Any experience about the Thai wife's application or notarization stuff?

[yjl930625]

Hello guys, I am having too much headache for my wife's PR application.


There are some Thai documents I have been dealing with such as the birth certificate, marriage certificate whether I should get it translated and notarized or I could just use the document in English gained from one of the Thai government ministry.
Knowing that the IRCC accepts the documents in English or French but I am not 100% positive that they do it without any legalization(authentication?) or notarization even if it's printed out in English in Thailand

1. Send all of the Thai documents in Thai to a Canadian certified Thai-English translator.
-> Seems it costs a lot of money because I have 10 pages of the conversation and some pics that I need to proof our relationship between my wife and myself and other documents other than the birth & marriage certificate.
->Easy and best but really pricey.(at least 1 grand)

2. Print out of the ones in English in Thailand and directly upload it to the IRCC.
-> Seems it is really cheapest and simple but I am not sure if it's allowed to attach it without any legalization because some info might not be shown in English but it shows in Thai.
->Not sure if if's allowed without any legalization like going to the Thailand ministry of foreign affairs or the Canadian embassy or cousulate in Bangkok.

3. Use a local(Bangkok) notary service lawyer for the translation that is need and notarized plus only for the notarization on the document that is printed out in English from the Thai government.
->As expensive as getting in done by a Canadian certified translator.
->some people said the IRCC doesn't accept it.


If someone has come through with something like this situation then can you share some experience or your insight please?

 

[Charlamanderxxxx]

Hello guys, I am having too much headache for my wife's PR application.


There are some Thai documents I have been dealing with such as the birth certificate, marriage certificate whether I should get it translated and notarized or I could just use the document in English gained from one of the Thai government ministry.
Knowing that the IRCC accepts the documents in English or French but I am not 100% positive that they do it without any legalization(authentication?) or notarization even if it's printed out in English in Thailand

1. Send all of the Thai documents in Thai to a Canadian certified Thai-English translator.
-> Seems it costs a lot of money because I have 10 pages of the conversation and some pics that I need to proof our relationship between my wife and myself and other documents other than the birth & marriage certificate.
->Easy and best but really pricey.(at least 1 grand)

2. Print out of the ones in English in Thailand and directly upload it to the IRCC.
-> Seems it is really cheapest and simple but I am not sure if it's allowed to attach it without any legalization because some info might not be shown in English but it shows in Thai.
->Not sure if if's allowed without any legalization like going to the Thailand ministry of foreign affairs or the Canadian embassy or cousulate in Bangkok.

3. Use a local(Bangkok) notary service lawyer for the translation that is need and notarized plus only for the notarization on the document that is printed out in English from the Thai government.
->As expensive as getting in done by a Canadian certified translator.
->some people said the IRCC doesn't accept it.


If someone has come through with something like this situation then can you share some experience or your insight please?

Hi, I am Thai and I applied for PR in 2023. All the birth certificate and other government related documents, I had someone here, a Canadian-certified Thai-English translator do it for me, No issues at all. Yes, it might be pricey but very convenient. For proof of relationship eg, conversation, if it is already in English, I didn't get it translated. Same as the photos to prove your relationship, that didn't need to get translated, you just need to do it in Microsoft Word/Google doc with a brief explanation underneath each photo and save it as PDF.

If I remember correctly, I only got the birth certificate translated ( my husband and I got married in Canada so our marriage certificate is from here already).

 

[armoured]

There are some Thai documents I have been dealing with such as the birth certificate, marriage certificate whether I should get it translated and notarized or I could just use the document in English gained from one of the Thai government ministry.
Knowing that the IRCC accepts the documents in English or French but I am not 100% positive that they do it without any legalization(authentication?) or notarization even if it's printed out in English in Thailand

I have no experience with the specific Thai documents/Thai docs in general.

But I can provide this general:
-country specific requirements that IRCC may publish override any general instructions (I don't think there are any for Thailand but check).
-if the Thai docs in English are considered originals (or 'extracts' in many cases from civil register, sometimes called duplicates, but printed on official paper etc) usually there will be no need for either authentication or notarization.
-if substantially all the text is in English or French (if multilingual doc, that's fine IF it's clear all the info is same), then just a photocopy should be enough.
-the need for notarization comes up IF the official doc is translated, then the notarized copy must be attached.
-for non-official docs, you basically don't need the notarized copy, just make sure the translator keeps them together.

There's basically no need for anyone official to attest that this is really a copy of ten pages of chats (they don't actually know this was a real chat history) - for that the key is that the translator says "this is what I translated and it's a true translation." For official docs the point of the notarized copy is that the notary has personally examined eg the birth certificate and it is/appears to be a real official birth certificate and it's a real copy of that birth certificate. (Note, I'm not a lawyer or notary - they might quibble with my paraphrasing or specifics by jurisdiction. YMMV).

Honestly, you might decide for safety to get the critical documents translated and copy notarized (for critical mainly birth and marriage certificates, divorce certs if applicable). Up to you. (Personally that expense sounds high but perhaps that was including notarized copies of the chat originals?)

As far as I'm aware IRCC does not send back applications if eg a document called birth certificate that is clearly in English is there. But I can't guarantee that. Instead they'd usually later in process send a request for additional information, where they tell you that such-and-such a doc needs translation.

