Additional documents

[MalihaUmair]

Hi,
I need to ask about the additional documents like marriage certificate, police character certificate, if they should be attested by foreign office ministry in order to send for immigration.
If yes, then can you please list all the documents that needs to attested. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[armoured]

Hi,
I need to ask about the additional documents like marriage certificate, police character certificate, if they should be attested by foreign office ministry in order to send for immigration.
If yes, then can you please list all the documents that needs to attested. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

Depends on country. Look up the country specific requirements and go through the checklist for the docs that are needed.

For most countries if not in English of French certified copy plus certified translation.

 

[MalihaUmair]

Hi, thank you for your prompt response.
I have go through country specific requirements. I have arranged all the documents listed there but the only part that confuses me is that whether the translated marriage certificate and other documents should be attested from ministry of foreign affairs or not. As this is not mentioned on the cic page.

 

[Huntingwhale]

Hi,
I need to ask about the additional documents like marriage certificate, police character certificate, if they should be attested by foreign office ministry in order to send for immigration.
If yes, then can you please list all the documents that needs to attested. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

For our Ukrainian wedding certificate, yes we did have to get it legalized at both the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv. I checked with both Embassy's multiple times in Ukraine to confirm the process and they walked me through step by step on how to get it done. It was a major pain in the ass, but we got it done eventually.

Not sure if that's specific for Ukraine or if it's like that everywhere. But both embassy's in Ukraine told me that for it to be submitted with my sponsorship application, this was the process that needed to be done.

 

[armoured]

Hi, thank you for your prompt response.
I have go through country specific requirements. I have arranged all the documents listed there but the only part that confuses me is that whether the translated marriage certificate and other documents should be attested from ministry of foreign affairs or not. As this is not mentioned on the cic page.

If it does not specify that it's required, as far as I'm aware,no.

It might help if you specify country.

 

[armoured]

For our Ukrainian wedding certificate, yes we did have to get it legalized at both the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv. I checked with both Embassy's multiple times in Ukraine to confirm the process and they walked me through step by step on how to get it done. It was a major pain in the ass, but we got it done eventually.

Not sure if that's specific for Ukraine or if it's like that everywhere. But both embassy's in Ukraine told me that for it to be submitted with my sponsorship application, this was the process that needed to be done.

Was this at the time of the marriage or for the sponsorship?

 

[haddad287]

I highly recommend all legal documents be translated by a licensed translator. And also certified by the external Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Do not submit any document's to IRCC without the documents being certified.

Even if you know people who have just gotten away with just translating it. Do not risk it.

 

[armoured]

I highly recommend all legal documents be translated by a licensed translator. And also certified by the external Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Do not submit any document's to IRCC without the documents being certified.

A translation must be done by a certified translator but the specifics vary by country.

From LOTS of countries there is no requirement for government (eg MFA) to be involved, the copy/notarization can be done by certified translator plus notary.

 

[haddad287]

A translation must be done by a certified translator but the specifics vary by country.

From LOTS of countries there is no requirement for government (eg MFA) to be involved, the copy/notarization can be done by certified translator plus notary.

Yes for translator,

I would get MFA involved for all documents. I have heard of stores of documents being returned. Why take the chance.

 

[armoured]

Yes for translator,

I would get MFA involved for all documents. I have heard of stores of documents being returned. Why take the chance.

Again - what countries ? For many countries this is a pointless step.

Here's a better idea: follow the instructions.

 

[haddad287]

Again - what countries ? For many countries this is a pointless step.

Here's a better idea: follow the instructions.

Just because the instructions do not state do not get MFA approved. Does not mean you should not get it.

A lot of the IRCC documents do not tell you directly what needs to be done, you need to read between the lines.

Does it hurt to spend a couple extra hours to get it MFA approved? I geuss not. If you do not want to, thats fine, but I am talking from Experience.

Even if I list you the countries, does not matter.

There are a lot of extra stuff that needs to be done that's not part of the instructions btw.

 

[nedvert]

I am going to think that it's better to follow the specific instructions versus drawing conclusions. I mean in some cases they ask for photocopies so you would think that would be OK? I have certified copies of my marriage certificate and other documents however it says a photocopy will suffice.

I might cause them to return it if I don't use whatever they told me to use in the directions?

I am fairly certain that many have been approved based on my research here without doing those extra steps unless requested in the specific country requirements.

These types of responses can cause confusion and make us second guess so please be careful

Thanks

 

[armoured]

Just because the instructions do not state do not get MFA approved. Does not mean you should not get it.

Actually it pretty much does mean that.

Does it hurt to spend a couple extra hours to get it MFA approved? I geuss not. If you do not want to, thats fine, but I am talking from Experience.

Even if I list you the countries, does not matter.

I don't know if I'm talking from capital-letter Experience, but this is not my only time around the block.

Does it 'hurt' to do pointless extra steps? Well, for some, getting this done at MFA is not painless - it can be lengthy, costly, and involve extra travel.

More importantly, if doing pointless extra steps means spending time on things that are not needed, a risk - possibly significant - that applicants will concentrate on the wrong things and miss what is important.

For background for those that actually pay attention: in many countries, the process of getting documents authenticated (sometimes called apostille'd) by foreign ministry/similar designated agency is common because they are signatories to the Hague Convention - notably for example USA is a signatory. Canada is NOT a signatory and uses its own approach country-by-country (why Canada does not participate is a separate issue but short form, federalism and the constitution - these docs are often provincial responsibility).

(The annoying thing for Canadians is some other countries will require this, and so Global Affairs kind-of sort-of provides the service where absolutely necessary, but it's costly and slow and hard to do from abroad.)

So b/c Canada is not in the Hague Convention, there's no presumption that Hague-type authentications are necessary or sufficient. IRCC may require it from some countries but it's far from 'standard.'

But sure, if it makes anyone feel better to do it when not necessary, go ahead.

 

[armoured]

I am going to think that it's better to follow the specific instructions versus drawing conclusions. I mean in some cases they ask for photocopies so you would think that would be OK? I have certified copies of my marriage certificate and other documents however it says a photocopy will suffice.

I might cause them to return it if I don't use whatever they told me to use in the directions?

I am fairly certain that many have been approved based on my research here without doing those extra steps unless requested in the specific country requirements.

In general, for most countries, if the original document is in English or French, photocopy is what is required. They certainly wouldn't reject a certified copy (which is basically just a notary putting a stamp on saying 'this is a real copy.')

For some countries and some documents they may require a certified copy or even an original (in most cases 'original' does not mean eg the first birth certificate issued but an original extract from the civil registry or equivalent - i.e. what you get when you apply for a 'new' birth certificate, it's not a copy but an original 'extract'.)

These types of responses can cause confusion and make us second guess so please be careful

Agree. I have tried to be careful and say check for each country, don't pretend to know all cases, but IRCC mostly is pretty straightforward about what's needed (and for some reason people don't ... read the instructions.).

Don't know case for your country though.

 

[MalihaUmair]

Thank you for the suggestions, I belong to Pakistan. And I have checked the country specific requirements too.

MFA are asking for all the original documents to attest. (They dont attest the photocopy).
Furthermore, IRCC are asking for photocopies for most of the documents.

I don’t know if I should go for original documents attestation then I can photocopy them and send it to IRCC.