Hi all,

Hopefully this will be our last query before all docs get sent off.....just collating all docs for 120 letter and getting myself in a muddle regarding what needs notarizing and what doesn't.

We are sending to the London Visa office (as per instructions as original app went in April to NS), when referring to the London visa office specific instructions it states that all documents, unless otherwise stated, are to be copies, having read through the checklist the only originals they require are Police certificates and the employment reference letters. The only documents it states that need to be notoarized are copies of employment contracts and Professional Qualification docs/certs, surely we need birth certs/passports/divorce certs etc notorized aswell or is this not necessary???????

I think we just need clarification of the type of documents that need notarizing as we were about to submit to the costly prospect of just having absolutely everything notarized which would have also included all college education certificates/mortgage valuation letters/doctor letters (as we are due to have a baby 5 days after our deadline to submit all docs)/plus any other additional or supporting documentation.

Also we were advised by a Notary Public that they cannot notoarize birth certificates, we have to apply for a duplicate to be sent to them direct from the registrar in order to notarize, why do we need another copy of a birth certificate if we have an original????

Sorry such a long winded post, any firm answers would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

Thanks

Michelle

There was a recent poll about this and about half of the respondents didn't bother getting anything notarized (myself included).

I didn't bother either, though I'm still waiting for the outcome. There's a rumour that for UK documents it simply isn't necessary, though I don't believe this has ever been confirmed, asides from the fact plenty of people on this forum didn't notarize their documents and still got PR.

Thanks for the replies, do you think the type of visa applied for makes a difference, we are applying under the FSW visa app, and also do you think they have possibly become more stringent regarding this (not sure when you sent your 120 day docs in but just in case they've moved the goal posts since you applied)????

Thanks again!

M

We had nearly everything certified that it was a true copy by our local solicitor with a 'donation' to a local charity.

It obviously worked as we got our visas in july.

Good luck

DC

HI POWERWRAP

We also had our documents also certified the cost of £90.00 (had about 40 copies)

We feel that it was money well spent as you dont want your application returned and have to start all over again

Hope this helps

Hi Christmasoompa,

Do you know where I would find the poll, just to take a look??

M

Thanks for the reply,

Out of curiosity what made you get the documents certified and not notarized as been told there is a big difference (not just in cost!!!), and was it just certificates or did you get letters etc certified aswell??

Thanks

M

So going by most replies, most people either didn't get it done at all or at least certified by their solicitor, but no one so far has gone as far as getting docs notarized by a notary public going by the costs described) and the visa office has found this sufficient?...hmmmmm .

We are thinking to just get certified and hope for the best, we have been quoted £300 + VAT / hour for a notary and thats on the basis that it all takes approx an hour!!

M

Hi Powerwap,

We submitted all our documents in 2009 and didn't get any of them notarised or certified. All the docs were copies except the Police Certificate where the original was required. This didn't cause any problems and we received our request for medicals about 3 months after submitting the docs.

The letter we received asking for all the docs clearly stated that we should submit photocopies of all documents unless otherwise indicated (which it was for the Police Certificates). It only mentioned certification if any documents weren't in either English or French (which didn't apply any of ours).

Hope this helps.
Yandros

I wasn't going to, however with the rules changing and my NOC code not being on the list Im not risking it, only things I have been told to get certified by my lawyer are copies of: Birth Certs, Passport Bio Data Page, Marriage Cert, Degree Cert. Going rate up here is £50 per document but relative to the other costs personally Im not going to risk it!

Thanks sdo1982,

When you say 'certified', I am asuming you mean just that, not 'notarized', or are you getting employment contracts and professional qualifications notarized as per the instructions and the rest certified???

Thanks again

M

But £50 per document sounds like a cost for notarising, not certifiying - they are different things.
We had the photocopies of our docs "Certified as true copies" by the post office using this service: http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/p...iaId=105000818
£7 for three docs. I think we had something like 15 photocopies certified. We've had nothing notarised. We're waiting to go In Process, so time will tell if that's OK, but we're confident.

We don't have employment contracts or professional qualification certificates to notarize, by the way...

And here it is:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=678566

When we went through the PR process, I contacted a couple of impartial Canadian Lawyers as well as consulting our own Solicitors in the UK. While there is a big difference between notarising and certifying, for the purposes of document verification (which is what this is all about), certifying the necessary documents is acceptable. If I had to go through it all again, given the tough stance being taken by almost all Countries on immigration, I would be inclined not to leave anything to chance.

Times have changed for all of us and it would be a shame to be rejected for something you have complete control over....