My partner is a US citizen, I'm a Canadian citizen, and he wants to immigrate to Canada so we can be together. We will be applying for permanent resident sponsorship in 2023 but are trying to be prepared ahead of time since it seems like anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
He lived in Hangzhou from 2012 to 2014, so Immigrations Canada may request a "Certificate of No Criminal Convictions (issued by the local police station and Public Security Bureau [PSB] office) or Notary Certificate of No Criminal Convictions (issued by the Notary Public Office)" from him, and we want to be ready ahead of time in case that happens. Neither one of us can read Chinese or speak any dialect of it.
Firstly, I have no idea what the difference is between a "Certificate of No Criminal Convictions" and a "Notary Certificate of No Criminal Convictions", and have not figured it out after days of attempting to google Chinese terms that I transcribed from looking at sample documents. I have come across probably 10+ services and/or law firms online that are offering one or the other of these things, but all have varying documentation requirements and widely varying costs from $400 CAD to well over $1500 USD, and many of which I'm only partially understanding via Google Translate.
We're in a bit of a pickle with documentation. He still has the passport he used while he lived in Hangzhou, complete with his yearly visas, yearly residence permits, and entry stamps. This we can provide no problem. However, he no longer has a TRRF or any other kind of proof of residence. He lived with a friend in China who took care of all the living arrangements, and the friend recently contacted the real estate agent to ask if he had any paperwork left for my partner, but he does not.
He -also- no longer has any documents that could serve as proof of employment. And the English school that he taught at for his entire stay seems to have shut down in 2015, and every attempt we've made to get in contact with someone who might have a lead on any sort of paperwork on the work or residence front has hit a dead end. (We know what his addresses were, just have no proof of him living at those addresses or working at this place.)
The US Embassy to China advised us to have proof of employment, a clearance certificate from his employer, and proof of residence in order to apply for a certificate, and we're completely SOL on getting any of that. One service specializing in retrieving these certificates warned us that our chances of success are quite low with only a passport/visa/permit.
Are we just completely screwed in getting a clearance certificate for him? I have come across services offering to retrieve a notary certificate with *just* his passport scans, but I also have no clue which services are or aren't legit, or which ones will charge me exorbitantly regardless even if our chances of successfully getting a certificate are low. I've been collecting 40 pages worth of screenshots documenting every avenue we've attempted to go through just to get something that looks like it could possibly be used in a police clearance application, but we've just got nothing, and I don't know how far we need to go or how much money we need to spend just to be told "sorry, couldn't get you a certificate" in order for Canada to accept a letter indicating why he doesn't have the certificate.
I have gotten in contact with a few places offering a service like this, but some of the responses have seemed like canned responses in Chinese that I am definitely not going to completely understand, or really know how to ask the questions I need to ask.
Does anyone have any recommendations on a reputable service we could go to where I can be reasonably confident we'd end up with a certificate at the end?
Alternatively, we DO have an acquaintance who lives in Hangzhou now, but don't really want to inconvenience him if we don't have to. But if the chances of going through an overseas service are too risky, is there somewhere we could ask him to visit for us if we provide authorization? Every search I've pulled up for this problem recommends the "shanghai oriental public notary office", but my partner didn't live in Shanghai. I found a "Hangzhou Orient Notary Public Office of Zhejiang Province" in the Yellow Pages, but am not sure if this is the right place, where we would have to authorize a representative to go. Their website chinanotary.cn allows you to apply online, but then trying to do so takes you to a completely different domain. I have no idea at this point what is legit and what isn't.
This is just too much for us to figure out on our own under these circumstances, as much as we're trying. Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
He lived in Hangzhou from 2012 to 2014, so Immigrations Canada may request a "Certificate of No Criminal Convictions (issued by the local police station and Public Security Bureau [PSB] office) or Notary Certificate of No Criminal Convictions (issued by the Notary Public Office)" from him, and we want to be ready ahead of time in case that happens. Neither one of us can read Chinese or speak any dialect of it.
Firstly, I have no idea what the difference is between a "Certificate of No Criminal Convictions" and a "Notary Certificate of No Criminal Convictions", and have not figured it out after days of attempting to google Chinese terms that I transcribed from looking at sample documents. I have come across probably 10+ services and/or law firms online that are offering one or the other of these things, but all have varying documentation requirements and widely varying costs from $400 CAD to well over $1500 USD, and many of which I'm only partially understanding via Google Translate.
We're in a bit of a pickle with documentation. He still has the passport he used while he lived in Hangzhou, complete with his yearly visas, yearly residence permits, and entry stamps. This we can provide no problem. However, he no longer has a TRRF or any other kind of proof of residence. He lived with a friend in China who took care of all the living arrangements, and the friend recently contacted the real estate agent to ask if he had any paperwork left for my partner, but he does not.
He -also- no longer has any documents that could serve as proof of employment. And the English school that he taught at for his entire stay seems to have shut down in 2015, and every attempt we've made to get in contact with someone who might have a lead on any sort of paperwork on the work or residence front has hit a dead end. (We know what his addresses were, just have no proof of him living at those addresses or working at this place.)
The US Embassy to China advised us to have proof of employment, a clearance certificate from his employer, and proof of residence in order to apply for a certificate, and we're completely SOL on getting any of that. One service specializing in retrieving these certificates warned us that our chances of success are quite low with only a passport/visa/permit.
Are we just completely screwed in getting a clearance certificate for him? I have come across services offering to retrieve a notary certificate with *just* his passport scans, but I also have no clue which services are or aren't legit, or which ones will charge me exorbitantly regardless even if our chances of successfully getting a certificate are low. I've been collecting 40 pages worth of screenshots documenting every avenue we've attempted to go through just to get something that looks like it could possibly be used in a police clearance application, but we've just got nothing, and I don't know how far we need to go or how much money we need to spend just to be told "sorry, couldn't get you a certificate" in order for Canada to accept a letter indicating why he doesn't have the certificate.
I have gotten in contact with a few places offering a service like this, but some of the responses have seemed like canned responses in Chinese that I am definitely not going to completely understand, or really know how to ask the questions I need to ask.
Does anyone have any recommendations on a reputable service we could go to where I can be reasonably confident we'd end up with a certificate at the end?
Alternatively, we DO have an acquaintance who lives in Hangzhou now, but don't really want to inconvenience him if we don't have to. But if the chances of going through an overseas service are too risky, is there somewhere we could ask him to visit for us if we provide authorization? Every search I've pulled up for this problem recommends the "shanghai oriental public notary office", but my partner didn't live in Shanghai. I found a "Hangzhou Orient Notary Public Office of Zhejiang Province" in the Yellow Pages, but am not sure if this is the right place, where we would have to authorize a representative to go. Their website chinanotary.cn allows you to apply online, but then trying to do so takes you to a completely different domain. I have no idea at this point what is legit and what isn't.
This is just too much for us to figure out on our own under these circumstances, as much as we're trying. Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!
