Spanish Marriage Certificate Name Change

[DressedInWhite]

Hi There - I would love some advice from anyone who has been through this.

 

I was married in the Dominican in January and just received my Marriage Certificate - In spanish.

 

Now that it has arrived I tired to go to the driver's licensing office to change my name on my licence. I am in Ontario.

 

They said they can't do anything unless the document is in English or French.

When I asked if the translation has to be certified, notorized or legalized she said no. Well I find this hard to believe because otherwise I could just grab a piece of paper and translate it myself (it's like 20 words in total!)

 

I don't want to waste more time in going back to the office and still not having the correct paper, and despite looking online I can't find any information on this topic.

 

So I am pleading with anyone out there that has gone through this to pass along some words of wisdom.

THANK YOU!

[Thomasjsgirl]

Don't panic! I'm from Ontario too and it DOES have to be certified. This will be done by the certified translator you select. I used ATIO and chose Florinda Lages to do the translation. This association represents only certified translators and you can pick any one of them to provide the translation for you. It's all done online and it's cheap. It was just over $50 for the translation and shipping charges.

 

Here's the link: http://www.atio.on.ca/info/AdvertPage.asp.

 

Once you have your certified translation, go back to the ministry with both the original and the translation and badaboom -- you're done

[DressedInWhite]

Thanks for your reply! It's so frustrating spending hours online and calling trying to figure it out. I can't believe it doesn't say on any of the ontario services site that it a)needs to be translated and b)has to be a certified translation.

I am not happy about having to go back and wait inline all over again...

 

If anyone has gotten away with not having to have a certified translation please let me know.

 

Thanks!

[Thomasjsgirl]

I know! I only found out by reading about it on this site. And, believe it or not, there are some brides who have been able to change their licences without having their MC translated. I think it depends on whether you approach a ministry rep who knows the rules, vs. one who doesn't, so -- luck of the draw! In my case (and yours) the rep knew the rules. There are threads on this topic if you're up to searching for them and you'll be able to read about the various experiences some of us have had trying to change our names in Ontario.

[DressedInWhite]

I did it! I just translated the certificate myself and typed it up with similar formatting to the original certificate and added a border to make it look official. No problems! No one asked anything about it and I have used it to change my health card, SIN, and Driver's licence. I think they just want to see it in english!

Thanks Thomasjsgirl for your help.