Notary and IMM 5409 Question

[CkMaddall]

Hi All

I am from London (UK) and my Canadian girlfriend is sponsoring me via Common Law (we have lived together for 1 year from April). I have a couple of questions:

1) We don't officially need to do the IMM 5409 form, as I do not have a co-signer, but have read that some people add it in anyway as it has been asked for in the past - is this good advice?

2) Regarding getting letters and 5409 notarized - can someone advise how this is done? I have checked local lawyers websites, but cannot see any information regrding this service. Is there an English lingo equivalent?!

Cheers

 

[parker24]

Hi All

I am from London (UK) and my Canadian girlfriend is sponsoring me via Common Law (we have lived together for 1 year from April). I have a couple of questions:

1) We don't officially need to do the IMM 5409 form, as I do not have a co-signer, but have read that some people add it in anyway as it has been asked for in the past - is this good advice?

2) Regarding getting letters and 5409 notarized - can someone advise how this is done? I have checked local lawyers websites, but cannot see any information regrding this service. Is there an English lingo equivalent?!

Cheers

Websites won't tell you because it's a way for lawyers to "outbid" each other for the prices. Lawyers do, do notary. Some banks will as well, but not all of them. You'd be better off to call them and ask.

 

[zardoz]

Hi All

I am from London (UK) and my Canadian girlfriend is sponsoring me via Common Law (we have lived together for 1 year from April). I have a couple of questions:

1) We don't officially need to do the IMM 5409 form, as I do not have a co-signer, but have read that some people add it in anyway as it has been asked for in the past - is this good advice?

2) Regarding getting letters and 5409 notarized - can someone advise how this is done? I have checked local lawyers websites, but cannot see any information regrding this service. Is there an English lingo equivalent?!

Cheers

Any solicitor in the UK can act as a "Commissioner for Oaths". It's a process that they do as a private service and they will normally do it at a fixed price per page. If you don't need a form because it is irrelevant to your application, don't include it. Forms don't need to be notarised as far as I am aware, because you are sending the original signed copies.

The rule that I applied was, "if it's too valuable or impossible to replace, send a certified copy instead". For example birth/marriage/divorce/death/school certificates". Some things, CIC insist on the originals, such as PCC and Medical form". Most other stuff can be certified copies.

 

[canadianwoman]

1) We don't officially need to do the IMM 5409 form, as I do not have a co-signer, but have read that some people add it in anyway as it has been asked for in the past - is this good advice?

Technically you don't need this form, but some visa officers ask for it anyway, so I would just include it with the application in the first place. Even if your particular visa officer doesn't want it, it won't hurt your application in any way.

 

[Korea2Canada]

Any solicitor in the UK can act as a "Commissioner for Oaths". It's a process that they do as a private service and they will normally do it at a fixed price per page. If you don't need a form because it is irrelevant to your application, don't include it. Forms don't need to be notarised as far as I am aware, because you are sending the original signed copies.

The rule that I applied was, "if it's too valuable or impossible to replace, send a certified copy instead". For example birth/marriage/divorce/death/school certificates". Some things, CIC insist on the originals, such as PCC and Medical form". Most other stuff can be certified copies.

Why certify a copy if its already in english?

 

[zardoz]

Certification is required when a copy of a document is taken, to prove to the recipient that it really is a true copy of the original. Some personal documents can never be replaced so you don't send them in case they get lost or destroyed.

 

[amikety]

You don't have to certify most documents in English, even if they are copies.

For example - a birth certificate. If it's in English, you usually don't need to provide a certified copy. The copy is certifying the translation is true.... not the birth certificate itself.

Your country specific guide will note when only originals are accepted. These must be in English or French or translated with a certified copy.

My application required 0 notarized documents.

 

[CkMaddall]

Many thanks for the response. I have another question:

Do the Notarise letters need to say we are "Common law" ie have lived together for a year, or just that we are in a loving and committed relationship? If the former, I will have to send out my requests again!

