Legalization or Authentication what is the difference please?

[shiftpro]

Hi folks,
I'm a Canadian Man getting married in Brazil and beginning the process of sponsorship/immigration.
In order to get married I need to get my long form birth certificate legalized as most of you know.
My 1st question is what the heck is the Brasilian Consulate talking about when they say
"The signature on a foreign document will have to be legalized by the Consulate-General before being valid in Brazil."
What signature are they talking about? There is no place on my BC where my signature is shown.
There is a signature on it but it is only a copy of Sheri Hupp who is the Registrar.

My 2nd question related to the first. The Consulate says "The signature on the document has to be previously recognized by a notary public or lawyer."
This adds to my confusion and also that of my lawyer/notary. He says there is no way he can make my BC any more valid than it is. He said if
I drag Miss Sheri Hupp into his office and get her to sign the BC in front of him then he could do something.

My 3rd question is what is authentication of documents? The link on the Consulate website doesn't work anyway so I can not
read what they have to say to discern the difference. I have read on other sites outlining the required documents to get married in Brazil
and some times they say Legalization and other say Authentication so what gives?

 

[bonbon9]

Hi folks,
I'm a Canadian Man getting married in Brazil and beginning the process of sponsorship/immigration.
In order to get married I need to get my long form birth certificate legalized as most of you know.
My 1st question is what the heck is the Brasilian Consulate talking about when they say
"The signature on a foreign document will have to be legalized by the Consulate-General before being valid in Brazil."
What signature are they talking about? There is no place on my BC where my signature is shown.
There is a signature on it but it is only a copy of Sheri Hupp who is the Registrar.

My 2nd question related to the first. The Consulate says "The signature on the document has to be previously recognized by a notary public or lawyer."
This adds to my confusion and also that of my lawyer/notary. He says there is no way he can make my BC any more valid than it is. He said if
I drag Miss Sheri Hupp into his office and get her to sign the BC in front of him then he could do something.

My 3rd question is what is authentication of documents? The link on the Consulate website doesn't work anyway so I can not
read what they have to say to discern the difference. I have read on other sites outlining the required documents to get married in Brazil
and some times they say Legalization and other say Authentication so what gives?

Hi!

Authentication of original documents issued in Ontario are done by:

AUTHENTICATION AND SERVICE OF DOCUMENTS SECTION
DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE
125 Sussex Dr.
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0G2 TEL. (613) 995-0119

Legalization is done by the embassy of the country to which you're bringing the document to. In this case, Consulate/Embassy of Brazil in Canada. When you legalize a document, you're basically making it valid for the country where you're bringing it.

Notary publics can only make certified copies of an original, and these certified copies can be authenticated by an entity in your state (in Ontario, it's at ONTARIO MANAGEMENT BOARD OF CABINET-OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS SERVICES, but this might not be what you're looking for.

Hope this helps, if you're in Ontario, or put you in the right track if you're in another province.

Good luck!

 

[shiftpro]

Hi Bon thanks for the reply.
I know who does the Legalization of documents, the Brazil Embassy of Canada.
I'm thinking that all they will do is stamp it.
It just gets confusing when they mention signatures and notaries.
I also see that I do not need a notary for this.
"Documents issued by organs of the Provincial/Federal Government, such as birth,
marriage and death certificates, do not need to be recognized by the notary public. "
I believe this answers my concerns. I just mail them my long form BC as is and they will
stamp it.
If someone could confirm this for me I would really appreciate it.
I'm still wondering what Authentication is...

 

[bonbon9]

Hi Bon thanks for the reply.
I know who does the Legalization of documents, the Brazil Embassy of Canada.
I'm thinking that all they will do is stamp it.
It just gets confusing when they mention signatures and notaries.
I also see that I do not need a notary for this.
"Documents issued by organs of the Provincial/Federal Government, such as birth,
marriage and death certificates, do not need to be recognized by the notary public. "
I believe this answers my concerns. I just mail them my long form BC as is and they will
stamp it.
If someone could confirm this for me I would really appreciate it.
I'm still wondering what Authentication is...

Hi!
Authentication is an additional "signature" that "internationally validates" the entity that issued the original document to you in Canada (I hope that was clear).. They don't authenticate your signature, they authenticate the signature of the officer who signed your document (i.e. the registrar general).

 

[shiftpro]

Right on my friend, I see the difference now. You have helped to set my mind at ease.
Thanks a lot!

 

[Cdagal]

We got married in Brazil as well...where are you getting married?

 

[shiftpro]

Yes somewhere in Bahia probably Lencois her home town. The folks at the cartorio will most likely be quite,
relaxed about my documents. I'm hoping my legalized BC and marriage search will be enough. Oh and
translated as well.

I mentioned this in another post and perhaps you can comment but somewhere I'm sure I read that in Sao Paulo
the Canadian Embassy will do the complete package sponsorship evaluation as well.

 

[Cdagal]

I am not sure if I understand correctly...the sponsorship part of the application is done in Mississauga and forwarded to Sao Paulo after approval.

For our Brazilian wedding, we only needed my legalized original long-form birth certificate, origianal marriage search document (I am in BC, so I sent them to the Brazilian Visa office in Vancouver), and copy of my passport. (I had to show the Cartorio my original as well once I got there). In Fortaleza only the groom can submit documents, so if the groom was foreign they had to assign a Brazilian representative - all Cartorios are different so check with yours. On arrival I had to go to the Policia Federal and present my passport and arrival document (the one that I received from the airline when I arrived in Brazil) and get a paper saying that I had been recognized. We also went to the Cartorio the day before the wedding with our witnesses to sign some papers so that we would be able to have our marriage certificate on the day of our wedding Hope that helps!

 

[leroadrunner]

Hi shiftpro, São Paulo does not do the sponsorship evaluation. This is first done in Mississauga, and then rest of the application is forwarded to São Paulo which then performs the immigration eveluation.

I hope this helps. Glad to see someone else going through São Paulo. I am in the exact stage that you are in, we will get married in March from the current plans, so like you, we are already in the planning stages for the application.

ttyl!