Malcolm rang me on a Friday afternoon, keen to progress his documents as soon as possible. His father was Swedish and had recently died, resulting in a pension entitlement needing to be dealt with. Malcolm had received a form prepared by the Swedish pension authorities, which required the form to be signed in the presence of a notary as a means of creating a “certificate of life”, confirming Malcom to be alive and well. In addition, that document was required to be accompanied by a certified true copy of his passport. Malcolm said that he did not have a means to scan his document or print it at home but I said that was fine because I could do that for him. I arranged for Malcolm to visit me on the Saturday morning and we prepared his certificate of life and a certificate of his passport, ready for him to return to the pension authority in Sweden.
Sponsorship of student studies abroad: Adele was going to sponsor her nephew’s nursing studies. Her nephew presently lived in Zimbabwe but had been accepted on a course in Poland. To be able to attend the course, her nephew would need a student visa for Poland and that meant travelling to South Africa. The Polish authorities required that a letter of financial support be submitted with the visa application. Adele asked for my assistance in preparing a declaration of support. This was a very involved document that made reference to her financial status by reference to six months’ of bank statements that had been certified by her bank as having been issued by that bank, current employment evidenced by a letter from her employer and her payslips; this particular sponsorship letter also included a deed of her change of name. Once my notarial certificate was ready, I arranged for the document to receive an apostille and to be delivered by DHL to her nephew’s address in Zimbabwe, in time to meet his appointment at the Polish embassy.
