Hi everyone,
I am being a pain but I'm freaking because I am visiting family and I'm not close to my residence and that is where the actual copy of my marriage certificate is. I have a scanned copy of the certified copy...is that going to be ok to send with my DS230 or do I have to order another one?
ps...I'm Canadian going through Montreal.
THanks in advance

Hi Schmelle,

You need the original for the DS-230.

Hi ,

I dont know what documents you have to send when you are going thru the canadian montreal embassy. But as of your question... A certified copy is the Xerox Copy/ photo Copy ( as we call it in India) Which is signed by a Legal authority like in court and is said to be a certified copy of the original

Jigi

Get a few originals as you won't get the original documents you submit back.

Be extremely careful: what they mean by "certified copy" is NOT a xerox copy with a stamp. It is an official document signed by a registrar saying it's a certified copy from the original certificate (that is kept by the city hall or whatever government place). They want originals of everything.

Call to the city hall of the place where you were born or where you got married and they should be able to tell you how to get these documents. I know that for France, I could ask for my birth certificate online and it was sent to me within 48 hours and I wrote the the city hall where we got married asking for a copy.

Both documents were printed on official papers with a stamp and the signature of the registrar who took care of it.

Is it different when going through the NVC? I thought that no documents were sent with the DS-230 but that you brought everything to the interview.

Hi,

My views for regarding to case in India... in India what do you mean by a certified copy..... what sever said is also correct.... and what i said is the 2nd prefered option to get a certified copy...... In India we also call it a true copy.

Best of Luck

Jigi

Schemelle filed in March. In March there was no Direct Consular filing allowed in Canada (and various other countries). When Schemelle applied she applied with the service center, she is not doing direct consular filing.

So for her IR1/CR1 where she will interview in Montreal:

- All the original documents are sent to the NVC with the DS-230

- A photo copy or xerox copy are not acceptable, they want the original copy which (in Canada) you get from the registry office. For Canada there is no "second preferred option".

- They will (or at least they are supposed to) return the originals to you at the time of your interview in Montreal.

I copied my marriage certificate and had it certified by a notary public and sent those in with my DS-230.

Two weeks later I got a letter saying the NVC wants copies that are certified by the ISSUING GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY. Meaning, you can get a copy of the marriage certificate, but the copy has to be certified by the courthouse or agency that issued the original document.

So beware, you could be delaying yourself a few weeks by not catching this.

i was reading the DS-230 form the other day .... where does it talk about submitting evidance of marriage ??

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/81807.pdf

I guess for India and some other countries ( brazil ) you sent DS-2001 form along with Ds-230 Pt1 to NVC

DS-2001 Link

http://www.embaixadaamericana.org.br/evrybody/ds-2001e.pdf

http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/ivfamilybaspetitionus.html

Hi Jigi
I am going to send the DS230 at the end of the month. My questioin is
can I get signature and seal from any gazetted officer on the xerox copy of the passport and send it to NVC. Is that what you did? what do you mean legal authority in court?
For standard process we need to send only DS230 part I and the biographic data pages from passport.
Am I correct? please let me know thankyou