For open work permit holders inviting their parents to Canada on a Visitor Visa and unsure whether the statutory declaration needs to be notarized:
- Notarization is not mandatory for the statutory declaration included in the visitor visa file.
- Consider notarizing it anyway as a precaution, since it can add credibility to the document even though it isn't strictly required.
- Real-world outcomes support this: applicants have successfully obtained a parent's visitor visa without notarizing the declaration.
In short: you can submit the statutory declaration unnotarized and still succeed, but notarizing it is a reasonable extra step if you want added assurance.