So, as you may guess (how?) I’m not actually IN the OC at the moment. Before that can happen, there are a number of hoops that need to be jumped through and lots of long boring paperwork.

We’ve already filed the I-130 which, for those who don’t know, is the petition for a spousal visa made by a US citizen. In this case that’s Jennifer, my wife. As we live in the UK, we are able to use the service provided at the US embassy in London. After getting all that initial paperwork right, we have now been presented with our next challenge: proof that our marriage is ‘bona fide’.

We’ve been asked to provide three sworn affidavits from people who know us stating that our marriage is genuine. *Humpf* of course it is! Anyway, being upset about it wasn’t going to help so we started scratching our heads and thinking about who we could ‘volunteer‘ for this onerous task. Jennifer also has to get a document notarised explaining the circumstances of our relationship and how this led to our wedding (Er, because we love each other?).

We drew up a shortlist of suitable candidates and started making enquiries into costs and such like. We soon discovered that in the UK public notaries are actually quite rare. They are usually solicitors – but here’s the catch – not ALL solicitors can notarise. So, what does that mean? Yup, supply and demand rules apply. As there are only 900 or so notaries in England and Wales and a small handful in the northeast it costs an arm and a leg to get a document notarised. The two we found in the northeast charged between £80 and £140 (plus VAT). What?! Just to sign and stamp a document.

Our initial plans to get some fine upstanding members of society soon evaporated. We were going for cost effectiveness. In the US we figured it would be cheaper so we asked a couple of friends there to do a statement for us. These weighed in at the princely sum of $10 each. That’s more like it. Our third was done by a friend in Cardiff, Wales, and that cost £50. Jennifer’s was nearer £100.

So, all in all it’s a crazy-bonkers example of how much of a rip-off legal services can be (in the UK at least). This was especially as Jennifer’s visit to the notary lasted approximately 5 minutes and the guy didn’t seem to know what he was doing. He had claimed to be “highly trained”. Yeah, right.

It still remains to be seen whether the notarised documents from both the UK and USA will be up to standard for the immigration service, but that’s another story. We shall find out in due course.