Single Status Declaration

Canada has no certificate that proves you are single

Most countries expect a foreign national who wants to marry there to produce a certificate of non-impediment — an official statement from their own government confirming there is no objection to the marriage. Canada does not issue one. Global Affairs Canada says so plainly: Canada does not issue certificates or letters of non-impediment to marriage.

What it will issue instead is a statement in lieu of a certificate of non-impediment, requested by email from Global Affairs Canada. Read what that letter actually contains before you rely on it: it states that Canada issues only statements in lieu, and it carries no further detail — not your civil status, and not any comment on whether you are free to marry. Some foreign authorities accept it. Others read it, see that it says nothing about you personally, and ask for something else.

That something else is almost always the document this page is about. A single status affidavit, in the Government of Canada’s own words, is a document you swear in front of a notary or other authorized official indicating that you are single. Nobody issues it to you. You swear it, and the notarial act is what gives it weight.

Three different documents, and the one you were asked for matters

People arrive here having been handed one word by a registry clerk abroad and a different word by a relative, and the three documents involved are genuinely distinct. A single status affidavit is your own sworn statement. A marriage search letter is issued by the office that registers marriages in the province where you live, and confirms whether or not a marriage is registered there — in Ontario that is ServiceOntario, and it is a record search, not a statement about you. The statement in lieu comes from Global Affairs Canada and is about Canadian practice rather than about any individual.

Ask the receiving authority which one they want, in writing, before anything is sworn. They set the form, and frequently the exact wording. A declaration produced in the wrong form has to be redone from this end, which means a second appointment and, if an apostille was already issued, a second apostille as well.

The detail that decides everything: commissioned is not the same as notarized

This is the point that sends most single status declarations back, and it is easy to miss because both officials can lawfully take your oath. Ontario’s Official Documents Services publishes a list of documents that cannot be authenticated even if they are notarized, and the first item on it is documents commissioned by a Commissioner for Taking Affidavits.

So a declaration that was properly commissioned is still a dead end the moment it needs to leave Canada. It has to be sworn before a notary public, whose seal and signature ODS holds on file and can verify. The same declaration used only inside Canada would have been fine either way — it is the foreign destination that raises the bar.

We are a notary public and a commissioner for taking affidavits, so the correct capacity is applied in the same appointment. If you are unsure which your document needs, that is a thirty-second question on the phone and it is worth asking before you pay anyone.

How the declaration has to be signed

Bring it unsigned. The notary has to witness the signature being made, so a form that arrives already signed at home cannot be notarized and has to be printed again. You attend in person with valid photo identification — the notary is confirming that you are the person named in the statement.

You may swear an oath or make an affirmation. An affirmation carries exactly the same legal weight and the same consequences, without a religious element; say which you prefer at the appointment. If your declaration refers to attachments — identification, a divorce certificate, a birth certificate — bring them, because exhibits are marked and initialled while you are present.

The notary confirms your identity and witnesses you swearing that the contents are true. Whether they are true remains your responsibility, and knowingly swearing a false statement is a criminal offence. Read the statement properly before you come rather than at the counter.

If you were married before

A registry abroad that asks for proof you are single will usually also want proof that an earlier marriage ended. For a divorce that is the certificate of divorce, and there is a common wrong turn here: the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings in Ottawa keeps nation-wide records of divorce applications filed after July 2, 1968, but it cannot give you a copy of your divorce certificate. Only the court that processed the application can. If you no longer remember which court that was, the Registry may be able to give you the court’s address and a reference number to take to them.

The date on that certificate then matters for the apostille step. Court-issued documents from the Superior Court of Justice or the Ontario Court of Justice issued as of July 10, 2023 can be authenticated directly, with no notarization first. A Certificate of Divorce issued before that date has to be either notarized or reissued — online, or at the court where the original was filed — and a newly reissued certificate is then eligible without notarization.

If you are widowed, the document is a death certificate rather than a divorce certificate. Ontario vital statistics documents are in the category that can be authenticated directly.

The apostille step, and the order it has to happen in

Canada joined the Hague Apostille Convention on January 11, 2024. If the country where you are marrying belongs to the Convention, your notarized declaration receives a single apostille certificate from Official Documents Services and no embassy step follows. If it does not belong, the older route still applies: a certificate of authentication from ODS, then legalization at that country’s consulate. Our apostille page sets out both paths.

Order matters. The declaration is notarized first and the apostille is issued for that notarized document — sending an un-notarized private document is one of the most common reasons an application is returned. ODS verifies the signature and the seal against its records; it does not validate the contents of your document, so the apostille is never a statement that what you swore is true.

Three mechanical requirements catch people out. All parts of the notary’s signature and seal must be clearly displayed on the same page of the document, or it has to be re-notarized. ODS will not authenticate soft-copy documents — a hard copy has to be provided. And mail-in requests to Official Documents Services at 777 Bay Street in Toronto are processed within 15 business days, so leave room in the calendar before the wedding date.

If the form is in another language, or came from abroad

Plenty of registries send their own form, in their own language, and Ontario has specific rules for both situations. A document in a language other than English or French must be issued within Canada, notarized by an Ontario notary public, and accompanied by a translation. The translation may come from a certified Canadian translator who is a member of a recognized provincial translation association, or it may be attested by an Ontario notary public who speaks English or French and the language of the document — in which case the notary’s declaration has to state that they speak both languages and that they certify the accuracy of the translation.

A form that was issued outside Canada is a different case again. Foreign-issued documents are not eligible for authentication in Ontario as a rule, with one exception that applies directly here: ODS will authenticate the notarization of signatures on a foreign-issued document where the signature was sworn or witnessed before an Ontario notary public. In practice that means the registry’s own form can still work — you bring it in unsigned, swear it here, and what the apostille certifies is the Ontario notary’s signature on it.

If you also need copies of identification or records to travel with the declaration, bring the originals. Our certified true copies page explains that service; a copy can only be certified against the original document produced in the room.