Struggling to understand apostilles
Posted by OldsterHippie@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 11 comments
We're in the US, looking at France and Costa Rica (both Hague Convention signatories). Are apostilles required only for federal documents, like passports or an FBI background check? Or for any document, like a county-issued birth certificate? One per copy of a document? It probably varies by country, but any information is appreciated.
Icy-Relationship-330@reddit
All official documents issues by a competent authority (department of health, university, county clerk, etc.) must have an apostille.
an apostille is a paper that will be stapled to the original document you mail for certification by the secretary of the state where the document was produced. The secretary of state issues apostilles that are not federal. An apostille confirms the document is legitimate.
You can request the apostille by mail only because you need to send the documents you want apostille’d to the secretary of state. Once you get it, do NOT unstaple or tamper with the documents - this will invalidate it.
** I m recommend making scanned copies of any document before sending for apostille because scanning with the apostille attached can be annoying
Ok-Rutabaga-4177@reddit
I would get extra documents with the apostille. Just to make sure.
Athingwithfeathers2@reddit
I'm wondering what a health record is supposed to contain. I assume major diagnoses, medications, lists of surgeries. I'm 71 years old. My entire health record after several car accidents, 2 kids, etc., are encyclopedia sized. How much do they need to know?
i-love-freesias@reddit
I didn’t need anything for my retirement visa in Thailand. No medical records, no apostilles. Just my passport and money to an agent.
LiterallyTestudo@reddit
I can't tell the context of your question but this guide probably can help https://www.reddit.com/r/juresanguinis/wiki/records/apostilles/
OldsterHippie@reddit (OP)
Thank you. There's helpful information there and the whole thing is just fascinating anyway.
greasemonk3@reddit
In my experience for documents in Spain, apostilles are required for any US document I want to use for any type of process here.
Whether it’s a federal, state, county document or even a non government notarized document.
And yes one apostille per original document
OldsterHippie@reddit (OP)
Thank you so much. This is very helpful.
Athingwithfeathers2@reddit
That's what I understood as well. It makes sense, other countries are not necessarily fluent in English and you cannot expect their officials to be able to read your language. Imagine being a US customs official trying to read Spanish and then Japanese documents without an official English translation. That's a big ask.
Ibuilds@reddit
Apostille is the internationally recognized method of authenticating government issues documents. Without it, how does the country issuing the visa know the documents are genuine?
OldsterHippie@reddit (OP)
Thank you. Yes, I understand the function of an apostille. The U.S. State Department website talks about federal documents, but I was wondering about documents issued below that level, too - state, county, etc.