Notary Services

I'm a USC and my fiance is a UKC and we're getting married soon and I'm applying for a spousal visa for the UK. My fiance has a certified copy of his birth certificate, not the original. So would his passport need to be entirely certified, as in every page? And he has to have it certified in the UK, correct? I can't get it notarized/certified here at my bank? They do it for free so I just wanted to make sure. Thanks!!

I'm a USC and my fiance is a UKC and we're getting married soon and I'm applying for a spousal visa for the UK. My fiance has a certified copy of his birth certificate, not the original. So would his passport need to be entirely certified, as in every page? And he has to have it certified in the UK, correct? I can't get it notarized/certified here at my bank? They do it for free so I just wanted to make sure. Thanks!!

No. All anyone will ever get is a 'Certified Copy' of their birth certificate as the 'original' remains on file with the appropriate agency.

If you have the Certified Long form Registration Certificate then all you need is a plain photocopy of his passport details page (the one with the picture).

No. All anyone will ever get is a 'Certified Copy' of their birth certificate as the 'original' remains on file with the appropriate agency.

If you have the Certified Long form Registration Certificate then all you need is a plain photocopy of his passport details page (the one with the picture).

Awesome! Thanks!

Just as an FYI, I was informed today by telephone by the U.S. Embassy in London that they are currently NOT providing Notary Services. This may resume at the end of September, but for now, no notarial services are being provided to U.S. citizens there. (Their website does not reflect this information.)

Thanks, this was just the right info and just the right time for us!

I just want to confirm, that for a spousal visa application, the certified copy of the sponsor's passport needs to be through a notary/solicitor, it cannot be made at the post office? The price difference is quite large, but just wanted to be really sure.

7 GBP is hard to beat:
http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/content1;jsessionid=NLYTSTT5OPX10FB2IGFEPLQUHRAYWQ2K?catId=63400715&mediaId=105000818

Thanks!

I looked into this but found plenty of anecdotal evidence of PO "certified copies" being rejected by non-UK and UK banks, non-UK employers, and various stuff to do with being a student outside of the UK. It seems that the PO don't use solicitors to produce a "legal" certified copy, but use counter staff to certify that what they have seem was a true likeness. For me, it's less about the cost of certifying my passport and more about the convenience of turning up at the city centre PO rather than arranging an appointment with a solicitor.

I'm a UK citizen with a soon-to-be spouse in the USA. (Assuming nothing goes wrong, the laws don't change, the sky doesn't fall in, I don't get refused entry, etc, etc.. OMG this is scary stuff. We're getting married in Tennessee at Christmas.) My USC husband will be applying for his UK spousal visa while I'm on honeymoon with him in the USA, so I have to provide a certified copy of the bio page of my passport for him. I plan on providing a certified copy of my full passport to show evidence of contact.

Btw, getting "official copies" of deeds for your house is very simple and easy, I went overboard and got 2 of both deeds and plans posted to me for £32 using form OC1 on the Land Registry website.

Why not just wait until you get to the US and have a US Public Notary do it for you. Much cheaper than any UK option.

Good luck to you.

Thanks Weby. I'm just too much of a control freak over this whole thing. If there's something I can get settled and sorted in advance, it'll be worth the cost for the peace of mind. I'm not landing until late on 23rd December and then we're on a very tight schedule, I'd be anxious that every US Public Notary had gone to Hawaii for the Christmas season.

An update

I've booked a notary today, I thought I'd pass on the cost details in case anybody is interested. He's notarising a copy of my bio page and certifying copies of the US stamped pages in my passport. £60 all included, at a time and choice of venues to suit my convenience (I opted for his Manchester city centre office, lunchtime on Monday). I can bring my own copies or he'll make the copies no extra charge. All I've got to do is turn up with my passport and proof of address.

The UKBA website doesn't say that they require sponsor passport bio page copies to be notarised, but the Transpondia website does. I figured it won't harm and it'll be a lot cheaper to get it notarised now than to have hubby's visa rejected.

