Russian marriage - Questions about documents

[razor787]

Hello,

I am Canadian, and my wife is Russian. We were married in Russia in 2016.

The application package mentions we need to include a translated, notarized copy of our marriage certificate. While looking on the website of the notary, it tells us that we need to not only have the documents translated + notarized, but also legalized by the Russian gov't and Canadian consulate.

Is this true? I can't find any information about 'legalizing' the certificate?

For our other documents, do we need anything special done, or is a notarized translation enough for everything?

 

[armoured]

Hello,

I am Canadian, and my wife is Russian. We were married in Russia in 2016.

The application package mentions we need to include a translated, notarized copy of our marriage certificate. While looking on the website of the notary, it tells us that we need to not only have the documents translated + notarized, but also legalized by the Russian gov't and Canadian consulate.

Is this true? I can't find any information about 'legalizing' the certificate?

For our other documents, do we need anything special done, or is a notarized translation enough for everything?

It's not true. There are some uses in Russia for which you might need legalisation and all that - but for IRCC purposes, certified translation + notarisation of the Russian docs is enough. This is very standard and any notary + translation bureau (and almost all work with/have arrangements where necessary) can do, there's nothing specific for Canadian purposes.

The only additional requirement I'm aware of is that for Russian divorce decrees they require 'an original' (this actually means an original 'official' extract issued by the civil registry ie on the fancy paper, not necessarily the original one issued when the divorce was enacted).

I think the rest of the requirements are pretty straightforward and outlined (and same procedure for all Russian official docs, cert trans + notarisation). Just be careful to get all the docs required like pages of the internal passport.

Oh - somebody asked here a while ago about the 'workbook' (trudovaya kniga) as the employer holds the original (for anyone employed). I think that's a non-issue, ask a competent notary - there is a procedure established by law by which the employer must make copies (plus a more recent system for electronic copies that I don't know much about). [edit - I see it was you that asked about that]

Ah, final thought - the police clearance document is now only issued electronically - that's fine, you print that and get translation + notarisation. There's no 'printed original' anymore to get and IRCC seems to accept the printed version.