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Does Laminating document accepted for naturalisation

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:08 pm
by raheelmulla
Hi.i have laminated my marriage certificate and life in uk test certificate. so do they will except the laminated document when i apply for naturalisation. as i am going to apply through NCS.

Thankyou.

Hope u reply soon.

Re: Does Laminating document accepted for naturalisation

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:19 pm
by bobobo
generally they dont.....

but maybe NCS will take the photocopies, the LIUK test can be a problem though
raheelmulla wrote:Hi.i have laminated my marriage certificate and life in uk test certificate. so do they will except the laminated document when i apply for naturalisation. as i am going to apply through NCS.

Thankyou.

Hope u reply soon.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:26 pm
by Lucapooka
The only documents that should ever be laminated are the menus of fast-food outlets, where the clients may have sloppy habits. Laminating official instruments that are required for bureaucratic purposes is completely unacceptable.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:39 pm
by Gyfrinachgar
Lucapooka wrote:The only documents that should ever be laminated are the menus of fast-food outlets, where the clients may have sloppy habits. Laminating official instruments that are required for bureaucratic purposes is completely unacceptable.
The only acceptable reason I can see is if someone is living in extremely humid environments (Amazon rainforest for example). Such conditions wreak havoc on paper and lamination is a reasonable way of protecting important documents there. However, not so in these parts - even the London autumn rain hardly justifies such measures and British authorities will not look kindly on it.

There are ways to remove the lamination, but in some cases this could potentially damage the document inside. Some laminates adhere to the document - trying to seperate them will destroy the paper. You can try with the Life in the UK Test - if you destroy the document, you can simply do the test again - cheaper than asking a professional document conservator. For the marriage certificate this may be your only chance, though, as these are terribly tricky to replace.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:14 pm
by raheelmulla
But when i apply for indefinite leave to remain through settlementt checking service there was no problem they just took photocopy and return my document.

Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:18 pm
by Gyfrinachgar
raheelmulla wrote:when i apply for indefinite leave to remain through settlementt checking service there was no problem
That surprises me a bit - problem with laminating is that it prevents the assessor from scrutinising the documents. Laminate could, for example, be used to cover manipulations and forgery, which is why it is frowned upon and normally unacceptable for official purposes. If you want to try it out anyway, you should definitely go through NCS and not apply directly. If NCS accepts it you should be good, if not you only loose the NCS fee.