[wadesmama]

I was talking with RobandJulie and she said that when she did her paperwork she went and got her county seal and then sent it to the Guat consulate. She has not had any problems doing this was wondering if any one else skipped getting the Great Seal from Albany? We've gotten this seal every time and it was their mistake that got us K/O back in Dec 07. Thanks

[NeeNee]

I was also told that the State Seal wasn't needed. However our agency wanted it/required it. So...we did it. This was two plus years ago now(Wow time flies!) but we never had a problem with anything.

Hope this helps even though the info is a bit old.

[Saya]

Well it was a while ago for us so I could remember wrong, but I don't think we ever got a State Seal. I'm pretty sure we also just got our county stuff and then it went to the consulate.

[CEB]

No state seal from Albany for any document in our dossier either - just notary, county clerk and Guatemalan consulate. I remember it well- it was part of my regular monring commute for a while - take docs downtown to the county clerk, get of the #6 train at 42nd street and go to the consulate and then roll into work half an hour late ; next morning wasthe easy jaunt from Grand Central to the consulate to pick the docs up...

[StefB]

Wow - I never heard this and I definitely got the state seals in Albany. Very interesting.

[shoegirl06]

I didn't get them either - told they weren't required - and we never ran into a problem!

[artistchic]

CEB and I used the same attorney so that was the same protocol for me too! Just nortarty county clerk and then consulate

[Lori Elena]

WOW!! Someone ran me ragged for no reason??? I was told that all documents must be notarized, certified (county clerk), apostilled (Albany) and then authenticated (Guat consulate). So basically, what I am hearing now is that not only did I waste my time (2 trips to the Sec of States office) but, I wasted about $150 too!!

[wadesmama]

Yeah thats what I'm feeling too. What a waste of my time and money. Thanks to all that posted. I'm doing it this way this time maybe I'll finally get lucky and be done doing the dossier.

[gdbe]

I'm pretty sure we had skipped the state seal too. I think I remember about one yr ago though, the consulate may have changed their rules and was requiring it as PGN was issuing ko's for not having it. Not sure if it was a hard and fast rule though.

Gail

[hesabanana]

I got the state seal. I want my money back!

[Saya]

I wonder if this could be different county by county - like some county's procedures are acceptable by the consulate on their own but some need the verification of the state seal? I'm curious why it seems we were all told different things.

[mama8]

I was told by a very reliable legal source that although you can do this - your documents are technically not correct, that they have not been properly authenticated and you could be called into question at any time - that was not a risk I was willing to take and do not mind spending the time and money to do it right.

[mmcdaf]

All of the documents we submitted had the NYS Great Seal too, including our new police clearance letter which we just had done due to a k/o in December. I was very concerned because the deputy county clerk sealed the notarized letter and not the actual county clerk. But, the deputy county clerk WAS also on file at the state level, so getting it state sealed wasn't an issue. Thank God!

I would hate to go thru all the notarizing and county sealing, and then have to do it AGAIN because it didn't have the state seals.

Best of luck & God Bless! Happy Easter!

Michele

[Melina's Mom]

We never got the state seal on our doc just the county seal, Guatemala con seal & that was on both of our adoptions. We never had a problem with our docs.