If you intend to live, work, or study in another country, you must apply for and obtain a resident, work, or student visa. One requirement of the visa process is a statement from your government that you are not a habitual or wanted criminal. In the United States, this is accomplished by obtaining an FBI Criminal Background Check, also known as a Criminal History Summary. You can download the required fingerprint cards and forms from the FBI website. Once completed by the FBI, the forms are good for six months.
Understanding the timeline of the background check process is critical. Most people seeking employment or moving overseas have a date they plan to get on the airplane and/or a day they are expected to start school or work. The FBI background check can take anywhere from 4-16 weeks (one to four months) and, as of October 12, 2013, the FBI only delivers documents through USPS first class mail. Due to a recent IT transition, the FBI currently lists its average processing time between 11 and 13 weeks, not including mailing.
Authentication of FBI Background Check Certificate
Receiving your clean background check is only the first step. Most foreign governments require documents receive special authentication before they will be accepted. This includes any necessary diplomas, licenses, and background checks.
There are two main ways government documents are authenticated. Powers of attorney, trademarks, treaties, certificates of good standing, courier letters, and the like receive a Certificate of Authenticity through the U.S. Office of Authentications or U.S. Department of State. Federal or state documents which will be used in one of the member countries of the Hague Convention of 1961 (currently 80 countries, 79 states, and one Regional Economic Integration Organization) require an “apostille” or stamp of authenticity specially designed for Hague Convention countries. A full list of these countries can be found on the website of the U.S. Department of State.
Documents issued by a state receive an apostille from the designated Competent Authority in the state where the document was issued. The Competent Authority is usually in the office of the state’s Secretary of State. 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.
Apostille process for FBI certification
Documents issued by the federal government, such as an FBI background check, need to be authenticated by the U.S. Department of State. Other documents that require a federal apostille include those which have been signed by a federal officer, an American Consular Officer, and a military notary of Judge Advocate.
You can request an apostille stamp in several ways, and each has its own costs and timeline. Downloading a form and mailing it in a tracked USPS envelope is the least expensive but slowest of the methods. You can expect to wait 2 to 3 weeks to receive your documents. The fastest way to get your apostille is to go directly to the U.S. or state Department of State building. You can get your documents back in one to three days.
Using a professional apostille courier or agency is more expensive, but is much faster if you don’t live next to the State Department. While each document will cost an average of $50 to $200, you will be certain to get your document in four to 14 days depending on the level of expediting selected.
There are several reasons to choose an apostille courier. For example, if you don’t fill out your forms correctly, send it to the wrong address or agency, or have made some other error, your documents will be returned, which can severely impact your timeline.
Apoling Solutions, a professional Apostille services company process thousands of apostille requests each month and will ensure your forms are filled out properly, go to the right place, and that you get your documents back well before you need to get on the plane or your background check expires.
FBI criminal check certificate translation
Besides the apostille on FBI background check certificate most of countries require that the document and apostille to be translated into the language of the country where you intend to present the document. Translation should be certified – completed by a company who is the member of the American Translators Association, printed on the form containing company’s letterhead and affidavit of translator, signed by a linguist who performed the official translation, and, of course, translator’s signature must be notarized by a Notary Public. After completion, the certified document translation also should be legalized on state level.
Apoling Solutions offers all services at one place – authentication, apostille and translation.
Once we obtain an apostille stamp on your document, we’ll translate all documents from English into required language – Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Albanian, Serbian, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Slovak, Czech, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Georgian, Armenian, Turkish, Romanian, Hungarian or any other language of the world. With Apoling Solutions you are ensured that your document will not require any further actions, because we’ll prepare it in accordance with international legal requirements and the domestic requirements regarding FBI background check certificate apostille or legalization.
If the country you mean to use your document in is not a party to the Apostille Convention (check the list of Apostille Countries clicking here), the FBI clearance certificate has to undergo embassy legalization. Please, contact us to find out more about chain legalization process. If you need the FBI background check apostille, submit a quote via this website or contact us via phone. We’ll be glad to assist.
Apoling Solutions provides FBI background check apostille services for NYC residents while serving those who reside out of state – clients from AL, AK, AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NE, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NC, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT,VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY, and process FBI background check apostille and translation in accordance with the local, state and federal laws and regulations.