The certified copies of the stamped pages are a freebie thrown in by the notariser, we're going to include these with a few photos and a few phone bills to prove contact prior to marriage. I've read that proof of relationship / contact isn't necessary if you're married, just the certificate, but the UKBA website advises including wedding photos. With the current attitude towards weeding out sham marriages and cutting the number of family visas I'd rather provide stuff that they ignore and throw in the bin than have the rules change on me while we're in process. I'm not confident that the guidance for ECOs today will be the same guidance when they look at hubby's application in mid January.

My Sweetheart and I applied for a Fiancee visa in November of 2010 and after a long, brutal wait I finally got my visa on the 17th of January.  I landed in Scotland on the 20th, after clearing out my place, selling my car and quitting my job. 

He and I have both been married before and have gotten the short end of the stick.  Now that we're facing the barrel of the gun, so to speak, the idea of another marriage scares the daylights out of both of us - though him more than me I'm afraid.

We're desperate at this point to see if there is anything we can do to change the situation. I currently have 53 days left on my visa, and we have no plans to get married (though at one time we did).  I don't want to pressure him or guilt him into anything, as that's not who or what I am.

Is there ANY possible way of changing my visa to a U.P. visa at this point, without having to go back to Los Angeles for 6 months?  I don't want to leave, and he doesn't want me to go, but we desperately need options!

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Why not just wait until you get to the US and have a US Public Notary do it for you. Much cheaper than any UK option.

Good luck to you.

Before you look for a notary, call your bank. Most banks have one or two on staff that will do it for free. I've done it dozens of times and never spent a cent.

The UKBA website doesn't say that they require sponsor passport bio page copies to be notarised, but the Transpondia website does. I figured it won't harm and it'll be a lot cheaper to get it notarised now than to have hubby's visa rejected.

Background.  A few years back, UKBA found out that that spouses whose marriage had broken down were nonetheless successfully applying for ILR and even nationality by just using various photocopies of various stuff from previous applications.

Some even had the shrewdness to go to the Registry Office and get a copy of their spouse's long birth certificate without the spouse knowing about it.

And if that wasn't enough, some had the yarbles to print out the application form and just take the signature page out and get their spouse to sign it with the explanation that it was their 'deportation form'.  And then they applied for and  got ILR.  There's a subsection of a large internet forum dealing with how to get ILR/citizenship with a failed marriage.

Sometimes you can't make this stuff up.    And when they found out, the Home Office got upset about it.

Hope that helps!

The US Embassy has a notary.

Unforutately they charge $50!!!!


(Standard charge to notarize an affidavit of single status & availability to marry at any U.S. embassy--found this out trying to sort out marriage plans in Cyprus)

Read through this whole thread and noticed most of the answers where from a couple of years ago and was wondering if I could get some clarity as the rules now

1) Does the sponsor only have to get his info page of his passport notarized, and this has to be done by a UK notary?
2) And send in his original long form birth certificate? Or can that be copied and notarized too?

Thank you in advance! These forms are great for information, always just worried it could be out of date!

1) Does the sponsor only have to get his info page of his passport notarized, and this has to be done by a UK notary?

Yes, only his info page with the photo on it, but, no I believe it can be done by a US or a UK notary (it's cheaper in the US).

2) And send in his original long form birth certificate? Or can that be copied and notarized too?

No, the long form birth certificate is not needed at all if you are sending a notarised copy of the passport page. It is only needed if you don't get the copy notarised and just send it as a regular photocopy.

There are 3 options for sending the sponsor's passport:

1) Send the actual passport (not recommended if he will need it to travel though)

2) Send a notarised copy of the photo page (can be notarised in UK or US)

3) Send a regular photocopy of the photo page, but you will also need to send his original long-form (A4 size) birth certificate to prove that the information on the photocopy is correct and true.

If you do options 1 or 2, then you do not need to send his birth certificate at all, in any capacity. If you do option 3, then the birth certificate must be the actual, original one because it is being used to prove that the passport photocopy is real and not faked.

Post offices are government agencies and some of them offer verifying of documents-punch in post office uk- website will show an online application you fill out and bring with you- with any copies to be verified.

As far as I know they work with the home offices.