Apo-Stille Gives Me Anxiety: How to get an apostille in NYC and the federal level
Apostille
(App-oh-steel)
Before we started the visa application process, neither of us had ever heard the word apostille, much less knew how to get an apostille in NYC or at the federal level. I’d seen posts lamenting the lengthy and daunting process. I have to admit, just the word apostille freaks me the eff out. I only just learned how to pronounce apostille correctly: app-oh-steel. 🤯
In short, an apostille is sort of like a high-level notarization issued either at the state or federal level, depending on who issued the document. It is used to certify documents for international use. For us, we had to obtain apostilles from three different entities. Our marriage certificate was from Texas, so we had to get the apostille from the Texas Department of State. Our kids’ birth certificates were issued in New York, so we needed a New York Department of State apostille. And our FBI reports were issued federally, so we had to send those off to the U.S. Department of State for their apostilles.
Needless to say, I thought it was overwhelming when I thought I could send them all off to the same place, so imagine how I felt when I realized I needed to send them off to three separate government entities and follow three different processes!
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Originally, I called a UPS store in Manhattan that is equipped to handle all of these things and obtain the apostilles from all 50 states, but when they quoted me a price of almost $1,000 (2 FBI reports, 2 marriage certificates, and 4 birth certificates), I almost fainted and decided I would just figure out how to do it myself. After I’d done all the research and legwork to organize the three packages, I was told by a member of AFIP that there is a company called Monument Visa that would do it for about half that price, at least for the FBI reports. After visiting their site, it’s unclear whether they offer apostille services for every state, but they’re definitely worth investigating. Mark this under “things I wish I’d known sooner”! Alas, I had already done all the work, so after reading the various government websites ten times over (why don’t they make these easier to understand?!), I felt confident I could send off the FBI reports to DC and the marriage certificates to Texas.
Things went a bit off the rails when I got to the NYC-issued birth certificates. If your kids were born in New York, pay attention. If not, skip this part and consult your state’s government website regarding getting apostilles for birth certificates for more info. Apparently, if your children are born within the five boroughs, you are not eligible to receive a New York State Health Department-issued birth certificate. You must order it from the NYC Health Department through the VitalChek website. Side note: you can order birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates through VitalChek.
Take care to choose “apostille” for the purpose of the birth certificate, not “travel/passport” like we did. This one little mistake cost us weeks, as we had to reorder the certificates with the correct purpose chosen. Why? Because in order to get the New York City County Clerk to certify the birth certificates, you must also present a document called a Letter of Exemplification. What is that, you ask? I have no clue, but you have to have it, and they won’t issue it separately from the certificates. Once you have the certificates and letters of exemplification, you take those to the New York City County Clerk to be certified. Then and only then, can you send the certificates to be apostilled by the Department of State in Albany. Tired yet? Confused? Yeah, me too.
Currently, we are awaiting the newly-ordered birth certificates and letters of exemplification. They should arrive any day now, at which time I will jet over to lower Manhattan to get the County Clerk certification and send off to Albany. All in hopes they come by the time we are planning our visa application interview at VFS. Albany is operating at a snail’s pace these days, due to COVID restrictions, and is taking many weeks to get documents like this back to people like me.
In pre-pandemic times, you could walk the documents into the office in Manhattan and get the apostille much more easily. After emailing the DOS Authentications department, I was told they will give walk-in appointments to people with proof of travel within the next two weeks. When we get the birth certificates I will email them our VFS appointment confirmation and see if there’s any way to walk our docs in, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Wish us luck!
For info on how to send your FBI report for federal apostille, click this link.
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