<p>My mom works in Mexico and I was selected for verification for my FAFSA. Since my mom doesn’t file taxes (doesn’t live or work in USA), the lady at the FinAid office told me to bring a notarized letter saying how much she earned. She says all the letter needs to say is my mom’s name and how much she earned. But how do I write it, like, what format should it be in? I’ve never done this before! Also, do we need to bring any documents to the notary public? Please help! Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>You don’t need to bring documents to the notary. All a notary does is verify that you signed it. (You’ll have to bring your own ID to prove your identity to the notary.) A notary does not determine the truthfulness of a letter you sign, only that you attested to its truthfulness by signing it in their presence.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about the form of the letter. That’s no so important. Just make sure it contains the infomation the financial aid office wants.</p>
<p>Is your mom a U.S. citizen or permanent resident? Because if she is, she should be filing returns. If she isn’t, then proceed as instructed.</p>
<p>'rentof2- Thank you very much. Although it may be silly to bring a paper with just a sentence on it, but I guess that’s what I’ll do.</p>
<p>3bm103- No, she is not a U.S. citizen or resident. She is a Mexican citizen and lives and works in Mexico. I am a U.S. citizen, though (but I don’t work).</p>
<p>There should be a legend on the bottom saying:</p>
<p>Sworn to before me this ____
day of _________ 2010</p>
<hr>
<p>Notary Public</p>
<p>You just write it up like a business letter.<br>
Address it to XXX College (whatever the school is)
date it
re: [your name, student number (if you have one, otherwise social security number)]</p>
<p>Additional documention required for FAFSA Verification</p>
<p>This is to attest that my mother, [her name], is a Mexican citizen and lives and works in Mexico. She does not file US taxes. Her 2009 income was [amount].</p>
<p>Your signature (don’t actually sign it until you are with the notary. They need to witness your signature)</p>
<p>Your name
Address
phone
email
student number #______ (if you have one, otherwise social security number)</p>
<hr>
<p>That should be plenty. The college may want your social security number. Some people are reluctant to offer that information more often than is absolutely necessary. If it was me, though, I’d include it in this case.</p>
<p>Really all they need is this document in their files to meet federal aid requirements that are imposed on them as dispensers of federal aid. It’s not so much that you need to clear some kind of threshold with this.</p>
<p>Actually, when I’ve had letters notarized the notary supplies that “sworn before me…” text themselves with an official stamp. The student won’t need to include that in the original letter.</p>
<p>Do you think it would be ok to adress it “To Whom It May Concern”?</p>
<p>Also, the letter is supposed to be provided by my mom, so I changed some of the wording. Can you tell me if this is good?</p>
<hr>
<p>To Whom It May Concern: </p>
<p>This is to attest that I, (name), earned an income of $**** USD for the year 2009. I’m a Mexican citizen living and working in Mexico. I do not file US taxes.</p>
<hr>
<p>(Mom’s name)</p>
<hr>
<p>Notary Public</p>
<p>That’s pretty good. To Whom it May Concern is fine. Make sure to have you mom’s address, etc included under her signature. You don’t need to put the “Notary Public” line there. The notary will have their own protocol for that – a stamp or an embosser or sometimes even their own form that gets attached and sealed to the original letter. Also, unless your mom was actually paid in US dollars, I’d put the amount in the Mexican currancy and then parenthetically the US$ amount equivelant.</p>
<p>I am a notary, 'rentof2 and I can assure you that in some states (NY for one), the stamp doesn’t provide that information. Every state requires the place and date of the notarization to be indicated. Providing the notary legend covers all bases, which is a better option.</p>
<p>Just to note that the student can only sign for himself, not for his mother. She would have to sign for herself and have her signature notarized. Which opens up other questions. Is your mom in the US now? If not, she has to do the letter in Mexico, have it notarized (and possibly apostiled) in Mexico.</p>
<p>Your letter saying “my mother . . .” can be from you and notarized in the US.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, zoosermom. I get stuff notarized very often in my state, and there are three different ways I’ve seen it done here, although I’ve never experienced one that didn’t provide their own method and standard form for their notarization. It certainly can’t hurt to put that line there, at worst it would be unnecessary.</p>
<p>Exactly 'rentof2. It seems that this student is in uncharted territory for him/herself here. I’m just not sure how the notarization would work if the mother is actually in Mexico. Seems like time is of the essence, though?</p>
<p>Yeah… the mom in Mexico seems like a bit of a problem. Would the student need to put the letter in Spanish for a Mexican notary? Would the school accept that? All questions to figure out. Or maybe mom is in the states at the moment and they can get this taken care of easily.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help! I really appreciate it :]</p>
<p>And I live in a bordering city with Mexico. It takes half an hour to go from the US to Mexico (not counting the bridge line, ugh). So my mom would be coming over to a a notary public here in the US and sign it herself. I asked the FinAid office lady and she said that it could be either done with a notary public in Mexico or here in the states, but it seems like less of a hassle to do it in the US, and I really want to have my FAFSA verified as soon as possible.</p>
<p>Again, thank you so, so much! :]</p>