Seeking Clarification for My Wife's Application

[AdequateDude]

Hello all! I'm currently trying to finish up the application to sponsor my wife, who is Nicaraguan. We got married this January, but we've been together for over three years. I have a couple of questions I'd like some help with, if you would be so kind!

Addresses:

• Nicaragua really doesn't have any addresses, especially her city. The streets have no names, the buildings have no numbers. When I do send her flowers or whatever, I'll generally use the descriptions the locals will understand, i.e. "one block east of the traffic lights at the St. John pharmacy", etcetera. For her address and the addresses of her family members, should I just include that description?
• If yes, should the directions be in Spanish (the local language) or in English? How detailed should the descriptions be?

Proof of relationship:

• The application guide asks for a maximum of 20 photos. Does it matter what size or quality the photos are? The vast majority of our photos together are cellphone selfies, I guess.
• Would our application be delayed if we included more than 20 photos?
• For the letters, emails, social media, correspondence. It asks for a maximum of 10 pages. The vast, vast majority of our communication has been via Skype and Facebook Messenger -- and we probably fill 10 pages worth in the span of two days. Is there something I should be looking to include in particular? Considering we chat almost constantly with our phones, the majority of our correspondence is pretty mundane. Should I just start at the earliest point I can find, fill half a page, jump forward a few months, fill another half page, jump forward a few months, fill another half page, et cetera, until I have my 10 pages?
• And again, like the photos: what happens if we include more than 10 pages?

Translation of documents:

• So, any document that has any text in Spanish needs to be translated into English, correct?
• Should the translation be paperclipped or otherwise attached to the originals within the document, I guess?
• For example, her passport. How will that work? A page with the photocopy of her passport, followed by a page with just the words translated into English?
• Also, who can translate the documents? I'm bilingual. Can I translate them, or does it have to be a third party?
• In either case, does it need to be certified by a notary? What if the notary isn't fluent in English and Spanish?
• If I'm not allowed to do the translation myself, does the translator have to be in Nicaragua, or in Canada, or does it matter...?

Thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read all this, and thank you very much indeed if anyone can answer any of my questions!

 

[Aquakitty]

1) That's the norm there, so I don't see it as a problem. Use whatever she uses to receive mail.
2) Don't include more unless they ask. You should include wedding photos. For the social media/chat, use a mix of stuff that shows you are in a genuine relationship. Even including an argument is good. Real couples talk about inane things all the time.
3) All translated official documents must be certified copies done by an official translator. The instruction guide has detail about this. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5289ETOC.asp#documents

Depends on your translator. Most translators will use a separate piece of paper. The location of the translator does not matter. They must be fluent in both spanish and english in your case.

 

[majesty]

Hello all! I'm currently trying to finish up the application to sponsor my wife, who is Nicaraguan. We got married this January, but we've been together for over three years. I have a couple of questions I'd like some help with, if you would be so kind!

Addresses:

• Nicaragua really doesn't have any addresses, especially her city. The streets have no names, the buildings have no numbers. When I do send her flowers or whatever, I'll generally use the descriptions the locals will understand, i.e. "one block east of the traffic lights at the St. John pharmacy", etcetera. For her address and the addresses of her family members, should I just include that description?
• If yes, should the directions be in Spanish (the local language) or in English? How detailed should the descriptions be?

Proof of relationship:

• The application guide asks for a maximum of 20 photos. Does it matter what size or quality the photos are? The vast majority of our photos together are cellphone selfies, I guess.
• Would our application be delayed if we included more than 20 photos?
• For the letters, emails, social media, correspondence. It asks for a maximum of 10 pages. The vast, vast majority of our communication has been via Skype and Facebook Messenger -- and we probably fill 10 pages worth in the span of two days. Is there something I should be looking to include in particular? Considering we chat almost constantly with our phones, the majority of our correspondence is pretty mundane. Should I just start at the earliest point I can find, fill half a page, jump forward a few months, fill another half page, jump forward a few months, fill another half page, et cetera, until I have my 10 pages?
• And again, like the photos: what happens if we include more than 10 pages?

Translation of documents:

• So, any document that has any text in Spanish needs to be translated into English, correct?
• Should the translation be paperclipped or otherwise attached to the originals within the document, I guess?
• For example, her passport. How will that work? A page with the photocopy of her passport, followed by a page with just the words translated into English?
• Also, who can translate the documents? I'm bilingual. Can I translate them, or does it have to be a third party?
• In either case, does it need to be certified by a notary? What if the notary isn't fluent in English and Spanish?
• If I'm not allowed to do the translation myself, does the translator have to be in Nicaragua, or in Canada, or does it matter...?

Thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read all this, and thank you very much indeed if anyone can answer any of my questions!

I'm pretty sure that doing the translation yourself would be a bad idea even if you were a certified translator.

Use the link Aquakitty provided as a guideline.

I had to arrange to have several documents for my spouse translated (birth certificate, driving record, criminal record check, national identity card).

We used a court translator who was a member of the Court Interpreter's association in Alberta. As she was a court interpreter, she provided her own affidavits with each translation. They recommend you get a translator who is a member of a provincial interpreter's association. If they do not provide their own affidavits, you will have to go to a notary along with the interpreter to get the translation notarized. It doesn't matter if the notary does not speak Spanish. \The interpreter is swearing an oath that the translations are accurate to the best of his/her knowledge. If this person is found to knowingly falsify the translation he/she will be committing a criminal act.

We ended up paying about $50 per page for the translation and affidavit. I believe you can google the names of translators who fit this description in your area.

The immigration consultant we consulted with, said that certified translations are the only thing that are acceptable to be stapled together.