Cheers

 

[zardoz]

It may be over-kill to get everything "official" certified, but this is planning for the rest of my life, so why try and save a few £/$ and risk authenticity questions? There is so much immigration fraud now. Let's make it easy for the VO.

 

[amikety]

Many thanks for the response. I have another question:

Do the Notarise letters need to say we are "Common law" ie have lived together for a year, or just that we are in a loving and committed relationship? If the former, I will have to send out my requests again!

Cheers

The letters and statue of declaration of common-law union. (Yes, I've read the same as you - the VO requests it even if not required.)

I would search the internet for free or cheap options.

 

[Korea2Canada]

It may be over-kill to get everything "official" certified, but this is planning for the rest of my life, so why try and save a few £/$ and risk authenticity questions? There is so much immigration fraud now. Let's make it easy for the VO.

Where, in the guides, did you see make certified copies of english documents?

 

[Rob_TO]

Where, in the guides, did you see make certified copies of english documents?

It doesn't, the poster is wrong. You only need a certified copy of an english document if the guide specifically asks for it. To be "safe" as above poster mentions, you can get every single proof you include certified but this will cost you thousands of dollars and is a waste of money. If a VO really wants a certified copy of something instead of a regular copy even though it's not asked for in the guide, they will ask for it. Yet this basically never happens and regular photocopies are fine.

 

[Rob_TO]

Do the Notarise letters need to say we are "Common law" ie have lived together for a year, or just that we are in a loving and committed relationship? If the former, I will have to send out my requests again!

Here is from the UK guide: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/kits/guides/3901e.pdf
If you are a common-law or conjugal partner, provide evidence that your relationship is genuine and continuing and has existed for at least 12 months prior to your application. Also provide details of the history of your relationship and at least two statutory declarations from individuals with personal knowledge of your relationship supporting your claim that the relationship is genuine and continuing

The 2 notarized/certified/stat declarations, of course it's better to have them include as much info as possible. i.e. how the individual knows you, that your relationship is genuine, that you are living together, etc etc as well as some personal notes supporting the relationship. i.e. it could contain a simple phrase like "I personally helped Y move all her furniture and belongings into X's apartment, when they first moved in together back in April 2012."
However if you already have the 2 certified letters stating your relationship is genuine, then that could be good enough so not sure if you need to really get new letters and have the writers get them certified, if it's going to be a big hassle. It really depends how strong you think your other proofs are proving your cohabitation.

You can also include more than 2 letters, but of course any additional ones don't need to be certified.

As for Stat Declaration of Common-law, no it's not an actual requirement. Several people have stated the VO has asked for it, but not sure if this is particular to a certain visa office (it was never asked for in my case). If you want to be safe, since you need to get 2 letters certified anyways, might as well add in the common-law declaration as well since it's not going out of your way.

 

[zardoz]

It doesn't, the poster is wrong. You only need a certified copy of an english document if the guide specifically asks for it. To be "safe" as above poster mentions, you can get every single proof you include certified but this will cost you thousands of dollars and is a waste of money. If a VO really wants a certified copy of something instead of a regular copy even though it's not asked for in the guide, they will ask for it. Yet this basically never happens and regular photocopies are fine.

I only got certified copies of government issued documents and selected financial/legal documents. Total cost under $250.

 

[Rob_TO]

I only got certified copies of government issued documents and selected financial/legal documents. Total cost under $250.

Don't you think if the CIC wanted certified copies of these, they would ask? All CIC forms are specifically requesting just regular photocopies of these items as long as they're in english/french.

If there is a particular case where a VO has reason to believe a photocopy is modified or doctored, they would make a case-specific request for a certified copy of that document. However in the hundreds of cases i've read here from posters where the VO has asked for more info... not even 1 i've seen that involved sending a certified copy of a doc that was not required to be certified in the guide. And if this ever happened it would be case-specific and not relevant to vast majority of applicants.

I would not recommend people to spend $250 needlessly, but instead to simply follow the CIC guide and do what it says. If the VO wants a certified copy of something, let them ask and send if needed, but why waste the $250 up-front?