Online Outland Spousal Application - Notarized Letters from friends and familu

[girishjs111]

Is Notarized letter from friends and family important and required?
If yes, is there a template!

thanks in advance

 

[girishjs111]

Cool. Thanks

Here is what all I am submitting

proof of contact (first WhatsApp chat and subsequent chat snapshots from each month)
marriage certificate
Marriage photos (court as well as traditional). This has both families in them
Pre wedding ceremony photos. Both families were present
Wedding location invoice
Social media update (relationship status on Facebook)
Honeymoon booking (flight, hotel etc)

with these things, would Notarized letter be necessary?

 

[armoured]

with these things, would Notarized letter be necessary?

Short answer, no.

Medium answer: notarized letter of what exactly? Actually I don't really want to know. If they don't ask for it, don't do it.

Assumibg it's just the usual letters: if they don't believe your letters, you have bigger problems than a stamp on them.

 

[armoured]

I do not really think that notarizing adds much weight to a document. Either it's a legitimate document or it is not. I think those at IRCC who adjudicate these applications have a good nose for what is genuine and trustworthy.

The only form of "notarizing" that adds much clout to a document is when the document is put in solemn form, such as an affidavit or a statutory declaration, where the deponent swears to the truth of what they are saying. But, as a practical matter, for someone in a foreign land to swear a false declaration really exposes them to almost no risk.

^^This is the answer I was too lazy to try and phrase so well. I'd add that as far as I'm aware IRCC doesn't want bog standard letters notarized or formally attested within Canada either.

To be clear- unrelated to the above - there are some specific things that usually or often need to be notarized (and I think IRCC always specifies).
-Copies of foreign language documents with certified translation (and in some other cases formal docs from some official institutions);
-documents that engage the person signing to a formal legal position that needs witnessing/notarizing. The only coomon one I'm aware of is the form about permitting minors to accompany a parent to immigrate (i.e. ex-spouse must sign) - important because that parent is practically or potentially giving up a bundle of parental rights (not using formal legal terms here).

But for the 'letter from a friend in support', there's no formal legal position eg a right being given up.