Apostilling Documents

Greetings,

Is there any way to get your documents notorized and apostilled here in Mexico City (I'm from the US if that makes a difference in your answer.)?

Or maybe there's a relatively cheaper way to do it online? I know of one online apostilling service, but they charge more than twice as much as it would cost doing it myself.

Thanks,
K

[Bevdeforges]

What sort of documents are you looking to have apostilled? If they are US documents, they have to be apostilled by the agency in the US that originally issued the documents. That usually means you have to go back to the state, county or town that produced the document in the first place.

The US embassy here in France has an information sheet on apostille for documents issued in the US: http://www.amb-usa.fr/consul/acs/guide/aposti.pdf
For documents issued in Mexico, try the website of the US Embassy in Mexico. (Use the search function on the embassy website.)

Cheers,
Bev

Thanks for your help, Bev. They're academic degrees. I'll check the link you pasted.

Peace,
K.

[synthia]

If you are applying for a job and the company is asking for some sort of verification or notarization, in some countries the US Consulate will do whatever is needed, because the requirements make no sense and what they want to be done can´t be done. In Japan, I had my diploma notarized, even though it was nonsense and there was nothing to notarize. In spite of the US government having notified the Japanese of this, they still insisted. They were under the impression that notarization implied some sort of investigation and was a big, big deal. The US just gave up.

If the copies of the diplomas you have are originals or you have been issued official duplicates with the embossed seal of the university on them, that is probably as good as you are going to get. I used official duplicates both times I applied for work permits because I wanted to retain my original and there is always the chance something will go wrong.

If you graduated recently, your university might have a way for you to order duplicates on line.

[MichelleAlison]

When I needed more documents apostilled, I had to send them back to the British and Commonwealth office in London (I am British). It was far cheaper doing it myself than allowing the British Embassy in Buenos Aires to arrange. At the end of the day, all they were going to do was send the documents back to the same place and charge a large fee on top of the apostille fee.

I didn't realise that apostilling documents was a worldwide requirement. Technically all it does is confirm the signature and not the information contained therein - it is rather annoying and costly - 24 pounds ($48) per document in London.

Michelle

[synthia]

Don´t spend any money until you try the US consulate. You could also try a branch of a big American bank for the notarization. Someplace like Citibank or BoA should have a US notary.

[Bevdeforges]

The US consulate usually doesn't notarize documents for free. (It's not their fault - the government has cut the State Department budget to the extent that the consulates have to recover their costs for "citizen services" they offer abroad.)

Here in France, it costs $30 for the first authentication, and $20 for each additional one. Not cheap - but it has come down from $45 per page a few years ago.
Cheers,
Bev

[MichelleAlison]

Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

The US consulate usually doesn't notarize documents for free. (It's not their fault - the government has cut the State Department budget to the extent that the consulates have to recover their costs for "citizen services" they offer abroad.)

Here in France, it costs $30 for the first authentication, and $20 for each additional one. Not cheap - but it has come down from $45 per page a few years ago.
Cheers,
Bev

At least it's cheaper than the UK. Last year it went up from $38 to $48 - in the UK nothing goes down

Michelle

PS This price is per document and no discounts

[synthia]

Whoa! I think I paid $10, long ago.

[Rodrigo84]

My cousin actually had to get his documents done through the Secretary of State back in the U.S. for each of the states he got his transcripts in, one major PITA.