Solicitor won't send original divorce certificate- now what?

[turquoise]

Me (Canadian), and partner (South African with British passport) want to get married asap. before my work permit expires. We just got O/H's divorce certificate from the solicitor in South Africa- however, he sent us a certified copy of the Decree of Divorce- he says he is keeping the original for safekeeping. Our email enquiry was met with the same response.
According to the CoA form and Spouse Visa form , you need to send the ORGINAL divorce certificate.
Now what? Will they accept this certified copy? What can we do if the solicitor is refusing to send the original.

Also, really ticked off, he told us it would be sent by courier and charged about 60 pounds to send it. It came through regular mail with about 2 pounds worth of postage!

[John]

The Divorce Decree has presumably been issued by a Court. Can you get in touch with that Court direct and ask if another copy of the Divorce Decree can be issued?

Here in the UK, where the document would be called a Decree Absolute, it is possible to get further Court-sealed copies of the Decree Absolute for a very low amount of money ..... a pound or two. But in South Africa?

[turquoise]

Thanks for the quick reply , John. I just sent the solicitor an email , asking him if he could get us an original or at least give us the address of the Court so we could request an original ( there is no address of the Court on the letter he sent or the certified copy). I won't hold my breath though. The one thing this solicitor has seemed intent on doing is ripping us off.
Also asked him why he charged us 60 pounds to courier it when it cost 2 pounds!
I rang the enquiry line on the CoA form- the lady said if we couldn't get the original to send the copy and it would be dependent on the caseworker but she said they do want originals. Am just afraid this could hold everything up and time is not too much on our side.

Just afraid if he sends the original he'll want another 60 pounds!

[John]

If I were you I would submit the CoA application this week, before the fee goes up, but proceed to attempt to get the original Decree.

[turquoise]

Wish I could submit it now, John, but I decided to get my Canadian passport renewed (it expires next Oct.) so that I could have my spouse visa put in the new one. I'm expecting it back in two or three weeks. It was a last minute decision. Very foolish of me. I now realise I should have just used the current one but never dreamt the prices would increase so much.

Well, I've thought of another option in my state of mind here... maybe we could just lie on the CoA application form and say that my O/H has never been married... he's never been married here in England and would they actually get check in South Africa?
Yes, I realise that would be a bad thing, to lie, if we ever got caught... and no, in all reality I wouldn't probably risk that... but if on the other hand, they refuse to accept the certified divorce certificate... well, I only have till June 5th to apply for CoA, past that , I couldn't apply and would have to leave the UK. Then... we'd still need the original!
It would also cost money to leave, for him to fly to Canada , or wherever, for us to marry... money we don't have to burn.
Should hear from the solicitor tomorrow.

Isn't it normal procedure for each person in the divorce to get an orginial divorce certificate from a Court?

[John]

maybe we could just lie on the CoA application form and say that my O/H has never been married.

Absolutely not recommended! Think of the following visa application forms that will need to be filled in. It would not just be a question of fibbing once .... but quite a few times.