, but this can vary so that's why it's best to check and follow the guidelines in the country-specific instructions.

[Swede]

Your sponsor is a Canadian PR, so a birth certificate from her home country would be rather redundant, which is why you sent a copy of her PR card instead.
My sponsor was born in Ontario, which is why I asked about the birth certificates. :)

Are you sure that a birth certificate is necessary at all? My wife was approved as sponsor, and we didn't send any birth certificate in with the application. We sent a copy of her PR card, and we may have sent a copy of her passport.

The pocket-size is fine. Or you can submit a copy of his/her passport. Follow the country-specific guidelines for the country that you are applying from.

Which country are you applying from? You'll have to check the country-specific guidelines to see if another document would be acceptable in place of a birth certificate.

[Karlshammar]

Check number 13 on:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/forms/IMM5491E.PDF

In your sponsor's situation I'd say the requirement would be either a birth certificate, Canadian Citizenship Card or Canadian passport. The citizenship cards and passports don't have family information or any other information that is not in the card-sized birth certificates, so I don't see that they would require any extra information from birth certificates.



People keep mentioning country-specific guidelines, but I thought that was just for the PR application, not the sponsorship application? The sponsorship applications are all processed in Mississauga (for outland applications) from what I understand.

[ariell]

Your sponsor is a Canadian PR, so a birth certificate from her home country would be rather redundant, which is why you sent a copy of her PR card instead.

No, submitting her birth certificate would not have been redundant, it would have been incorrect! They want a copy of your CANADIAN birth certificate so obviously if you are a PR, the only acceptable form of ID would be your PR card.