YMMV of course.

 

[yjl930625]

I have no experience with the specific Thai documents/Thai docs in general.

But I can provide this general:
-country specific requirements that IRCC may publish override any general instructions (I don't think there are any for Thailand but check).
-if the Thai docs in English are considered originals (or 'extracts' in many cases from civil register, sometimes called duplicates, but printed on official paper etc) usually there will be no need for either authentication or notarization.
-if substantially all the text is in English or French (if multilingual doc, that's fine IF it's clear all the info is same), then just a photocopy should be enough.
-the need for notarization comes up IF the official doc is translated, then the notarized copy must be attached.
-for non-official docs, you basically don't need the notarized copy, just make sure the translator keeps them together.

There's basically no need for anyone official to attest that this is really a copy of ten pages of chats (they don't actually know this was a real chat history) - for that the key is that the translator says "this is what I translated and it's a true translation." For official docs the point of the notarized copy is that the notary has personally examined eg the birth certificate and it is/appears to be a real official birth certificate and it's a real copy of that birth certificate. (Note, I'm not a lawyer or notary - they might quibble with my paraphrasing or specifics by jurisdiction. YMMV).

Honestly, you might decide for safety to get the critical documents translated and copy notarized (for critical mainly birth and marriage certificates, divorce certs if applicable). Up to you. (Personally that expense sounds high but perhaps that was including notarized copies of the chat originals?)

As far as I'm aware IRCC does not send back applications if eg a document called birth certificate that is clearly in English is there. But I can't guarantee that. Instead they'd usually later in process send a request for additional information, where they tell you that such-and-such a doc needs translation.

YMMV of course.

Thank you for your thorough explanation.
Probably, I suppose I will need to follow the safety first. There are no specific docs for Thai application like you said but when I got the marriage certificate in english printed out, there was no 1 important page whereas the one in Thai, there was. A Thai official said it's up to me. they don't issue it in English.

And for sure, 1 grand includes the conversation too haha... except for this, it wouldn't be much. $100~200 give or take..
You made my problems clear.

 

[yjl930625]

Hi, I am Thai and I applied for PR in 2023. All the birth certificate and other government related documents, I had someone here, a Canadian-certified Thai-English translator do it for me, No issues at all. Yes, it might be pricey but very convenient. For proof of relationship eg, conversation, if it is already in English, I didn't get it translated. Same as the photos to prove your relationship, that didn't need to get translated, you just need to do it in Microsoft Word/Google doc with a brief explanation underneath each photo and save it as PDF.

If I remember correctly, I only got the birth certificate translated ( my husband and I got married in Canada so our marriage certificate is from here already).

Thank you for sharing your experience as a Thai view.

IMO, I need to get the critical docs in Thai printed out and send it over to a Canadian certified thai-english translator like you did and should commence working on the proof of relationship now.

You gave a way I need to come through.

 

[armoured]

And for sure, 1 grand includes the conversation too haha... except for this, it wouldn't be much. $100~200 give or take..
You made my problems clear.

You may be able to save money if you make it clear you do NOT need the notarized copy of the conversation in Thai. Just have the translator attach to their translation.

 

[yjl930625]

You may be able to save money if you make it clear you do NOT need the notarized copy of the conversation in Thai. Just have the translator attach to their translation.

I don't 100% follow you about "Just have the translator attach to their translation."
Did you mean use the translation in our chat application like auto translation? or hire a translator and get it translated without any notarization by the foreign affairs Thailand?

And there is one thing that I am not sure of. My wife and I we usually had a chat in English but a lot of times, she and I we used like "please" in Thai(Ka for women, Krap for men) at the end of the sentences.
For example, "Have a great night ka" something like this. In this case you suppose we should get it translated too...?

 

[armoured]

I don't 100% follow you about "Just have the translator attach to their translation."
Did you mean use the translation in our chat application like auto translation? or hire a translator and get it translated without any notarization by the foreign affairs Thailand?

And there is one thing that I am not sure of. My wife and I we usually had a chat in English but a lot of times, she and I we used like "please" in Thai(Ka for women, Krap for men) at the end of the sentences.
For example, "Have a great night ka" something like this. In this case you suppose we should get it translated too...?

I'm saying get those chats properly translated but do not have the original notarized. Have the translator attach the one to the other. Notarization is important if the original was an official document. If notarization is expensive, that may save a lot of money.

If chats are in english with the occasional foreign word, no, I wouldn't get that translated. Just put a note that you sometimes have mixed language chats, esp for simple words. Canadian officials should get that, n'est-ce pas?

 

[yjl930625]

I'm saying get those chats properly translated but do not have the original notarized. Have the translator attach the one to the other. Notarization is important if the original was an official document. If notarization is expensive, that may save a lot of money.

If chats are in english with the occasional foreign word, no, I wouldn't get that translated. Just put a note that you sometimes have mixed language chats, esp for simple words. Canadian officials should get that, n'est-ce pas?

I got this crystal clear.
Thank you for your valuable time.

 

[pooky73]

You should get a quote from docsbase. They did my translations and they were accepted by IRCC. The price you were quoted seems quite steep.