Certifying documents for the MMH2

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For the MMH2 application it is a requirement that all the supporting documents must be translated into ENGLISH and Certified by EMBASSY / HIGH COMMISION / LAWYER / NOTARY PUBLIC / COMMISIONER FOR OATHS or a GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL.

Fortunately all our documents are in English so that is not an issue but getting the documents certified could be costly as solicitors in London are charging up £50 per document – easy money for them. Did anyone get the copies certified by an Embassy, I emailed the Malaysian embassy in the UK but to date I have not received a reply.

Any advice on the certification would be greatly appreciated.

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Hi Sukhi,
 
Last year we got all our documents certified by a solicitor in Southport for £150 but the major part of that was documenting a name change for my wife (very complicated). I would certainly advise a trip "up north" including nice hotel for a couple of days and travel costs you would still have some change left over. The London solicitors have to account for the pair of Chelsea tractors and the odd Porsche. My solicitor has a Rover 600 and a bike.

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hi,

Certification for Passports and Other Documents.

To assist applicants, can members please let us all know where they got the certification done, who did it, and (optional) how much it cost for budget purposes.

This isn't to compare, as a solicitor in London or New York may charge a bit more than one I used in a very small town in Perak. Apples, oranges, and mangosteens.

Maybe also add the ease or difficulty of getting them certified.

For example, in my case :

Malaysia.
Public Notary. A local solicitor is the local Public Notary. I was in Malaysia at the time.
RM50.

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I had all relevant documents (PP pages, 6 months pension statements, 6 months bank statements) certified by a notary public employed at my local bank here in the US.  It was a FREE service provided by the bank to all its depositors (In lieu of any fee, I wrote a letter to the notary's supervisor to let him know how her service was a big help to me when applying for the MM2H visa)...Jim 

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 Hi for Oz the service is free. The list of persons who can certify a document is quite extensive and includes not only members of the legal profession but other persons as diverse as a doctor, a dentist, a vet, a pharmacist, a school principal, a bank manager and a policeman. For countries that require notarization the acts of these persons are deemed for Oz law to be the acts of a notary if necessary. It gets a bit more complicated if you are trying to produce the document in a European country but for Malaysian purposes its really pretty simple and any of these can do it for no more than a smile.
I would be very surprised if the law was any different either in the UK or in Malaysia but I have not looked at it.
Cheers
Donohue
 

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It seems that things in OZ are a bit different than the UK

A Notary is a qualified lawyer – a member of the third and oldest branch of the legal profession in the United Kingdom.  He is appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and is subject to regulation by the Court of Faculties.

Of course in the legal profession ambiguity is never encountered, however the Notary Society go on to say that the following can be considered to become notaries:

Solicitors and barristers who have qualified within the last 5 years

Holders of a law degree from an English University awarded within the last 5 years

Those who have successfully completed a CPE or LPC course within the last 5 years

So basically anyone who charges a lot of money for sod all apologies to all esteemed forum members who are members of the 3rd oldest profession (or is it the first I cant remember). Of course when applying for MM2h I'm not sure if it is UK or MY rules that apply.

But I digress...

To answer Scotts question our solicitor (a nice old stick) did it for peanuts, about £25 for the whole shabang. I'm not sure if he even invoiced for it. He just liked getting his notary stamps out again. Of course that was in the UK not London.

Regards

Bob

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On the official MM2H site it says-

"All copies must be certified TRUE COPIES OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS by EMBASSY /HIGH COMMISSION / SOLICITOR/ JUSTICE OF PEACE / NOTARY PUBLIC / COMMISIONER FOR OATHS / GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL."

Since  non-notarised solicitors are a cheaper option, has anyone used these guys for certification purposes and got thru without any probs?

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Hi Bob
 Do you think that they might wear funny hats in the Court of Faculties?

Now of course if they were proctors, that would be another thing!!

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Interesting post as I am in the process of applying in Vancouver, Canada.
I had my supporting documents certified at the Malaysian Consul last week. They charged me CDN$5 (MYR 16) for each signature.
I panicked as it is a requirement to have ALL the pages from both my wife and my passport copied. We have 50 pages each. The Consular said it was only required to certify the personal detail page...panick over. I hope she was correct.
The problem is how to have internet banking accounts certified. There are no statements to copy, except downloads. IMO this is where Notaries and Lawyers are having a field day with their pricing. Internet banking has not yet matured enough to deal with this.

David

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Hi Davita,

I had the same question about internet bank accounts but my bank were good enough to provide accounts on their headed stationary free of charge. I wonder if it might be a condition that they have to provide them if asked.

Hi Donohue
Its many years since I heard the term Proctor, they didnt have them at my College (to poor) but I think your Antipodean redbricks are well set up and probably had a whole teams of them to keep the students in order   As you know Proctor is an English term for the word Procurator.

In Scotland the Procurator Fiscal is acredited as a "notary" but would never stoop to actually stamping bits of paper.

I rest my case mi'lud

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Hi Davita,

I had the same question about internet bank accounts but my bank were good enough to provide accounts on their headed stationary free of charge. I wonder if it might be a condition that they have to provide them if asked.

I'm sure you are correct and statements could be provided. Problem is, because we travel a lot, we have accounts in 5 different countries, and will be 6 when I get my MM2H.
I thought I was smart to get rid of paperwork but to get original statements would take weeks, if not months. Fortunately, the bank (HSBC) provided email verification which the Consul certified, but that took time and trouble, which could have been avoided if I had paper statements.
I posted to show others that it might be wise to start a request for paper statements early, to avoid my problem.

David

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I've been told to get my internet banking print-out to the bank concerned, to have it stamped which the cashier did with no problem

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We went to a notary office in Amsterdam and paid 2.3 Euro per page.

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hi,

Welcome to the site georgeshooter.

Many thanks for all the posts here, and the information, please keep it coming.

I received paper statements (originals, but computer print-outs so you can have as many as you want) from the bank which I then got them to certify, plus a bank stamp.

I also had a Maybank (Singapore) savings passbook which I got the bank to photocopy the pages and then certify and sign. They were very reluctant to do this but I persuaded them.

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Hi all,

Me from Austria. All our documents are in german. For the translations, I remembered I paid Euro 700- for bankstatements(mostly),certificates and so on.

All the documents were certified by a Notary and Euro 2 per page.

Cheers,
Shirley.