I have heard many "light bulb" jokes in my life--some funnier than others. You know...How many doctors (lawyers, Americans...) does it take to change a light bulb? Of course, such jokes never reflect true life experience. Or they didn't for me until now. Unfortunately, this was not a joke, though I have managed to laugh at it all the same. The question is: How many government workers does it take to certify the authenticity of a birth certificate? The answer is ... I have lost count.
Belgium requires that our birth certificates and marriage license be apostilled. To everyone that I mentioned this, I received either a blank stare or a question asking what is "apostilled". To be honest I did not really know what it was at first. I began to understand when I completed this process for my two daughters. The steps were very simple. I grabbed their birth certificates, drove to an office on the northeastern side of Atlanta. Got somewhat lost on the way as well. Once I found the office, I told the receptionist what I needed. She directed me to another person who took my documents and asked me to be seated in the reception area. I had brought both a book and my knitting. I was prepared for a long wait. I got comfortable and opened my book. But before I could read a word, I was being handed the papers and told to pay the receptionist the equivalent of four dollars per document. This was great! I even had time to do some much needed shoe shopping since we will not immediately have a car in Brussels. I feel the need for practical (and hopefully stylish) walking shoes.
The documents now have an attachment which make it clear the signatures are those of the officials who were in office at the time of the birth certificates were sign and that they are genuine. The new paper is not officially part of the birth certificates. Otherwise, how would a foreign government know whether or not I personally printed a fancy document and called it my daughter's birth certificate. The apostille is another layer of authenticity that is accepted by a number of nations around the world. Of course, this is just my layman's definition. It is hardly official. For an official definition feel free to look it up. It was instituted by The Hague Convention in 1961.
This easy process in Atlanta lulled my into a false sense of ease. Two birth certificates apostilled and I didn't even break a sweat. I was feeling great until I realized that here in the states a document is apostilled by the State Department of the state in which it was issued. And this is where "ease" went of vacation. Both Nick and I were born in New York. We were also married in New York. Atlanta Georgia is a long distance from there. Okay, we said as we rolled up our sleeves and sought information as to how to get these document apostilled. We read the procedure on the state government website. We wrote a check to the state. Printed out our requests and clipped the to each document. We purchased a prepaid express mail envelope so that we could receive the documents quickly. (Because at the time we were under the illusion that the process of leaving the country and getting a work permit from Belgium would be fairly quick.)
Well we did receive our documents about 10 days later. They were not apostilled. They were untouched except for the sheet attached to each one telling us what we must do before they can authenticate it. Each document had different instructions of where we must send it first. What they failed to tell us is that the original birth certificates could not be apostilled. We need to order new "long form" birth certificates. We could order them online however, not at the same site because Nick was born in one of the five boroughs of New York City. So there is an extra step in the process for him. Well approximately two weeks and $130.00 later we had new still unapostilled birth certificates. The marriage license had to be sent to the county clerk of the county in which we were married. It too had not yet been apostilled.
We went to New York to visit family and physically went to the Dept of State to get our documents apostilled. We went early in attempt to be there when the office opened. This process not including travel time took at least and hour. Payment must be made by money order as the credit card reader was not functioning that day. I am APOSTILLED, that is certified and recertified that I was born and did indeed legally get married.
I now know why there are agencies that do all this legwork. At I can see the value of such a service.
