[andrew whittle]

Hi All

I will be submitting my ITA in around 2 weeks. When submitting the mountain of paperwork NZIS request eiether the original or a certified copy. Obviously I will submit the original medicals but what about the rest (Birth & Marriage Certificates, Police Clearance, Qualifications, Passports etc).

Are there any documents that NZIS would prefer to have the original of, or will it be okay if everything is a certified copy. The last thing I want is originals being lost/misplaced.........:mad: such as my UK Police Clearance which was posted on the 3rd of July and has not yet arrived (have had to apply for another copy).

Thanks
Andrew.

[M-Squared]

Actually, with the ITA, you have to submit both... NZIS require photocopies of everything so they don't have to do that. I hate to think how many people they'd have to employ just to do photocopies otherwise! :eek: You get the originals back pretty quickly - passports within a week usually, and then a couple of months for the originals. (well, I did :) )

You could get certified copies for yourself if you're unsure about the post. You get the documents back by courier, though, so if you drop off yourself or use a courier, you'll be fine I'm sure. I dropped off my original birth certificate and everything was fine. :) :nice1

[yas]

hi
we sent certified copies other than Medicals & police certificates

Yas

[Steadybears]

Hi Andrew - we sent copies and originals as requested by INZ from South Africa - used the DHL and somehow we got everything back. Worth the costs involved to DHL as it can be tracked.

Good luck

[sasvanb]

We sent certified copies (had to go to a solicitor and pay a small fee for this) of marriage and birth certificates because we didn't want to post them. We were going to do the same with the passports but since NZIS need to see them eventually (for your lovely blue stickers) we just sent them in. Medicals and police certificates need to be the originals. Make sure you provide a photocopy of any original docs you send or you'll get charged the photocopy fee!

Good luck... :yes

Saskia

[andrew whittle]

Thanks for the info Guys.

Andrew.

[TipTopAddicts]

Do we get the certified copies back?
The reason I ask, is that the marriage certificate we are sending is a certified copy which our vicar gave us on our wedding day, so to us, its all but the original.
Ta in advance.

[angelofamily]

Hi , I've sent in certified copies (by police ) which was rejected since SAP is not trustworthy enough anymore , Had to get copies certified by solicitor , which they accepted and we did not receive back .When we had to send our passports off for visa , we couriered it through and received it back (from UK to SA) in 4 days . I wont send anything that might take long to replace off in original format . It takes 6 months now to obtain a unabridged birth and marriage certificate in Pretoria , that would have thown us seriously of course if it went missing.

Annelize

[JandL]

I sent in originals of everything and included a pre-paid self addressed special delivery envelope. The ITA letter specifies that they may ask for the originals anyway and I didn't want the hassle of them asking for more things to be posted.

[BkyMonster]

Certified copies, those certified by solicitor or notary etc are not returned to you. I think replacement original certified copies are but not totally sure. Hope so as my OH's birth certificate is a certified replacement copy as it is the only one he has!

[timeanzbound]

Hi All

I will be submitting my ITA in around 2 weeks. When submitting the mountain of paperwork NZIS request eiether the original or a certified copy. Obviously I will submit the original medicals but what about the rest (Birth & Marriage Certificates, Police Clearance, Qualifications, Passports etc).

Are there any documents that NZIS would prefer to have the original of, or will it be okay if everything is a certified copy. The last thing I want is originals being lost/misplaced.........:mad: such as my UK Police Clearance which was posted on the 3rd of July and has not yet arrived (have had to apply for another copy).

Thanks
Andrew.

I just sent in my application for a temp work visa in Washington DC and they wanted the originals of the police report, passport, job offer and job related paperwork, but were ok with certified copies of everything else. Not sure if your embassy sends back all of your stuff, but I called them and they said to write a note with my app that I want the papers back. So I guess if you really value something, send a certified copy.

[Hejwitch_uk]

We sent originals of everything with a photocopy. Only exception was passports as we needed them for travel -sent those 2 weeks ago for precious blue stickers. I don't think you get certified copies returned, only originals, better to check with NZIS before you send precious certified copies.....

