Public notary sought

Joe Duxbury

Member
Some of us in Gloucester SS need to have copies of our passports notarised, and the public notary in Cheltenham that I contacted quoted a substantial sum to do this! I spoke to another caver (my apologies for not remembering who you were) who told me they had theirs done by a certain Spencer Drew. Can any of you put him in contact with me?
 

Fulk

Well-known member
Forgive my ignorance, but what does 'notarise [a passport]' mean, and why is it necessary?
 

alastairgott

Well-known member
Rubber stamping to confirm a document as being true. I remember cycling into Manchester from old Trafford to get a document notorised for a contract with a Russian football club.

In the case of a passport, they will probably check that your face matches the passport or something like that.
 

Fulk

Well-known member
Thank you, Alastair . . . . though I was under the na?ve impression that the function of a passport was to provide unequivaocal identification!
 

andrewmcleod

Well-known member
Often notarisation is to verify a photocopy as a true copy of the original. I recently needed to get some documents notarized (which results in each photocopy having a fancy letter affixed to it, and then sent to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for an Apostille (a document from a government which verifies that a public document, in this case the notary's letter, is valid) and then sent to the Vietnamese Embassy for further stamps. Suffice to say, it wasn't cheap...
 

JasonC

Well-known member
My wife recently had to get some documents certified - not for a passport, but I think the same rules apply.

Any of these people will do:
  • bank or building society official
  • councillor
  • minister of religion
  • dentist
  • chartered accountant
  • solicitor or notary
  • teacher or lecturer

- so if you know any of these, they may agree to help.
We didn't, so she tried asking bank staff at a couple of banks where we hold accounts.
One refused (Halifax), but one readily agreed (Yorkshire), I get the impression it's down to how helpful the individual is feeling.  We didn't have to pay.
 

dbrock

New member
I needed some passports certified to obtain caving permits in Slovenia.  The Post Office Document Certification Service was acceptable and at ?12.75 for up to 3 documents it was cheaper than a notary.
 

mrodoc

Well-known member
I regularly used to sign passport documents and for most of my career we didn't charge, as work pressures increased we ended up having to. If I know the person I am still happy to sign passport applications. Trust me I'm a doctor - or so it is said!
 

Jenny P

Active member
I had to have a photocopy of my passport notarised a few years ago and my own bank (Lloyds), with whom I have had both current and savings accounts for years, refused to do it.  Said that they now only did it if it was in connection with transferring funds within their own bank system and they would retain the notarised copy, but they didn't do it otherwise because of the risk of money laundering.

So I walked across the road to Barclays, with whom I don't have an account, and they did it for free - 2 copies as well!

Could have signed it myself as I'm a retired teacher, or got my husband to do it (ditto) and he was also Chairman of the Parish Council at the time.  Didn't think of that till afterwards!
 

Fulk

Well-known member
Quote from Jason:
Any of these people will do:
bank or building society official
councillor
minister of religion
dentist
chartered accountant
solicitor or notary
teacher or lecturer

- so if you know any of these, they may agree to help.

So all these people, by definition, are of unimpeachable character? Oh yeah! (I'm not getting at you, Jason; you're just the 'messenger'.)
 

Graigwen

Active member
Fulk said:
Quote from Jason:
Any of these people will do:
bank or building society official
councillor
minister of religion
dentist
chartered accountant
solicitor or notary
teacher or lecturer

- so if you know any of these, they may agree to help.

So all these people, by definition, are of unimpeachable character? Oh yeah! (I'm not getting at you, Jason; you're just the 'messenger'.)

Yes, unimpeachable, respectable types!

I used to do this a lot in my previous career as a TAX INSPECTOR.


.
 

darren

Member
From www.gov.uk

Who can certify a document
Your document must be certified by a professional person or someone well-respected in your community ('of good standing'). You could ask the following if they offer this service:

bank or building society official
councillor
minister of religion
dentist
chartered accountant
solicitor or notary
teacher or lecturer
The person you ask should not be:

related to you
living at the same address
in a relationship with you
Check with the organisation that needs the certified copy - they may have specific rules for who can certify a document

Previous posters seem to be overlooking the rather obviously last sentence.  You get documents notarized for a reason, not for fun. The notary has to be acceptable to the person the document is intended for.
 

JasonC

Well-known member
Fulk said:
So all these people, by definition, are of unimpeachable character? Oh yeah!

Indeed... I guess this list was drawn up many, many years ago when it was assumed that only gentlemen (or at a stretch, ladies) would become a professional type such as these.

Clearly this needs updating - to certify your passport, you should need a 'like' from someone with 1000+ followers on Twitter?  I think that's the modern equivalent....
 

JoW

Member
I think there is quite a difference between notorised and certified - notorised needs to be done by a solicitor with a specific degree and is costly, certified can be done by any relevant person as discussed above - worth checking which you need, if it's the former it will be pricy wherever I suspect, we used a place in Skipton that has been used by a few cavers.
 

Jenny P

Active member
I did have to have a document notorised fairly quickly for a Building Society and was required to have a solicitor do it - it required the solicitor to stamp it with the firm's stamp and sign over the stamp.  The B.S. suggested the solicitors firm just down the road, who wasn't my own solicitor;  however, the charge was only of the order of ?10 or so.
 
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