Hello All,
I continue to receive conflicting information from one Cuban Consulate in Canada to another. To be able to marry my Cuban Fiancee, in Cuba, i'm diligently acquiring the Documentation necessary...to make these ready for Legalisation at a Cuban Embassy. As required by the Cuban Embassy, [since i'm a Foreign-born Canadian], i have requested a Letter of Authentication from my home nation government, for my Birth Certificate.
One Consulate has informed me, that i then have to get this Document Certified by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade:
"The purpose of the Authentication from the New Zealand Consulate in Canada is that the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs can authenticate your documents." Going on to sum up:
"We legalize the signature of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs functionary. We cannot legalize without it."
However, on the website of the Cuban Embassy in Ottawa, it states that i just take the SPANISH TRANSLATION of this Copy of my Birth Certificate, to either this Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, OR even just to a Notary Public, for certification. Stating:
Cuban Embassy Website: "If you weren’t born in Canada you have to obtain a letter from the Consulate or Embassy of your country of birth stating that your birth certificate was issued according to the regulations of the government and the document can be considered valid. Same process must be done with any other document issued in foreign countries (by no Canadian authorities). In this case you don´t have to take the document to a Notary Public or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of Canada, just the translation into Spanish."
So....clearly i have the option of taking just the Translated Copy...to a Notary Public.
So, why are there two conflicting procedures on how to process a Foreign-issued Document, from a Foreign-born Canadian?
MUST my Foreign-issued Documents be Certified by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs...or can they be Certified by a Notary Public?
For, what's the point that my Birth Certificate and Letter of Authentication has to be certified by the Canadian Government...when these Documents have ALREADY been Certified by another Government: New Zealand. The Letter of Authentication accompanying the Copy of my Birth Certificate, is surely, a Certification. Or, at the very least, i should be able to just get it Certified [the translation]...by a Notary Public?
Why would ANOTHER Validation by one government be necessary...when clearly another government has already validated this Document?
I have asked this question to the Cuban Embassies...and am yet to receive a reply.
Clarification of these issues, as well as any other information you may have, would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Guys!