Parent Sponsor Question Islamabad **Missing Document**

[ranjah007]

Greetings to all.  I have found this website invaluable in preparing the paperwork for sponsoring my parents.  Many thanks to everyone :-)

I have an urgent question which I am unable to find an answer for.  I applied to Sponsor my parents in March of 2008 and in November 2011 they finally open a file to start processing my parents. They had sent a checklist of all the documents to submit to CPC-Mississauaga within 90 days.  The dilemma I am facing is that my parents can not find the original marriage certificate.  They had gone to the local Civil Registration office where they had gotten married.  It appears that most of the paper records were destroyed in a fire more then a decade ago. I am unsure what to do next.  I will be writing an explanation to CIC with my application in regards to the missing document, but this is making me quite anxious.

Does anyone have any comments or suggestions?

[sakamath]

...can not find the original marriage certificate...

If for any reason, you do not have your parent's original marriage certificate, then your parents would have to submit a sworn affidavit stating that they are married, when and where they were married along with their full names and date of birth. This affdavit needs to be sworn before an administrator of oath (or an equivalent person authorised to administer such an oath). If there are any other documents that has both your parents names on it, provide copies of that too. in your cover letter, mention why you were not able to provide the original marriage certificate and what documents you are submitting in its place.

[ranjah007]

Thanks for the quick response.  After reviewing some of the documents on the CIC website, it states that notarized documents in lieu of the marriage certificate would not be accepted. At this time just going to write the letter and explain the circumstances and hope for the best. 

Thanks

[sakamath]

Thanks for the quick response.  After reviewing some of the documents on the CIC website, it states that notarized documents in lieu of the marriage certificate would not be accepted. At this time just going to write the letter and explain the circumstances and hope for the best. 

Thanks

You're welcome. Note that 'sworn affidavits' are different from notarised documents.