# Notarization - List of documents



## Miss Swan (Apr 24, 2008)

Hi folks! I'm starting onto the paperwork for Spouse Visa (subclass 309/100) and will be approaching a Public Notary to certify my documents. Need a bit of confirmation from the forum members just so that I don't miss out on any documents 

Here is what I'm going to produce in copy (x 1):

1. Passport 
2. Visas of the countries I've worked in (aka travel documents)
3. Educational degree 
4. Bank statement (to show my ability to support myself while waiting for application to be processed)
5. Work contract (to show that I was under a company overseas bond and was not in a position to spend decent time with my fiance)

However I'm not sure if the following need to be notarized (I know it looks funny, don't laugh! :lol::
6. Skype/MSN conversations
7. Mobile bills
8. Emails

Would love to hear from anyone who knows about this or who's gone through it before...and hope this thread will help those applying Spouse Visa in future


----------



## anj1976 (Apr 24, 2008)

HI MS

in my opinion, get everything attested, and dont make one copy, make two of them so that incase u require them again, u dont hv to run to the notary again


----------



## Miss Swan (Apr 24, 2008)

Thanks anj! Another question...

One notary I talked to asked me if I need a Notary Certificate. Is this required for Spouse Visa? Because getting a Notary Cert for each document is going to set me back by $75 just for the Cert itself, and I think I have more than 10 documents to notarize so that's $750 :O

And then she also asked me if I just want the seal or with the stamp...I'm pretty confused now, need some advice. I don't know what Immigration requires...the Partner Migration PDF file only says "certified copies of..."


----------



## amaslam (Sep 25, 2008)

Basically the documents need the certifier to write:

This is a certified true copy and then their stamp and number.

Contact the AU Embassy/Consulate in Singapore and see if a doctor or other trusted party can do that.

Here is a typical list:
Authorised persons include Juctices of the Peace, Notary Publics, lawyers / solicitors, Magistrates offices and (in some countries only - Police Officers and School Teachers or University professors.



Miss Swan said:


> Thanks anj! Another question...
> 
> One notary I talked to asked me if I need a Notary Certificate. Is this required for Spouse Visa? Because getting a Notary Cert for each document is going to set me back by $75 just for the Cert itself, and I think I have more than 10 documents to notarize so that's $750 :O
> 
> And then she also asked me if I just want the seal or with the stamp...I'm pretty confused now, need some advice. I don't know what Immigration requires...the Partner Migration PDF file only says "certified copies of..."


----------



## anj1976 (Apr 24, 2008)

HI MS

if u r getting an affidavit (a statement from your side) or a declaration, this has to be on a stamp paper with the signature and seal of the notary. this is what she probably meant.

As for photocopied documents, it has to have a seal and signature, as amaslam suggested/pointed out

and yes all papers have to be attested, I am sure about that


----------



## Megera (Mar 20, 2009)

I don't really know what the papers being "attested" means but when we got our things notarized the person put her special seal (kind of like a crimped stamp) and stamped it then signed it.
I also don't know what a notary certificate is (never heard of one) and it doesn't seem like we needed it.

Things that get notarized are copies of original official government documents that you won't be sending such as:
Your passport (our migration website also suggested copies of all the non-blank pages of your passport)
Your birth certificate (I copied both my long & short form)
Your social security/social insurance card
Your Driver's License

We also got my partner's Australian equivalents to all those documents notarized.

We sent screen caps of our email boxes but didn't notarize those. I don't think those sorts of things need to be notarized. 

When we finished our application we made a copy of the whole thing. I think getting two copies of everything notarized is a bit excessive and if you have as many documents as we did, your notary might get a little annoyed


----------



## Miss Swan (Apr 24, 2008)

Megera said:


> I don't really know what the papers being "attested" means but when we got our things notarized the person put her special seal (kind of like a crimped stamp) and stamped it then signed it.
> I also don't know what a notary certificate is (never heard of one) and it doesn't seem like we needed it.
> 
> Things that get notarized are copies of original official government documents that you won't be sending such as:
> ...


