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Translation of documents and notarizations - help!

JayCBach

Member
Sep 6, 2020
10
0
Category........
FAM
Hello,

My partner and I are working on our common-law sponsorship visa application. We both currently live in Japan, I am Canadian and m partner is British.

On the guide it indicates:
- an affidavit from the person who completed the translation (if they're not a certified translator)

We have a document from our translator is a professional translator as they don't have a system in Japan certifying translators.

Is this sufficient? Does our translator need to provide anything else? any signatures or should we just take the translation and that letter stating she's a professional translator?

I look forward to hearing from you. - Thank you!
 

armoured

VIP Member
Feb 1, 2015
15,225
7,755
We have a document from our translator is a professional translator as they don't have a system in Japan certifying translators.

Is this sufficient? Does our translator need to provide anything else? any signatures or should we just take the translation and that letter stating she's a professional translator?
You may have to get input from someone having dealt with Japanese documents. But first you should check whether the country-specific requirements for Japan give more precise guidance.

Roughly the guideline for most countries is "whatever is standard in that country for translated documents." Sometimes the Embassy may have statements about what is needed (e.g. embassy may say a Japanese birth certificate needs to be accompanied by certified notarised translation). Usually the rule/guideline is mirrored, i.e. what would you need for a foreign-language document in Japan. (Note: leaving aside the issue of apostilles and embassy / country confirmations, which I think Canada rarely requires)

For many countries, the 'standard' is a certified translation + notarial confirmation. (The notary's statement may just be a variation on "this translator tells me it's a true and faithful translation of this document which is also a true copy"). Notarisation more important for official documents ("true copy of a what's app chat" being perhaps meaningless, depending on country)

If in doubt and you really can't get it clarified, translation plus notarisation better than just translation even if accompanied by affidavit. (May cost a bit more) Notarisation just being a legal form in this case of "this translator really did sign this affidavit and really does claim to be a translator")
 

JayCBach

Member
Sep 6, 2020
10
0
Category........
FAM
You may have to get input from someone having dealt with Japanese documents. But first you should check whether the country-specific requirements for Japan give more precise guidance.

Roughly the guideline for most countries is "whatever is standard in that country for translated documents." Sometimes the Embassy may have statements about what is needed (e.g. embassy may say a Japanese birth certificate needs to be accompanied by certified notarised translation). Usually the rule/guideline is mirrored, i.e. what would you need for a foreign-language document in Japan. (Note: leaving aside the issue of apostilles and embassy / country confirmations, which I think Canada rarely requires)

For many countries, the 'standard' is a certified translation + notarial confirmation. (The notary's statement may just be a variation on "this translator tells me it's a true and faithful translation of this document which is also a true copy"). Notarisation more important for official documents ("true copy of a what's app chat" being perhaps meaningless, depending on country)

If in doubt and you really can't get it clarified, translation plus notarisation better than just translation even if accompanied by affidavit. (May cost a bit more) Notarisation just being a legal form in this case of "this translator really did sign this affidavit and really does claim to be a translator")
Thank you so much for your reply.

We currently live in a rural area, on an island that's quite far from the main cities (like Osaka).
- Are online noterizations okay?

The guideline also indicates that we need copies of the documents to be certified as true copies by comparing the original documents to the copy.
- Are the translations sufficient and just have ONE affidavit confirming that ALL the documents translated are true.

Or does EVERY single translated document need to be certified?

Kindest Regards
 

armoured

VIP Member
Feb 1, 2015
15,225
7,755
Thank you so much for your reply.

We currently live in a rural area, on an island that's quite far from the main cities (like Osaka).
- Are online noterizations okay?

The guideline also indicates that we need copies of the documents to be certified as true copies by comparing the original documents to the copy.
- Are the translations sufficient and just have ONE affidavit confirming that ALL the documents translated are true.

Or does EVERY single translated document need to be certified?

Kindest Regards
Unfortunately can't answer your questions. "Certified true copies" in most jurisdictions means notarisation. I would expect that a notary (or equivalent), when providing the certified true copies statement, would want to bind them all together in some way. Whether that works for your case and documents, don't know - in principle workable but details may matter.

It may matter what kind of documents you're translating/certifying. Since you're applying common law, I presume it means a lot of random documents (leases, bank statements, letters, etc) attesting you're living together as of such and such a date.

To be frank, it can be simpler in such cases to get married and the procedures to translate/certify/notarise are more clear. That's your choice though.

For example in my own case with spouse we were a bit lackadaisical about providing proper certification/translation of docs showing we resided together (needed to provide as we'd not been married that long); but on the other hand it was a relatively simple case (child together, living together a long time, etc).

In my view only: it seems some people get caught up on details of common law (e.g. insufficient evidence of having lived together 'and having established a household'), and the 12 month common law requirement should be considered a minimum - or conversely common law should be seen as in a relationship that is incontrovertibly and demonstrably common law spouse-like, and length of time together matters for such a case. Edge cases - barely 12 months living together - get more scrutiny. (Whereas a marriage certificate does not mean 100% that it will be seen as a 'genuine relationship', it does mean a real, provable, verifiable legal step has been taken)

Of course, I know nothing of your case and perhaps none of this is relevant or applicable. If you've been living in your small Japanese town together for 10 years as a couple, quite possibly irrelevant. Just that the hassle of getting an application returned because the common law aspect is not considered sufficiently strong is significant because a refusal takes a long time.
 

michal.svatos

Member
Jun 26, 2019
12
3
Thank you so much for your reply.

We currently live in a rural area, on an island that's quite far from the main cities (like Osaka).
- Are online noterizations okay?

The guideline also indicates that we need copies of the documents to be certified as true copies by comparing the original documents to the copy.
- Are the translations sufficient and just have ONE affidavit confirming that ALL the documents translated are true.

Or does EVERY single translated document need to be certified?

Kindest Regards
Hello! I am quite confused as well...in my case I have: original + translation + affidavit (with stamp of the sworn translator). I don't understand the part of the certified copy. Do I need to provide a certified copy even if I gave to the translator the original? Or maybe IRCC wants it because the translator can't certify that it is the original? So confusing....