Statutory Declaration from individual.

[mitchb86]

So i am in the final stages of putting my application together. These "statutory declarations from a person with knowledge of your relationship" do they have to be signed by a commissioner of oaths or a jp etc ??? If someone that has put there residency through and received please let me know.

 

[Rob_TO]

I assume you're applying common-law, so need the 2 stat letters?

The person who writes the letter needs to get them reviewed/signed by:

In Canada:
a commissioner of oaths
a notary public
a justice of the peace

Outside Canada:
a judge
a magistrate
a notary public
an officer of a court of justice
a commissioner authorized to administer oaths in the country in which the person is living

 

[Kiri]

So i am in the final stages of putting my application together. These "statutory declarations from a person with knowledge of your relationship" do they have to be signed by a commissioner of oaths or a jp etc ??? If someone that has put there residency through and received please let me know.

Yep. It's basically getting an affidavit from two people who know of your relationship and having it legally acknowledged/witnessed. Rob_TO gives the appropriate sources to get the officiating of your letters.

You only need two, but having more looks good. I think it looks even better if the letters come from family on BOTH sides.

I went the common law route and I got my in-laws from my partner's side, and got my grandmother, personal friend and I THINK my dad's was as well. In the states my grandmother and friend took theirs to a notary public to have it notarized and my in-laws I believe went to a notary as well.

 

[Rob_TO]

Yes you can definitely include more letters. However only 2 need to be notarized. The others can simply be non-notarized regular letters. Of course if your friends/relatives don't mind spending the time/money to get all their letters notarized, it cant hurt! But i really think at the end of the day it's the content in the letters that matters. To make a non-notarized letter look more official, make sure to include the writers FULL name, address and phone number (not that CIC would ever contact them), and if they work somewhere that has company letterhead, print it on that.

For comparison, in our common-law app we included just 1 testimonial letter from my mom, which was not notarized (the 2 statutory requirement was not in our country guide). She's a prof so we printed it on her university's letterhead with her title underneath.

 

[Kiri]

Yes you can definitely include more letters. However only 2 need to be notarized. The others can simply be non-notarized regular letters. Of course if your friends/relatives don't mind spending the time/money to get all their letters notarized, it cant hurt! But i really think at the end of the day it's the content in the letters that matters. To make a non-notarized letter look more official, make sure to include the writers FULL name, address and phone number (not that CIC would ever contact them), and if they work somewhere that has company letterhead, print it on that.

For comparison, in our common-law app we included just 1 testimonial letter from my mom, which was not notarized (the 2 statutory requirement was not in our country guide). She's a prof so we printed it on her university's letterhead with her title underneath.

Good extra points to add. We actually included 3 notarized and one witnessed (we only needed 2) and we actually included another 12 testimonial letters (some on letterheads from our friends/family business, and a couple ended up being on notebook paper (those were friends)).

Total we had 15-17 letters when you count one other letter my partner's uncle sent.

He sent a professional photo he had taken at my partner's family reunion that he had taken of us that we didn't know he took and he wrote his letter and attached it to the back of the photo commenting on how I looked nervous to be there meeting the family for the first time and how my partner (who had his hand on my arm) was watching over me, etc etc and his opinions and thoughts on our relationship. I thought it was cute to have a photo/letter. Hope the VO thinks so too! Hah!

 

[mitchb86]

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[drewday]

what if dont have much pictures does it matter ? does it makes application longer ? oh please help cuz i and my husband dont have much pictures ... not more than 50s but below ..

please please please help

 

[Rob_TO]

what if dont have much pictures does it matter ? does it makes application longer ? oh please help cuz i and my husband dont have much pictures ... not more than 50s but below ..

please please please help

For our common-law app, we only included around 20 pictures total.

Best ones are those that show you and partner travelling, celebrating special events, and with friends and family. Quality over quantity.

 

[drewday]

thank you so much Rob i really do appreciate your help..

God bless
drewday

 

[Kiri]

We included 64 Photos - 34 of us together (mind you, some are from the same event).. others are what we took of each other during events, or with each other's pets or with each others family or friends or with a picture of us with gifts we got for each other.

We were able to supply that amount because I've been in Canada with my spouse, but if you guys haven't been around each other due to situational reasons, CIC will understand if you write a letter explaining.

I will note, I have heard of people sending 15 photos before - As Rob states, Quality over Quantity. In our case I think we did the reverse as a lot of our photos were taken by one of us holding the camera so they are close up so we included much more because of different outfits/times of day/season.