Some difficulty acquiring the Notarial Certificate

[audelair]

Concerning my Chinese fiancee living in Australia... the only documents we need now are the police document and the birth certificate. My fiancee's sister has them both in Chinese now, and is having difficulty getting them notarized/translated. The notary office requested a commission paper from the Chinese embassy in Australia to be mailed there in order to receive the notarized/translated certificates.

 

According to the travel.state.gov site:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/reciprocity/C...der/C/China.htm

 

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Individuals residing outside of China may obtain notarial certificates from the notarial office with jurisdiction over the county of previous residence. Chinese relatives or friends may request issuance of certificates on behalf of someone now living abroad. Relatives and friends should have specific written authorization from the interested party before they request certificates. Alternatively, persons in need of notarial documents may contact the PRC Embassy or Consulate nearest to their residence abroad and ask that the request be forwarded to the appropriate notarial office. Obtaining a notarial certificate through a PRC Embassy or Consulate can require considerable time.

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Has anyone had to deal with this? Rather than going through the PRC Embassy, has anyone successfully provided written authorization to allow the Notary Office to allow a family member to request the documents? And if so, how was this done? The person that my fiancee's sister spoke to said the PRC Embassy must get involved, but perhaps she can talk to someone else. I am just not too sure what the proper procedure would be, or whether we're out of luck. The sentence that says "Obtaining a notarial certificate through a PRC Embassy... can require considerable time" scares me a bit!

 

Thanks for any advice you can offer

[king]

I think you will have to go through the PRC Embassy or Consulate in Australia as the US Consulate relies on the authentication of the PRC Em/Cons to verify the notary cetificate is legit. It may require you to get the documents translated and notarized, then the notary's signature verified by the OZ government department that issued the notary license and then send/take all ot that to the PRC Em/Cons for authentication.

[audelair]

I think you  will have to go through the PRC Embassy or Consulate in Australia as the US Consulate relies on the authentication of the PRC Em/Cons to verify the notary  cetificate is legit. It may require you to get the documents translated  and notarized, then the notary's signature verified by the OZ government department that issued the notary license and then send/take all ot that to the PRC Em/Cons for authentication.

the way i see it though is that the US Consulate won't know or care how it happened. They just want the notarized translations. The problem is the notary office in China wants my fiancee to bring the document to them in person to get it notarized, not her sister. This seems to be a problem soley between my fiancee's family and the notarial office, and has little to do with the US consulate, since we're just trying to get the same documents that everyone else gets (although it's easier for others because they are not abroad).

 

edit: do you know of any other easier way to have her sister get the documents notarized without having to go through the PRC embassy? I guess i'm just afraid it takes too long

[bubbafred10]

I did not read the full story, but the gist is this.

 

All your fiancee's sister needs to do is to give some "gifts" to the notarial officer. Getting the documents could be harder if they have to be obtained from the Province Court because the Court would require your fiance to appear in person. However this is not the case. With "gifts", it's no problem to get English translation and notarize (that it's an official document and has been translated correctly) the documents.

 

Another way is to ask the fiance's sister to send the documents to your fiance and get it translated + notarized in Australia, then send to you.

 

"Gifts" is the key in China. If the sister doesn't know how to present the "gifts", then do it the long way.

[audelair]

I did not read the full story, but the gist is this.

 

All your fiancee's sister needs to do is to give some "gifts" to the notarial officer.  Getting the documents could be harder if they have to be obtained from the Province Court.  With "gifts", it's no problem to get the English translation and notarized (that it's official document and translated correctly) of the documents. 

 

Another way is to ask the fiance's sister to send the documents to your fiance and get it translated + notarized in Australia, then send to you. 

 

"Gifts" is the key in China.

hehe, yea we could try that.

 

although, if we can get her to translate and notarize it in australia, that would be ideal. But i am not sure if that is ok. the us government site states that the notarial certificate is the required document, it seems. has anyone gotten by with a different translated document?