Police certificates - notarized or certified?

[denis_mtrl]

Hi,

Guide says: " If your documents are not in English or French, send a notarized (certified) translation with a copy of the originals"

I have translated documents in Canada, so they come with an AFFIDAVIT by certified translator, but not notary..
Do I need notarization as well?

Thank you!

 

[nole73]

Hi,

Guide says: " If your documents are not in English or French, send a notarized (certified) translation with a copy of the originals"

I have translated documents in Canada, so they come with an AFFIDAVIT by certified translator, but not notary..
Do I need notarization as well?

Thank you!

Any document that is NOT in English or French has to be translated.
Also, you need a notarized copy of the original document for each document that is not in English or French.

For instance, if you have a marriage certificate that is not in English, you need the following:
1. Translated marriage certificate to English or French
AND
2. A notarized photocopy of the original marriage (in native Language - German for instance)

The only exception to this rule is the police certificate; you need a translation of it, but you also need to submit the original version of the document, not the copy if it.

Hope this helps. Good luck

 

[Iay]

Any document that is NOT in English or French has to be translated.
Also, you need a notarized copy of the original document for each document that is not in English or French.

For instance, if you have a marriage certificate that is not in English, you need the following:
1. Translated marriage certificate to English or French
AND
2. A notarized photocopy of the original marriage (in native Language - German for instance)

The only exception to this rule is the police certificate; you need a translation of it, but you also need to submit the original version of the document, not the copy if it.


Hope this helps. Good luck

Same situation here. We had my husband's police certificate translated and signed by the certified translator and the translation company's director but not through a notary.

So, nole are you saying that this is ok then?

 

[denis_mtrl]

Ahhh I think I see now!



So certificates themselves original (police) and marriage (notarized)
but translation just regular certified

Thaaank you!

 

[BCgirl2012]

Ahhh I think I see now!



So certificates themselves original (police) and marriage (notarized)
but translation just regular certified

Thaaank you!

You need to go a certified translator. Most of the time the notary offices have certified translators in the country. For example, my husband is from Georgia and we had documents to translate from Russian and Georgian. We took it to the Notary office and they told us which translator to go to (they were next door) and then they bound them all together and certified them with their seal.
Some notaries also have translators in-house.

If you ask for certified translation, they would know what to do.

So for your marriage certificate you will need a certified translation (with certified/notarized copy attached)
For your police certificate you will need to send the original + certified translation (which will have certified/notarized copy attached)

 

[nole73]

This is incorrect. You do NOT need a notarized/certified photocopy of original marriage certificate, unless it specifically asks for it in the country guide. In almost all cases just a regular photocopy of marriage certificate is all that's required (plus any translation of course).

You can certainly do a notarized copy if you want, but if you don't want to spend the money then just do regular photocopy.

Right from the CIC docs: Send originals of the immigration forms (items 1 to 5 below) and police certificates. Send photocopies of all other documents, unless instructed otherwise.

Please provide the link. This is not what it says - see the link below.

In short, I sent translated copy AND notarized copy of the original of our marriage certificate; there was no issue.

EVERY SINGLE DOCUMENT THAT IS TRANSLATED HAS TO INCLUDE NOTARIZED PHOTOCOPY (WITH EXCEPTION OF POLICE CERTIFICATE WHICH HAS TO BE THE ORIGINAL).

Here's the link on CIC website:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/3900ETOC.asp#3900E3

Translation of documents

Any document that is not in English or French must be accompanied by:

the English or French translation; and
an affidavit from the person who completed the translation; and
a certified copy of the original document.

First two lines correspond to translated document; the third line corresponds to the certified/notarized document.

Due to fact that there might be a conflict in Sponsorship Guide, the best bet would be to certify photocopies anyway; you don't want VO to return your documents as you never know who is going to work on your file anyway... and you can certify documents free of charge at Canadian Immigration centers:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomers/map/services.asp

 

[nole73]

Same situation here. We had my husband's police certificate translated and signed by the certified translator and the translation company's director but not through a notary.

So, nole are you saying that this is ok then?

It should be fine as long as it is signed/translated by the certified translator. Don't forget to include the original (and not a photocopy).

Also, ensure that this is a police certificate, and not the court certificate. Court certificates ARE NOT accepted at all.

 

[nole73]

Ahhh I think I see now!



So certificates themselves original (police) and marriage (notarized)
but translation just regular certified

Thaaank you!

Yes for marriage certificate - notarized photocopy along with translated document is OK.

However, you have to enclose THE ORIGINAL copy of the police certificate along with the translated document.

BTW, you should be able to obtain notarized copy free of charge at immigration centers.

 

[Rob_TO]

Please provide the link. This is not what it says - see the link below.

Ahh ok i see. Lol guess this is due to in my case, CIC gave me some wrong info. We needed to include a translation of a document that we didn't have the original for, so i called CIC and asked, and they said as long as it wasn't the police certificate that i could send just the photocopy. So that's what we did... and there were no problems with it from the VO.

But i completely agree with you after reading that... definitely for translation should get certified copies. Guess we were just lucky the VO didn't care in our case, despite with the customer service rep at CIC told us

 

[denis_mtrl]

I see... would you know if foreign notary is good or has to be Canadian?
I have copies notarized in Germany... thanks!

Basically only two docs in question are Birth Certificate and Travel Passport front pages.
I have them as a notarized copy (abroad) translated by certified translator (Canada)...

 

[Rob_TO]

I see... would you know if foreign notary is good or has to be Canadian?
I have copies notarized in Germany... thanks!

Foreign is fine, as CIC fully expects outland applicants to do everything in their home country. As long as it's an official notary in the country outside Canada it will be fine.

Basically only two docs in question are Birth Certificate and Travel Passport front pages.
I have them as a notarized copy (abroad) translated by certified translator (Canada)...

In the german passport bio page, aren't all the field titles already shown in both german and english? This was the case for my fiancee's korean passport so we never needed to do a translation, just regular photocopy.

 

[nole73]

Foreign is fine, as CIC fully expects outland applicants to do everything in their home country. As long as it's an official notary in the country outside Canada it will be fine.

Correct, foreign is just fine as long as it's official notary.

In the german passport bio page, aren't all the field titles already shown in both german and english? This was the case for my fiancee's korean passport so we never needed to do a translation, just regular photocopy.

You are OK as long as the field title is in English (which is usually the case with most of the passports). My wife photocopied her Serbian passport and notarized it just in case.

 

[Parsifal]

You need to go a certified translator. Most of the time the notary offices have certified translators in the country. For example, my husband is from Georgia and we had documents to translate from Russian and Georgian. We took it to the Notary office and they told us which translator to go to (they were next door) and then they bound them all together and certified them with their seal.
Some notaries also have translators in-house.

If you ask for certified translation, they would know what to do.

So for your marriage certificate you will need a certified translation (with certified/notarized copy attached)
For your police certificate you will need to send the original + certified translation (which will have certified/notarized copy attached)

Hi,
May I ask if by sending you mean just attaching a scan of the original online?
Would you know if just attaching a scan of the original + the scan of the certified translation will suffice for Express Entry?

Thanks a lot,
Parsifal