My friend wrote and signed up her statement stating she knew us and believed our relationship to be valid, and took it to the bank to be notarized. They refused to do it. I didn't think they could refuse to notarize documents, so am not sure where to go from here. Would it be discrimination? Can they legally do that?

I did tell her to sign it in the presence of a non relative witness, and date it, and have them sign and date it below and put (witness) in parentheses.

Not sure what else to do.

Has anyone else run into this problem?

Try another notary.

Yeah, take it to another notary public... I usually take mine to Washinton Mutual, if you have one around you.. I'm not a member of their bank so they charge me for it.. If not, do a google search for a notary public in your area..

Was your friend, the author of the letter present w/ you when you went to the bank? Notaries "authenticate" a person's signature and need the person to sign the document in the notary's presence.
Its not clear in your post if your friend went w/ you to the bank and they still refused to notarise. If so, please do as suggested, find another notary.
-P

yes, it was my friend that took it to the bank. how much did they charge you for getting it notarized at a bank where you were not a member? thnx

Did your friend sign it at the bank infrount of the notary or was it already signed.... if it was already signed then that is why they refused.... it has to be signed infront of the notary....

Kez

Kez is right....the document has to be signed in front of the notary, then the notary "authenticates" that signature.
A bank where one is not an account holder, may not offer notarizations for non-account holders....this is up to the individual bank. Call around and ask.

Good luck!
-P

UPS stores often have a notary on staff. We got the signatures of our witnesses for our wills notarized at our local UPS store. The stamp cost $3.00 each stamp - a bargain! Check locally and call to see if they offer this service.

Many large business have a notary or 2 on staff, I got my I-134 notarized by a co-worker at the college I work for. Price $0

Most notaries don't charge anything, even the ones at the banks, makes no difference if you have an account or not.

I had 4 friends and 1 relative who had their letter notarized for free in 3 different banks and 1 notary public doing it for free as some sort of a community charity service. 4 letters out of the 5 were done in PA and 1 in MD. I had on numerous occasion been to my bank (BoA in MD) also where I opened my accounts to have some forms notarized where the bank's notary witnessed my signature and all were done for free as well.

So I would suggest your friend should look for another notary if she does not want to pay. At first, I offered to pay for the notary fees when I asked my friends and relative as I did not want them to be burdened with any fees whatsoever, however they would not hear of it and behemently refused. I felt ashamed that I even suggested paying.

Aussie girl

I think Kinko's have a notary on staff as well. Good luck..!!!

i just wanted to mention that in the instructions for the I-751.. affidavits are a suggestion not a necessity.... but they are good if you don't have a whole lot of other evidence...

Correct. I would not spend too much time on getting pictures and notarized letters together. Just concentrate on the real stuff they want to see, such as joint assets, bank accounts and credit cards, rentals, insurance and life insurance policies.
To them, letters and pictures can be easily staged and actually have the least value in confirming a valid relationship.
I did not bother getting those letters and was approved without RFE.

I agree, although we did send 2 letters from friends (only because they asked us if there was anything they could write to help our application) but we didn't bother to get them notarized...we had their SSNs, date and place of birth and all contact info included in the letters so that they could be checked out by the USCIS if necessary.

We felt that we had enough other evidence and that the letters were just a bonus.

Jen