Danielle asks:
I have completed a NOIM with a bride for a ceremony next year, the groom lives in the USA and they are submitting a prospective marriage visa application. When signing the NOIM with the bride I provided a letter of support but she also wanted a copy of the NOIM for her lawyer. I said I wasn’t able to provide this and the letter should be enough (I have done a few of these now and no other couple have asked for it and visas have been processed). I double checked this with some other celebrants at the time as I was sure we were not supposed to pass on copies of the NOIM to anyone and they agreed, do not pass it on.
Anyway today the lawyer called me asking for the NOIM again. I advised the same thing and she was super nice about it but said in 5 years I am the only celebrant to have ever said no…………. SO am I wrong or is she wrong? I don’t want to hinder their visa application in any way but I also want to follow our rules!
You can totally provide a copy of the NOIM. You can’t give them the original (and this is why a lot of celebrants think we can’t give them a copy, because this is so drummed into us in our training). But ultimately the NOIM is their document, their information, so it’s totally fine to give them a copy 🙂 You’re also right that they don’t need it, the visa application doesn’t ask for it, but the lawyers like to be thorough so a copy is fine. Just scan it or whatever and send it over!
Do make sure it doesn’t already have your A number on it (it shouldn’t, we don’t add that until after the wedding), but otherwise there’s no dramas!