Thanks Megera for the great advice 

Are screen shots of emails sufficient in your case? I thought the typical route would be to print out the email, and one screen shot won't be able to contain the entire mail, at least for my case 

Lol don't think my notary will be annoyed since he's getting extra money...but it would definitely get rather expensive to notarize double couples.

Another question: I thought of getting my 2 sisters + 2 friends to write relationship testimonials for me. Does that sound too extensive? Or should I just stick to my 2 friends (my 2 sisters are still in school hehe)? 

Reason for mulling is because each signature to be witnessed costs AUD40 (4 signatures=160) and while it is not a lot, I'm trying to keep the costs to an essential minimal...
If Immigration is happy and well-satisfied with 2 testimonials from my side, then I can leave my sisters out. I know this is not mandatory; the Stat Decl from OZ side is a must, but I thought if I can produce evidence that my friends know and strongly support my relationship, it might help substantially with my application


----------



## Megera (Mar 20, 2009)

Miss Swan said:


> Thanks Megera for the great advice
> 
> Are screen shots of emails sufficient in your case? I thought the typical route would be to print out the email, and one screen shot won't be able to contain the entire mail, at least for my case
> 
> ...



No problem 
I'd hate for you to go through more effort (and money!) than you need!

What we did actually was take a screen shot of the folder that the emails are in so all it says is who it's from, subject and date. All the emails from my spouse are in one folder so I just opened it and pressed "print screen", copied into photoshop, saved the image then printed it (30 pages! And he did the same for all the emails he has from me). What we did though was just provide screen caps of the emails we sent each other before my spouse came to Canada. Even though they don't count time spent apart in your "de facto time" we still wanted evidence that we've known each other since 2004 (plus now that he's here we really don't email back and forth).
I think immi was satisfied with just the screen shots because they didn't ask us for the full emails! (a friend of ours had to send copies of every single email he exchanged with his now wife -- close to 1000! He said he blacked out all the personal information )

We only have two testimonials - from Australian citizens on form 888 (my spouse's father and brother-in-law). We didn't have any other friends write letters for us but we told them they might have to. I'm assuming if our evidence wasn't good enough by now immi would've let us know.
I guess more letters won't hurt (but you're right about wanting to keep the costs down. I can tell you right now that with all the "extras" I've had to pay for, my application has cost more than double the "application fee"). 
When FIL & BIL wrote their statutory declarations they just took them to be signed by the pharmacist/chemist (in Canada a person like this is called a guarantor) - their signatures didn't have to be witnessed by a notary or anything but they did have to sign their declarations in front of the chemist.


----------



## Miss Swan (Apr 24, 2008)

Megera said:


> No problem
> I'd hate for you to go through more effort (and money!) than you need!
> 
> What we did actually was take a screen shot of the folder that the emails are in so all it says is who it's from, subject and date. All the emails from my spouse are in one folder so I just opened it and pressed "print screen", copied into photoshop, saved the image then printed it (30 pages! And he did the same for all the emails he has from me). What we did though was just provide screen caps of the emails we sent each other before my spouse came to Canada. Even though they don't count time spent apart in your "de facto time" we still wanted evidence that we've known each other since 2004 (plus now that he's here we really don't email back and forth).
> ...


Hehe all my mails are in Gmail so don't think there's a folder option but I do intend to print every email between us out 

I'll just get 2 of my friends to write the testimonials then...every dollar saved helps!! And yeah I'll be getting his dad/friends to do up the declarations...

My fiance and I have been having a long-distance relationship all this while so I'm gathering all the evidence I can to build up a good case for us


----------



## dreamaussie15 (Mar 18, 2017)

Hi Folks,

I heard that if we are scanning the original documents in color copies in 300dpi then no need to get notary public signature.

It is fine to upload those original scanned color copies. Is it right?

Any one aware of this informtion. kindly help me to understand.

Thanks.


----------

