How long is the single status certificate valid for?

[tommyn79]

I applied for a marriage search a month ago, I think the document will come in next week, then I will have to go somewhere to have it legalized. That means I will lose more than a month.... and I will get married in mid May .. .. Do you think my single status certificate will still be valid until the end of June?

Thanks

 

[fandv]

I applied for a marriage search a month ago, I think the document will come in next week, then I will have to go somewhere to have it legalized. That means I will lose more than a month.... and I will get married in mid May .. .. Do you think my single status certificate will still be valid until the end of June?

Thanks

I'm afraid I can't answer this...you'd have to ask the Vietnamese authorities (i.e.: the guys from the Vietnamese civil registry?), and you should cross check with the Canadian embassy at Vietnam...

I obtained my single status certificate from the Canadian embassy in Indonesia, and they advised me to apply for the certificate no sooner than 2 months prior to the wedding. I applied for mine 3 months before my wedding, and it got accepted just fine by the Indonesian civil registry and the cathedral church where we got married.

However it may be different in Vietnam...

 

[greenoil]

You need to go to the website of the embassy of [country] and follow the instructions, also call them to make sure what they need, usually fees, translation charges, etc...
You will need Statements In Lieu of Certificate of Non-Impediment to Marriage Abroad, check this link:
http://international.gc.ca/about-a_propos/authentication-authentification_documents.aspx?view=d

All documents you will bring to [country] to get marriage will need to go through notary public(lawyer, commissioner,...) ->Department of Foreign Affairs -> Embassy of [country]

Make sure you calculate the time right, collect all documents including boarding passes when you visited the country previously, don't give the local authorities reason to shake down your $. They know it will cost you more to fly back and wait.

 

[tommyn79]

You need to go to the website of the embassy of [country] and follow the instructions, also call them to make sure what they need, usually fees, translation charges, etc...
You will need Statements In Lieu of Certificate of Non-Impediment to Marriage Abroad, check this link:
http://international.gc.ca/about-a_propos/authentication-authentification_documents.aspx?view=d

All documents you will bring to [country] to get marriage will need to go through notary public(lawyer, commissioner,...) ->Department of Foreign Affairs -> Embassy of [country]

Make sure you calculate the time right, collect all documents including boarding passes when you visited the country previously, don't give the local authorities reason to shake down your $. They know it will cost you more to fly back and wait.

Wow this is so complicated .. I thought I could do all the paper work by myself without hiring anyone ... I'm totally confused and worried

Ok.. now..

After I got the marriage search document and Statements In Lieu of Certificate of Non-Impediment to Marriage Abroad, Do I need to have them notarized by a lawyer? then send them to Ottawa for authentication? then have them translated in my language?
And where can I obtain the Statements In Lieu of Certificate of Non-Impediment to Marriage Abroad.

Second Question
If I don't want to go thru all these headache, then I have to hire a lawyer to do all this.. how much will it cost me?

 

[truesmile]

Lot of these "headaches" you have to do "in person" anyway, so not sure how much leg-work the Tylenol errr 'lawyer' that you're looking for will be of helpful remedy to. Others dealing with the same foreign country abroad could be of much more assistance if you could volunteer the foreign country in question.

 

[fandv]

Wow this is so complicated .. I thought I could do all the paper work by myself without hiring anyone ... I'm totally confused and worried

Ok.. now..

After I got the marriage search document and Statements In Lieu of Certificate of Non-Impediment to Marriage Abroad, Do I need to have them notarized by a lawyer? then send them to Ottawa for authentication? then have them translated in my language?
And where can I obtain the Statements In Lieu of Certificate of Non-Impediment to Marriage Abroad.

Second Question
If I don't want to go thru all these headache, then I have to hire a lawyer to do all this.. how much will it cost me?

Hey man, relax....it's not as bad as it seems ;D

First of all, I have a feeling that you're confusing/mixing your wedding with the sponsorship application...

The certificate of non-impediment to marriage abroad, absolutely has nothing to do with the sponsorship process. I know nobody on earth that hired a lawyer just to get that certificate, because it's extremely easy (and cheap) to obtain .

The certificate is related/has to do with your wedding.....basically many civil registries in many countries require that couples that are about to get married provide that certificate. Since you're a Canadian, the easiest thing to do is to obtain it from the Canadian embassy in Vietnam.

(By the way, did you or yor wife get in touch with the Vietnamese civil registry? Did they even say that they require that certificate??)

