US Apostille for getting married

hollywoodb2b

Hi

I am getting married in July. While I was born in NY (USA) I have been living in Ireland since I was 1yr old.

For the civil registrar I need an American Apostille with my birth cert which is proving to be a nightmare to get. Can anyone help ?

I've been on to the American embassy and they have refered me to a number of offices but namely I have to
a) Request a long birth with a Letter of Emplification (Dept of Health)
b) Get it certified (New York Country Clerk)
c) Get it apostilled (Dept of State)

All different offices in different part of NY & US.

I've thought about using a website called apostille.us which claims to do the work for a hefty fee of EUR 700 but am a bit wary of using it. Has anyone else been through the same process or have any advise to offer ?????

Thanks

dermot_sheehan

Do it yourself
it just involves posting certificates back and forth with money orders for a couple of dollars.

Order your New York City birth certificate online plus letter of exemplification for $15+$8.35 postage
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/vr/vrbappl.shtml

Send your birth certificate and letter of exemplification with a $8 fee for each to be certified by the New York County Clerk
http://www.nycourts.gov/supctmanh/county_clerk_operations.htm


Then send with $10 to the New York Department of State to receive an apostille
http://www.dos.state.ny.us/corps/apostille.html


Total $49.35 plus postage, much cheaper then apostille.us

Since Ireland and the U.S. have signed the Hague Convention, an apostille issued by an American State is acceptable in Ireland.

Delancey

Aaaah , permission to ask a question ?

What on earth is an Apostille ?

Pkiernan

Order online here:

http://www.vitalchek.com/express-birth-certificates.aspx

dermot_sheehan

Delancey wrote: »

Aaaah , permission to ask a question ?

What on earth is an Apostille ?

A way of proving foreign public documents.

A public document is self proving. So for example if I write a report, that can't be admitted as evidence unless I appear in court, take the oath and swear as to the accuracy of the items in the report.

Public documents are self proving. So for example a birth certificate is self proving that a certain birth was registered as taking place on a certain day, the registrar of births,deaths and marriages does not need to be called to give evidence, the seal on the certificate is enough and a court will take judicial notice of that.

Similarly the registrar of companies does not need to be called to give evidence that certain articles and memorandum of association have been lodged in the companies office for a certain company. An extract from the companies office, sealed by the registrar of companies, will be judicially notice by a court.

An irish court or public body would know of the existence of other irish public bodies and what its seal and records look like and would be able to verify the existence or non existence of public records.

The problem is what about foreign public authorities, how can an irish court or official body know that it is a public body entitled to issue documents which are given judicial notice.

The New York City Department of Health which issues the original posters birth certificate is an example. How does an irish court/registrar of marriages know the existence of such a body. Or even what about a more obscure body like the Bengal State Companies House or the Northern Territories Australia magistrates court.

What used to happen was a chain of authentication. The New York City Department of Health would issue its sealed record, which would then be authenticated by the New York County Clerks Office. The New York County Clerks Office would authenticate that this is the seal of one of the cities in New York County (actually in fact the only city). The New York Secretary of State would then authenticate the seal of the New York County Clerk that this is the seal of one of the counties of New York. The Seal of New York would be authenticated by the U.S. Department of State in Washington that this is the seal of the State of New York, one of the political subdivisions of the United States. The Seal of the U.S. Department of State would then be authenticated by the Irish Embassy in Washington which would recognise the seal of the department of state of the United States. The seal of the irish embassy in Washington would then be recognised by public authorities in Ireland as it is an irish public authority.

The Hague convention shortened this process slightly by introducing the concept of an apostille or certificate that is stamped on the public document. Countries that sign up to the Hague Convention have designated their public authorities who can issue apostilles. The United States has designated the 50 Secretaries of State of their 50 states who are empowered to issue apostilles for public documents originating from their states, and the Federal secretary of state is can issue it for federal public documents. In Ireland the department of foreign affairs has been designated.

So the original poster has to have a chain of authentication up to the state level who will then put an apostille on it. If the OP was born in a U.S. state where the state issued the birth certificate (as opposed to a city or county government) he would not need a chain of authentication up to State level, the apostille can be applied directly)

hollywoodb2b

Thanks a million Garbhain. I've started the first step as recommended to get the long birth cert & letter of emplification from vital records - phew!!!

Also, got an updated quote of $190 to get the apostille once I get the birth cert but going to give it a lash myself first. I'll reply back when I get sorted just in case anyone in the same position i

Our man in Havana

$190 is taking the piss tbh. Best of luck with it all.

hollywoodb2b

Hi, in the end I went down the manual route as above and then got a cousin to collect the documents from various offices - cost me $30.

Cupofcoffee

Hey, I'm in exactly the same boat. Getting married this July. Born in New York. I read this thread and tried to order my birth cert online. There didn't seem to be any mention of a letter of exemplification. Does that come automatically when you select the reason is for an apostille ?
Anyway was about to finish order and they asked for my social security number. I have no idea where my card is at moment.
Did your cousin need yours to sort you out? I have some relations who could help me if I can't locate my card. Could really do without having to apply to dept of social services as the others.
Hope the rest of your wedding plans are going ok cos this is a total nightmare.

rocky raccoon

dermot_sheehan wrote: »

Do it yourself
it just involves posting certificates back and forth with money orders for a couple of dollars.

