northernbird

I have just picked up my notarised documents. My solicitor is a very nice chap but I think he must have been Dick Turpin in a previous life as he has just charged me £650 for notarising 153 documents. I know a lot of you have not had documents notarised and have made your way through the process without a hitch but I am a bit of a worrier and would not have been able to cope with the v. long wait without having them done. Mr NB will be taking the package to CHC early next week and then the waiting begins.

Headhurts

153 documents....!!!!! :scared:

I wouldn't have thought it possible to have that many documents that required notarising. If I knew it was going to be £650, I think I would have just got the essential documentation done and taken a chance with the rest.

Yasmina2005

what are you guys notorizing?

mhhp

Welcome to the wait

Voyager970

Every piece of documentation apart from

Application forms
Reference letters from present and past employers
Police Certificates, which must be original documents
Any university degree transcripts must also be original

It quite clearly states this in the London checklist

I have my lawyer booked for Thursday to get all docs notarised, about 70 pages.

Eddie

Yasmina2005

Thanks for your reply. I did not notorize any document Maybe i have to do it when i want to apply for a job

NB: I got PR visa last week and will be landing soon. i am a Ph.D.student in an American University.

gooding

ALthough like you we did get most of our docs notorised, we like you had not found then, the other information from CHC London that you actually do not need to get all info notarised. ( it is hard to find but it is in their manuals)
I think you have been had. Sorry, I paid £150, did you not ask the costs first??
if you had done a search on the forum you would have found many different costs some about £60 but none at £650!!!!! That is ridiculous, and I would have personally questioned this. Well I would have asked first! it is too late now, but I think he should be reported to someone.

Is your solicitor an actual notary??
A solicitor cannot actually "notarise" a document, unless he is also a "notary"
A solicitor can only "certify" it is a copy, this is actually different to notarising.
Although it probably will not matter to your application,as all paper work apart from main application is actually trashed by CHC once recorded on your CAIPs file and they believe it to be true. It is only if they suspect the documents to be fraudulent that they would keep hold to check out.

It is because they say there is a high incidence for fraud with education, work, birth and marriage certificates that they ask for notorisation in some cases, as it saves time for their officers, if somone else has checked out the paper work prior to sending. This is why we are glad to have done ours. If any thing was amiss it would also be the notary that could be dropped in it for notarising a document as being a true copy of an original if it wasn't.
In the Uk it is fairly easy to verify original birth marriage and education docs. But for overseas it takes them longer, without someone notarising, epecially if docs are not in English.

There is an association of British Notaries, whom I found on the internet. This is how I found ours, and they all quoted about the same. It seemed to be about £150 an hour.

Alberta_Rose

This is a new quote, obtained today from somebody who accosted the CHC representative at the Sandown Emigrate show.....

"Now: NOTARISING DOCUMENTS:
I spoke to a lady at CIC and asked what the requirements were for getting documents notarised. She said and I quote "We do not insist that UK documents are notarised" - I then queried that the CIC checklist didn't request it but the London Visa office checklist did and she stated that "it is not a requirement"

So, I think that finally cleared that one up! "

unless YOU know different!!!!?????

Voyager970

The question you need to ask yourself is

Are you willing to take the chance that if you did not get your docs notarised, that they will be processed OK. Yes, I agree, some people have taken the chance and they quite lucky that things have went OK for them.

But Hey, I am not willing to take the chance. If is costs me £650 or £200 then it will be worth it, for pure peace of mind.
I think that if you stick to the guidlines in the London checklist, you will be fine. It quite clearly states that all documents need to be notarised, except police clearance forms.
Taking a chance and not sticking to the guidelines could in fact jeopordise your whole application. What if you get the new recently qualified visa officer who is a stickler for everthing being by the book

BBBBYYEEE application returned !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eddie

Biiiiink

Eddie,

I wonder if you're going to the same solicitor/notary as me? His notary seal thingy said "Aye Ready"... apparently you can choose whatever you like on your seal and he chose that to wind up a few of his colleagues Good guy, and very reasonable at 90 GBP for many, many documents (sponsorship app and uni app).

Biiiiink

kki6

I think the information fromCIC needs to be clearer in this regard. Paying £650 seems a bit much but what's the price of having peace of mind??

We didn't notarise anything but I'm not sure if its because we used the London Visa Office (re: thread from Morenwa) or if it was because the application was for family class!!

Still thinking about the £650 ......

Alberta_Rose

At the risk of repeating myself (again) I remind you that the London .org site "quite clearly" asks for photocopies and makes no mention of notarising copies.

And again at the risk of repeating myself, I ask if there is anyone who knows anyone who has had their application returned/delayed on account of not notarising documents?

However I am getting sick of this whole subject. People always say you MUST have this and you MUST do that, whatever the evidence to the contrary!

...... I think we should ALL get ALL our mattresses notarised, our dogs fumigated, and our documents microchipped and vaccinated against rabies!!!!

What price peace of mind eh?

northernbird

I understand totally what you are saying but if you go to the cic.gc.ca website and never visit the canada.org site then you have no way of knowing that there is conflicting information. I have paid way over the odds for my documents and there probably is no need to have done it but it makes me feel better so who is everyone to judge.

Alberta_Rose

No I'm sorry NB, I am crotchety because I am on edge waiting to hear ....like many others, but I did not mean to judge you.

The CIC/CHC with their conflicting instructions just get my goat. I apologise. You have to do what you have to do.

Morwenna

kki6

With that all clear now, drinks all around to calm nerves and tempers