Tino

I am preparing the required documentation for me (L-1A) and my wifes (L-2) embassy appointment in London next month and one of the documents required is our original marriage certificate. We got married in France so only have it in French right now, so I had a few queries.
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1. Can my wife (native French) provide the translation and declare it using the "magic language"? The immigration lawyer advised yes.
2. Assuming #1 is correct, does she literally just create a copy as a Word document in the same format as original but add at the very bottom the "magic language" then print and sign it?
3. Does the translation need to be notarized? The immigration lawyer advised yes.
4. Assuming #3 is correct, how exactly would we go about this? As it is in French I assume it's not something the UK or US embassies will help with, and the French embassy do not notarize at all apparently. So will it need to be a Notary that is fluent in French?
5. I'm a bit confused about what the Notary will notarize if my wife translates. They would add their stamp on the same document as my wife's translated version?

Thanks!

Hotscot

What's that mean,'magic language'?

Noorah101

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. No.

Rene

Pulaski

Generally a notary is formally verifying and/or confirming an identity, qualification, document/ copy, or signature, so I am no sure what the notary would be doing, what form or verification or confirmation they would be providing, by notarizing a translation - unless it was to verify/ confirm the credentials of the person who had prepared the translation.

Just adding a notary's stamp and signature to a document doesn't per se add any value, and I doubt a notary would do that.

Noorah101

Search the marriage based forum for that phrase, you'll see what it means.

Rene

Noorah101

I translated my foreign husband's documents and did not get anything notarized. It was all accepted by USCIS.

Rene

Tino

"I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on <date>."

Pulaski

Which is not of much value, unless done in front of a notary.

Tino

This seems to contradict Rene's replies

Pulaski

Not really - she didn't say she added the "magic language", maybe she implied she had, but I am not sure. All I said was that adding that wording doesn't mean much unless your declaration/oath is notarized.

From what Noorah said, it doesn't sound like it is much of an issue either way.

Tino

I see. I was basing it on previous comments here, for example:

German Police Certificate

Noorah101

Yes, I used the magic language as referred to in the link posted.

A notary doesn't give any credibility to the contents of the document or the translator's capability, so notarization here means nothing, and is not required.

Rene

Pulaski

The notary would have been notarizing your oath, not the translation, same as a Commissioner of Oaths would do.* Apparently USCIS didn't care about that though in your case.

* On attending an interview as part of the immigration or naturalization process, you are initially asked by the USCIS officer to swear the same declaration , and that (swearing that in front of the USCIS officer) serves the same purpose as swearing it remotely in front of a Notary or Commissioner of Oaths.

civilservant

Even without being notarized, the magic language still carries legal weight - otherwise why bother? I think the point is that someone has stated, under penalty of perjury, that's it correct. Not that USCIS would pursue someone under that statue, but still.

Pulaski

Anyone can swear anything they like. The point is that the Notary or Commissioner of Oaths is a formal, documented witness to the oath being sworn, without the witness there is no case for perjury - no witness, no case.