Order your New York City birth certificate online plus letter of exemplification for $15+$8.35 postage
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/vr/vrbappl.shtml

Send your birth certificate and letter of exemplification with a $8 fee for each to be certified by the New York County Clerk
http://www.nycourts.gov/supctmanh/county_clerk_operations.htm


Then send with $10 to the New York Department of State to receive an apostille
http://www.dos.state.ny.us/corps/apostille.html


Total $49.35 plus postage, much cheaper then apostille.us

Since Ireland and the U.S. have signed the Hague Convention, an apostille issued by an American State is acceptable in Ireland.

I know this is an old thread but I am trying to get an apostille stamp to get married in December. I moved here 30 years ago from Long Island, NY. I tried these links but they seem to have been removed. Any advice?

Marcusm

rocky raccoon wrote: »

I know this is an old thread but I am trying to get an apostille stamp to get married in December. I moved here 30 years ago from Long Island, NY. I tried these links but they seem to have been removed. Any advice?

I think you just need to search through them. For example the following is the link to obtain a birth cert

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh//html/services/vr.shtml

If you were born in Long Island, you'll presumably need to identify the county (Queen's is Queen's County, Brooklyn in King's county) as NY County is only MAnhattan.

rocky raccoon

Marcusm wrote: »

I think you just need to search through them. For example the following is the link to obtain a birth cert

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh//html/services/vr.shtml

If you were born in Long Island, you'll presumably need to identify the county (Queen's is Queen's County, Brooklyn in King's county) as NY County is only MAnhattan.

Sorry,I should have said. Suffolk County

Marcusm

rocky raccoon wrote: »

Sorry,I should have said. Suffolk County

Suffolk County is not in New York City, so presumably you'll need to start by getting the birth cert from the Suffolk County HEalth Department followed by certification by Suffolk County Clerk before proceeding to the New York State Department of State. It might even be that with Suffolk County being smaller (in terms of population) that you might get the HEalth Dept to liase with the County Clerk and shortcircuit matters.

Forget that, I got bored so decided to do it for you!

The registers are maintained by each town's clerk so you'll need to know the town. Follow the link below and there's even a click through to explain the process to get it apostilled!

http://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/Departments/CountyClerk/BirthMarriageandDeathCertificates.aspx

Fred Swanson

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Cupofcoffee

I ran out of time and ended up having to give a sworn affidavit stating that I was in the process of getting the cert and apostille.
They accepted this in the Irish registry office. They wont give you the marriage licence until you give it but you can have the wedding.
I made an appointment in the US embassy and typed out a sworn statement. Don't think there's any charge for it either.

You still have to go through the same process to get it but if you run out of time you can at least still get married!

Don't stress about it.

rocky raccoon

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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Am I right in saying that as I have never been married before the birth certificate that I have is probably not an official birth certificate and that I need the long copy?

Cody Pomeray

Yes you need the long form of your birth certificate.

When I was going through this my partner (south african) didn't have to get anything apostilled. Probably just an oversight in that case, I expect.

Fred Swanson

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Carawaystick

I think there's only Birth certs now, if you've got one in the last five years anyway ( in Ireland)
I also note they've jumped in price by 150% were 8 now 20 euros...

rocky raccoon

Cupofcoffee wrote: »

I ran out of time and ended up having to give a sworn affidavit stating that I was in the process of getting the cert and apostille.
They accepted this in the Irish registry office. They wont give you the marriage licence until you give it but you can have the wedding.
I made an appointment in the US embassy and typed out a sworn statement. Don't think there's any charge for it either.

You still have to go through the same process to get it but if you run out of time you can at least still get married!

Don't stress about it.

Ok Cupofcoffee, I now have the long copy of my birth cert, got it through Vitalchek as suggested on this thread. Can I ask how you sent it back to the US to get the apostille stamp and how you had it returned to you from the US? Did you use a carrier like UPS? And if so what am I looking for if I contact them? I was hoping that An Post might have some arrangement with a carrier that may be able to provide me with a prepaid registered envelop but it seems they do not.

Fred Swanson

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rocky raccoon

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

What I am required to do in order for them to return it to me is one of the following options:

Type of Return Mailer Enclosed: (You must enclose one of the following if documents are to be returned to you by mail. Not
applicable for in-person deliveries.)
- Self-addressed, First-Class envelope with postage
- Self-addressed US Postal Priority or Express envelope with postage
- Self-addressed carrier label; (FedEx, UPS, Airborne, or DHL)

As it is a different country and currency the third option seems to be my only option, unless I am wrong. I can send it by registered post but how do I get it returned to me?

Fred Swanson

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Cynthia88

Hi I know this is old post but I'm in the same boat I have my original birth certificate can u tells how you went about doing it, thanks

Fred Swanson

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Cynthia88

Fred Swanson wrote: »

The US embassy will tell you all the steps required.

Hi I already got on to them and they wouldn't give me much information, does anyone know if you went into the embassy would they do it or do you need a appointment?

Fred Swanson

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glut22

Anyone done this recently?
Looking to get apostilled birth cert in Illinois