The original copies of the documents and of the translation should be provided in the application.

It is a lot of work and extra money, but you don't want to run the risk of CIC rejecting your translated documents.

That is what we did. I hope it is sufficient and will not cause our application to be rejected. (So far we have not heard if there is a problem with our translations).

For passport stamps, we didn't bother with the translations as they just show place and dates. I just provided an explanation in English that top stamp was exit/entry stamp to this country etc.

As for street names, it's OK in Spanish (you can't really translate that). My partner's address in Chile is in Spanish which is fine. If you have to include directions on how to get to the address, it should be done in English or French as should be all other evidence for proof of relationship. We refrained from including Spanish emails, letters and texts we had written to each other as we felt that those would needed to be translated, even though either one of us could have translated them into English. However, we didn't want to run the risk of CIC saying we needed to take them to a translator.

BTW, my partner and I have been a long distance relationship since he left Canada in 2013, so pretty much 3.5 years of almost daily correspondences also. To fill up the 10 pages, we tried to pick a variety of types of messages and on various topics, not just those saying "I miss you", "You are so sweet/wonderful" but when we talked about other things spouses might and even when we were disagreeing about things (3 pages of emails/Whatsapp texts/letters/Facebook messages, etc. per year). Just like you we probably could fill hundreds of pages with all our communications and if you talk by phone, print out a page of phone records that show you talked at various times over the course of your relationship and indicates it was done on a regular basis). I would stick to the 20 photos and 10 pages as they asked for.

These were some of the things we did. As I said, we had an immigration consultant review our file before we sent it off, just to make sure there weren't any glaring issues.

Good luck with your app!

 

[loviedaclaver]

Regarding the 20 photo requirement. If you really would like to send more, you can print more than one photo per page. For example, you can send 20 pages of letter size bond paper with 4 photos printed on each. That would up your photo submissions to 80 but still be just 20 pages.

 

[loviedaclaver]

About the address, I would explain the situation as you did here on a separate sheet of paper, just to make it clear to them.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Regarding the 20 photo requirement. If you really would like to send more, you can print more than one photo per page. For example, you can send 20 pages of letter size bond paper with 4 photos printed on each. That would up your photo submissions to 80 but still be just 20 pages.

Bad advice. The guide clearly specifies no more than 20 photos. They don't want 20 pages with 80 photos.

 

[AdequateDude]

Thank you for the advice everyone. This is all great. I feel like a real dummy missing the whole translation guide.

However, even following that guide... well, the original documents are in Nicaragua with my wife, so the translation and certification of the copies is easiest there... now, the guide says that if not done in Canada, "the translation must be accompanied by an affidavit swearing to the accuracy of the translation and the language proficiency of the translator." And that affidavit is to be sworn in the presence of a notary public.

So, let's say my wife is going to get everything translated there. If I understand this correctly, the process would be to first get a translator in Nicaragua, get them to translate everything, then bring those translated documents AND the translator to a notary public who will make the affidavit that both the translator and the translations are on the level? Soooo, that would mean that any notary public would necessarily have to be perfectly bilingual too, right?

As for the social media conversations and all of that -- that needs to be translated too? She and I speak in Spanish nearly exclusively.

 

[AdequateDude]

For those who know how this works, could you please tell me if this idea would work:

1) Wife makes copies of all necessary documents (her passport, identification, our marriage certificate, et cetera)
2) Wife takes copies and original documents to a notary public to get the documents certified
3) Notary public will check it all and then write somewhere on the photocopy of each document:

• “I certify that this is a true copy of the original document”,
• the name of the original document,
• the date of the certification,
• his or her name,
• his or her official position or title, and
• his or her signature.

4) Wife scans those newly-certified copies and sends them to me
5) I take the documents to a Canadian-approved translator here in Ontario
6) The government-approved translator will translate those certified documents, AND all of the emails, messages and whatnot that are in Spanish

And that's it, right? Would that process be sufficient for the translation requirements?

 

[majesty]

For those who know how this works, could you please tell me if this idea would work:

1) Wife makes copies of all necessary documents (her passport, identification, our marriage certificate, et cetera)
2) Wife takes copies and original documents to a notary public to get the documents certified
3) Notary public will check it all and then write somewhere on the photocopy of each document:

• “I certify that this is a true copy of the original document”,
• the name of the original document,
• the date of the certification,
• his or her name,
• his or her official position or title, and
• his or her signature.

4) Wife scans those newly-certified copies and sends them to me
5) I take the documents to a Canadian-approved translator here in Ontario
6) The government-approved translator will translate those certified documents, AND all of the emails, messages and whatnot that are in Spanish

And that's it, right? Would that process be sufficient for the translation requirements?

This was posted by someone in the past :

Translation of documents

Any document that is not in English or French must be accompanied by:

the English or French translation; and
an affidavit from the person who completed the translation; and
a certified copy of the original document.
Translations may be done by a person who is fluent in both languages (English or French and the unofficial language). If the translation is not provided by a member in good standing of a provincial or territorial organization of translators and interpreters in Canada, the translation must be accompanied by an affidavit swearing to the accuracy of the translation and the language proficiency of the translator.

The affidavit must be sworn in the presence of:

In Canada:
a notary public
a commissioner of oaths
a commissioner of taking affidavits
Outside of Canada:
a notary public

If you follow these guidelines, I think the only thing you would have to be careful about is who you choose to be the translator in Ontario. If the translator is not a member in good standing in a provincial organization of translators or interpreters, then an affidavit has to be obtained and also notarized/sworn in front of one of those people on the list.

Good luck with all that!