relationship support letters

[minna]

Hi all,

I am gathering my letters from friends and family in support of my common law relationship for the application. But I am going nuts - do the letters have to be notarized? I thought I remembered reading that they did, but now I can't find that reference for the life of me...did I make it up??

Thanks!

 

[iarblue]

Letters from friends and family do not have to be notorized but do include on the letter contact info incase they may be contacted to verify if needed.

 

[Karlshammar]

Agreed, this is exactly what we did, and I was approved without an interview.

Letters from friends and family do not have to be notorized but do include on the letter contact info incase they may be contacted to verify if needed.

 

[minna]

thank you!! I had sworn it had to be notarized, but then I couldn't find anything about it at all!! That makes everything easier!

 

[AllisonVSC]

thank you!! I had sworn it had to be notarized, but then I couldn't find anything about it at all!! That makes everything easier!

I remember that as well and had two of ours notarized. The rest I just printed from their emails.

 

[minna]

ok great- I have some emails to print out, emails from my partner's sister to me, and emails that are to my email address, but kind of addressed to both of us (my partner is kind of techno-phobic, and doesn't do a lot of emailing or online stuff). I wasn't planning on getting those notarized.

I was mostly concerned because I really want to submit our application in the next week or so, and one of my good friends who has written a great letter for us is going out of town and I don't know if I can get her, and I and the letter in front of a notary at the same time... I will just have the people who can notarize a letter for us go ahead and do so, and include her letter as well - it should still have some weight, even un-notarized.

thanks all!!

 

[AllisonVSC]

minna, You do not have to be at the notary too. Just the person who is writing and signing the letter and the notary who basically swears to the identity of person who signed the letter.

 

[silverbee]

Two letters have to be statutory declarations, which means that they have to be notarized by a lawyer, notary public, etc. Additional letters do not have to be.

How many are you sending total?

 

[minna]

Alison - thanks, yeah, I know - but I have a friend who will notarize stuff for free, and my friend writing the letter lives over an hour away from us and she has a sick baby right now - and I don't think I can get her and my notary friend together, although she has already written the letter and will send it in the mail.

I have two notarized letters. So this would be a third letter, so I guess I'm ok.

Although, one of the letters is from my parents and, as well as being supportive of our relationship, it also states that they will provide us a place to live and help us out in any way possible while we settle in Vancouver - can I use this letter for both purposes?? Perhaps I will ask another friend for a supportive letter, and have that notarized - better too many letters than too few, I guess.

 

[MikeUK]

Letters from friends and family do not have to be notorized but do include on the letter contact info incase they may be contacted to verify if needed.

Two letters have to be statutory declarations, which means that they have to be notarized by a lawyer, notary public, etc. Additional letters do not have to be.

How many are you sending total?

Do the statutory declarations only apply to common-law applications? I'm including a few of these letters in my spousal application and never saw anything about them needing to be notarized so I'm hoping iarblue is correct for spousal applications and silverbee is correct for common-law!

 

[lynw]

That's correct for common-law - two statutory declarations.

 

[AllisonVSC]

MikeUK,

Spousal applicants are not required to have statutory declarations because they already have a legal document (marriage certificate) as proof of the relationship. Common law and conjugal applicants need "extra" proof.

Allison

 

[MikeUK]

That's correct for common-law - two statutory declarations.

MikeUK,

Spousal applicants are not required to have statutory declarations because they already have a legal document (marriage certificate) as proof of the relationship. Common law and conjugal applicants need "extra" proof.

Allison

Thank you both! Got worried there for a second

 

[minna]

And my friend with the sick baby who was having trouble finding a notary close to her house was chatting with a neighbor and found out her neighbor is a notary!! Problem solved!

So now we will have two notarized letters and a third notarized one from my parents that can be used just for providing proof of returning to Canada.

 

[AllisonVSC]

And my friend with the sick baby who was having trouble finding a notary close to her house was chatting with a neighbor and found out her neighbor is a notary!! Problem solved!

So now we will have two notarized letters and a third notarized one from my parents that can be used just for providing proof of returning to Canada.

Excellent news.