[ATLGIRL]

Do all of the documents we collect for our dossier have to be notarized AND apostilled? or just certain documents? Our birth certificates & marriage license will be coming from Florida and it looks like we can place an order for apostilled docs. It makes it sound like the notary part isn't necessary. Is that acceptable? or do we need to order the basic certified docs, get them notarized and send them back to be apostilled? I don't want something to get kicked back because of some silly detail. Does it depend on the country or is it governed by the Hague Convention? We're leaning towards eastern europe.

Also, how do you get dr. reports, etc. apostilled? Our cats will need updated shots....does that paperwork have to be apostilled? Will we have to send a stack of paperwork to the SOS office?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks again!

[Ktates]

depends on the country and even the region - your agency should give you a list of what needs to be notarized and apostilled. The secretary of state office does the apostilling - usually you can mail it in or drop it off. Note that whatever state issued the document has to be the one to apostille it. So if you were born in Montana and then lived the rest of your life in Nebraska you would still need your Montana issued birth certificate apostilled in Montana...hope that helps..

[hjdeth1]

another thing to note is that if the country is not Hague, you don't apostille. Instead you do state level certification and then federal level authentication and THEN they go to the countries embassy/consulate for more authentication before being sent to the country.

[ddhuab]

For Guatemala, most docs had to be notarized and CERTIFIED (vs. appostilling). I think the answer does depend on whether a country is part of the Hague or not.

Also, the matter of which country you pick is going to affect what documents have to be generated/created and then go to appostiilling, etc.

It sounds like maybe you are trying to get bc's and marriage done early to save time... I did this, too, and it really did not save me much time... I ordered them in Aug. 2004, and my entire dossier wasn't certified, etc. until June 2005 (because of all the other documents).

I would save money (avoiding doing both) by waiting until you got your initial agency package with the list of what goes in your dossier package. Still, you need your b.c. and m.c. for homestudy, so once you KNOW which format, I would order at that point.

Also, if you order your b.c. "apostilled," (or certified), then you don't have to worry about notaries, etc... the docs will be ready to go on to your consulate for verification (not sure what they call it, but the country's consulate here in U.S. generally puts a seal of approval on the documents (similar to the certification process).

Good luck,
D.

[ATLGIRL]

Thanks everyone for your advice.

[skling69]

For Russia everything had to be notarized, certified, then apostilled. Except for the birth certificates, marriage license and Criminal records checks, they just had to be apostilled because they were signed by a government official to begin with. The certified part is at the county register of deeds where your notary is, it cerifies that they were notaries at the time. This was in NC, I have heard of states being different on the Marriage license, etc.

[TrixieBelden]

We are with CCAI.

We are also getting docs from Florida. CCAI told us that the only documents which needed to be exemplified or apostilled (same meaning/different terms) were the set of documents going to China. The other 3 copies which were going to our home study agency and the federal government could be simply certified. There is a big difference.

You can order certified copies online as well as through the mail and they are cheaper. The exemplified copies can only be acquired through the mail and you have to write a letter and include 2 checks because 1 fee goes to the FL SOS office (where I use to work) and the other fee goes to the Vital Records office.

Hope this helps. The actual number of copies that you need and what needs to be done to them depends on your country. Keep in mind though that you probably won't need apostilled/exemplified versions for EVERY set - only for the set leaving the US. Ask your agency for details.