Notarised copy of my passport

[IzzyA]

Hi everyone

Re Fiance visa application to be made in Canada, instead of getting a copy of my UK passport notarised (which I believe will be very expensive) is it OK to get a certified copy instead??

Cheers

[batleykhan]

Yes certified copies should suffice

[blessed78]

Is it really that expensive? Ours cost £10, but that was in rural England.

[batleykhan]

£10 is max you should pay to have them certified by a solicitor

[IzzyA]

Thanks for the replies. Will phone a solicitor first thing Monday morning to get this settled immediately. I'm hoping that it can be done in a day or so, and it's not a long protracted procedure. Do you think I should also get them to certify the pages that have my entry stamps to Canada, to add proof to my trips to visit my fiance, or will photocopies of those pages suffice?

Cheers

[batleykhan]

Do every page to be on the safe side. Should still be a max 10 quid. Its a 10 minutes job by the way

[blessed78]

Yes, get notarised copies of the entry and exit stamps, for sure. Lucky for us, our stamps were on the opposite page - no extra cost.
One thing - batleykhan, not all solicitors are notaries, am I right? We were told we couldn't just get a justice of the peace or someone like that to certify our copies, they had to be 'notarised' which involves putting a waxy red label on them as well as just the stamp and signature.
Look up one online in your area.

[batleykhan]

The ones that I have seen are just stamped by the solicitors stating "Certified to be true copies of passport of Mr Fred Bloggs". This is done on every page and then signed and stamped by solicitors.

The reason why I always say have every page stamped including blank ones is that I have known several people to be refused because they did not submitt pages of refusal stamps of countries they visited, but submitted all other pages. I am not saying it happens all time, but to cut teh chance of being refused, I stamp every page, so the ECO is fully satified that he has seen every page of teh sponsors passport.

I dont think you need to go the length of having the red seal and wax job done on such things. You will pay extra for that type of service
Yes not all solicitors are notaries. Infact they are very few about where I live. Justice of the Peace certified copies of your passports will not be accepted as well

[IzzyA]

Thanks BatleyKhan. Took your advice and spoke to a solicitor today. She's going to certify every page in my passport and only charge me £5, so I got very lucky!!
Cheers

[IzzyA]

Just got back with certified copies of every page in my passport. I also requested that the copies be in colour. Very pleased at the cost of just £5. It was a lot simpler than I expected, I just hope all the other things on my 'to do' list will be as easy!