Here's the contact page of the Canadian embassy in Vietnam:

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/vietnam/offices-bureaux/hanoi.aspx?lang=eng&view=d#a2

If I were you, I'd email them and follow up with a phone call. Ask them how to get the certificate of non-impediment to marriage, and they will tell you what they need. In my case, the Canadian embassy in Indonesia asked for the following:

- Photocopies of my passport and my wife's passport
- Birth certificate (if born in Canada) or Citizenship Card (if born outside Canada) of the Canadian citizen
- Divorce documents if any of us was married before (we were never married previously, so we didn't provide this obviously)
- Contact information for both of us (includes complete address and phone number)
- Declaration from the Non-Canadian Citizen concerning their nationality and marital status
- CAD 30 payment (we sent them something that resembles a bank draft...not sure how to explain that...I think it only exists in Indonesia.)

Trust me, it's very easy and quick to get...I know that because I did that myself, because I got married in my wife's country (Indonesia). It cost me about CAD 30. And it took about 1 week to process (I asked the Canadian embassy in Indonesia to mail it to my wife's house). They gave me 2 versions; one in Indonesian, and one in English. Of course, I gave the Indonesian version to the Indonesian civil registry. Make sure you ask for 2 versions too...one in English, and one in Vietnamese.

And just to clarify: you don't need to notarize the certificate, nor do you need to send them to Ottawa ;D . Actually I don't know what the Vietnamese authorities want...but in my case, I never did any of those things...I just gave the Indonesian version to the Indonesian civil registry, and they just accepted it without questioning it whatsoever.

Trust me, it's very easy...no need to hire a lawyer

Note 1: once again, this certificate has absolutely NOTHING to do with sponsoring your wife to Canada. The CIC doesn't require you to include this certificate with the sponsorship application

Note 2: my wife was also required by the Indonesian civil registry, and by the cathedral church where we got married, to get a statement that stated that she was single. However, obviously she didn't get it from the Canadian embassy. She got it from an Indonesian organization/government office that provides these things. So what you should do is: ask the Vietnamese authorities whether your wife needs such a statement too, and if so, ask them from which government organization/office/body she can obtain such a statement...

Again, just go here, and email + call the Canadian embassy @ Vietnam to ask for your Statement In Lieu of Certificate of Non-Impediment to Marriage Abroad:

http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/vietnam/offices-bureaux/hanoi.aspx?lang=eng&view=d#a2

 

[tommyn79]

Thank you fandv ..I feel relieved a bit now.. .. , and I will follow your instruction
I will call them on monday.

- Declaration from the Non-Canadian Citizen concerning their nationality and marital status

What documents do I need for this?

and for the single status certificate .. do I need to notarize it, and send it to Ottawa for authentification, then do the translation after?
if so.. then ..which step goes first.. translation first or authentification

 

[fandv]

Thank you fandv ..I feel relieved a bit now.. .. , and I will follow your instruction
I will call them on monday.What documents do I need for this?

and for the single status certificate .. do I need to notarize it, and send it to Ottawa for authentification, then do the translation after?
if so.. then ..which step goes first.. translation first or authentification

Your spouse (the Vietnamese) just has to write a letter, specifying that she is single and Vietnamese.

No you don't do any of those things...like I mentioned, they gave me 2 versions, in Indonesian and English, so I didn't even need to translate it. I didn't need to notarise it or send it to Ottawa, and the Indonesian civil registry just accepted it without any questions whatsoever.

However just to be on the safe side, you need to ask the Vietnamese authorities what they want......

 

[tommyn79]

Wait I'm a bit confused now..
I'm talking about the Single Status Certificate .. and you keep mentioning about the Statements In Lieu of Certificate of Non-Impediment to Marriage Abroad

Do they need both documents or either one ?
So far I understand what you said about the Statements In Lieu of Certificate of Non-Impediment to Marriage Abroad, that I just have to contact the Canadian embassy in Vietnam to have it sent to my future wife

This is what it says clearly on the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada website "If you intend to marry in Vietnam, your Statement In Lieu of Certificate of Non-Impediment to Marriage must be issued no more than three months before your intended marriage date."

Do they need the Single Status Certificate as well?
and one thing I don't really understand what you wrote early about the "Declaration from the Non-Canadian Citizen concerning their nationality and marital status

What documents should I provide for this?

 

[greenoil]

Again 1:
All documents you will bring to Vietnam to get marriage will need to go through notary public(lawyer, commissioner,...) ->Department of Foreign Affairs of Canada (to certify the documents are legal in Canada guaranteed by the Government of Canada)-> Embassy of Vietnam (to certify the documents are indeed legal, and will be translated to local language to be used in Vietnam)

Have you read instructions on the Embassy of VN in Canada's website?
If not, read it carefully at : http://vietem-ca.com/html/service.html

Again 2: do call the embassy to confirm what you need to do and their fees

Again 3: Time it right, to collect all the documents in time for your wedding

You do need Single Status Declaration (very important). A sample is here http://www.drembassy.org/english/Consular%20Services/sample_marriage.pdf

Frustration in a foreign country is huge when you marry a foreigner, make it less headache by doing as much as you can before you head to the airport.

 

[tommyn79]

Thank you very much.. this info is very helpful