The Importance of a Birth Certificate legalization
If you plan to travel to another country to live, study, or work each person in your party must have an official copy of their birth certificate. If traveling overseas with children, you should carry official birth certificates even if you are just vacationing. Other reasons you may need birth certificates include getting married or adopting a child overseas, applying for dual citizenship, and receiving an inheritance.
Most people understand the concept of the birth certificate, but do you understand what makes a birth certificate official or how to start the process of birth certificate legalization? To be considered authentic by foreign governments, documents, including birth certificates, need to be more than just “originals”, and the acceptable authentication process varies depending on the country or countries you will be visiting.
For example, member countries of the Hague Convention of 1961 require a “document apostille” or stamp of authenticity specially designed for Hague Convention countries (currently 80 countries, 79 states, and one Regional Economic Integration Organization). Other countries require a Certificate of Authenticity from the U.S. Office of Authentications or U.S. Department of State.
Certificate of Birth Apostille process
Documents issued by a state, like birth certificates, must receive an apostille from the designated Competent Authority in the state where the document was issued. A state cannot apostille a document issued by another state, and the U.S. Department of state will almost never issue an apostille for a state issued document; however, they will provide a Certificate of Authenticity if your document is not going to a Hague Convention country. This means a birth certificate apostille must be sought from the state in which the birth certificate was issued.
Documents issued by the federal government or signed by a federal officer, an American Consular Officer, or a military notary or Judge Advocate go through the federal apostille process. Therefore, if your birth certificate was not issued by a U.S. state or you have a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, you need to seek a birth certificate apostille from the U.S. Department of State.
Complicating issues, each U.S. state has its own unique document apostille process, fees, and requirements, as does the federal government. Some states want birth certificates sent to them directly from a county office of vital records, others have timelines (such as a document must have been issued in the last six months), others require long forms and an exemplification letter, and some require different documents and forms for each type of authentication (needed if you are going to both a Hague Convention country and non-convention country).
Birth Certificate translation into foreign language
Even with an apostille, most countries will not consider documents “legal” unless they are translated into the language of the country in which they will be presented. Therefore, in addition to getting a birth certificate apostille, you will want to have it translated as well. Be aware, accepted translations must meet stringent certification and notarization requirements.
People who live outside of the United States may want to move, travel, adopt or perform any number of actions that require a birth certificate apostille as well. Sadly, time differences, mailing costs, and other obstacles can hinder your best efforts. If you find yourself in this situation, you may want to consider using a document retrieval service.
With tight deadlines, inconsistent application procedures, and varied requirements based on your destination country or countries, you should seriously consider using a professional apostille company. After all, they navigate these waters thousands of times each month, and these are services you can’t afford to have performed improperly.
Benefit from cooperation with us
Apoling Solutions is a full-service apostille, translation, and document retrieval service. This means that from one location, Apoling Solutions retrieves documents, orders certified copies, apostilles and authenticates documents, translates, certifies translations, and will get your documents back to you. Once you let Apoling Solutions know your plans, they will obtain birth certificate apostilles from any of the 50 U.S. states and/or the U.S. State Department depending on your needs. If you live overseas, Apoling Solutions will retrieve your documents and apostilles for you.
With Apoling Solutions, you need to contact just one agency regardless of where you live or how many birth certificates you need. Even better, you have peace of mind knowing that your documents will be legal, accepted, and not require any additional services because they are guaranteed to align with all international and domestic requirements.