[Spooky]

For certified copies, must the 'stamp' say 'notary'? Or will a lawyer's 'stamp' with his firm's name do? I am wondering whether there is some special 'seal' on each copy stamped that only certain solicitars are licensed to provide.

Appreciate any clarification from those who have had their copies certified.

[IanW99]

For certified copies, must the 'stamp' say 'notary'? Or will a lawyer's 'stamp' with his firm's name do? I am wondering whether there is some special 'seal' on each copy stamped that only certain solicitars are licensed to provide.

Appreciate any clarification from those who have had their copies certified.

I believe that the rules regarding certified copies are country based i.e. each country has its own rules of who / how copies are certified that must be followed.

I can say that for us (from UK), just the solicitors stamp and signed was fine.

Ian

[np2nz]

I am thinking about sending certified copies instead of originals when I submit my ITA (except medicals, police and current employment. These will be originals).

I went to a local bank (in Utah) and they told me that they do not certify, but they can notarize my signature. What is the difference between certified and notarized? Can I send notarized documents instead of certified? Thanks.

[BkyMonster]

I am thinking about sending certified copies instead of originals when I submit my ITA (except medicals, police and current employment. These will be originals).

I went to a local bank (in Utah) and they told me that they do not certify, but they can notarize my signature. What is the difference between certified and notarized? Can I send notarized documents instead of certified? Thanks.

I had HUGE problems in the US getting certified copies. Most places told me it was illegal (it isn't) and that they couldn't certify a copy as they were not the custodians of the original document. :roll
I tired to explain that all I wanted was a certification of a true photocopy but I think people were too afraid of lawsuits.

A notarized signature may be ok. Basically you just need something affirming it is a true copy.

You can look on here to see if your state will allow certified copies by a notary:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_copy

[sillyskuld]

Most places told me it was illegal (it isn't) and that they couldn't certify a copy as they were not the custodians of the original document

At least as far as the US, is concerned...

Well, I was a notary for eons, and that was what we were told. You can't do a "true and correct copy" certification from a photocopy. It can only be done from the original document. This includes birth certificates, etc, because those are copies. Your county of birth holds the original documents in their files, and provides certified copies when you request them. (Hence the name, Birth Certificate. Most have a little blurb on the bottom for "true and correct copy" near the registar signature).

Notaries in the US *used* to do copy certfication of original documents, however, most states have outlawed this. (Notary law is state law, each state has their own procedures). How is the notary to know if it truly is a correct copy? They aren't foresnic document experts, nor with hours to waste checking the copy and the original line by line. It was a liability issue. However, it's not like NZ knows this, so you have to be a little creative.

Notaries can provide jurats (that they have witnessed you swearing to the truth of something). Just print out an example of copy certification language with a place for your signature, and have the notary provide a jurat for you. You are the one doing the copy certification, not the notary. The notary is just administering an oath to you. It has an official looking stamp, plus the copy certification language that officials are looking for.

The California notary association actually had pre-printed forms for a while (maybe they still do) just for this very purpose.

This may or may not work with INZ, but I did a LOT of notarizion for immigration documents for several different countries over the years, and I always told people if the document was rejected I would refund their money and no one ever came back.

[BkyMonster]

I provided the original in all cases and still had huge issues getting anyone to do anything.
The documents I was most concerned with were passports and it took me 1.5 months and a 3 hour trip to another state to get anyone to touch them. I spent a fair amount of time having lawyers yell at me over the phone when I called and asked them to do it, so it wasn't just a notary issue.It's all up to the reasonableness of the person in addition to the state law. While where I was it was legal for someone to make a copy and certify that they made a photocopy I had a heck of a time getting anyone to do that.

[Bozeman]

With the exception of police reports, medical reports and the letter from my employer, we sent certified copies. Some of these we wanted back so I stuck post-it notes on those documents asking for their return and we did get them back quickly. Perhaps needless to say, we included a pre-paid DHL courier envelope with the submission to make it easy for INZ.