and then the pope blessed it
as I am in the final stages of compiling my dossier (the giant stack of documents by and about me that gets sent to the Ethiopian government), I am now dealing with signatures.
Level 1- stuff I gotta sign, which does not require any additional official blessing for that signature: 1 document, 3 copies.
Level 2- stuff I gotta sign (or somebody else has to sign) and the signatures must be notarized: 17 documents, 4 copies each
Level 3- stuff I gotta sign (or somebody else has to sign) and the signatures must be notarized, and then the signatures have to be take to the state capital for someone there to "apostille" them : 3 docs, 4 copies each
"Apostille" was a new one to me: it refers to the legalization of a document for international use under the terms of the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. Documents which have been notarized by a notary public, and certain other documents, and then certified with a conformant apostille are accepted for legal use in all the nations that have signed the Hague Convention. (thanks, wikipedia)
I'll be driving to Sacramento to get these Level 3 docs apostilled - perhaps tomorrow if I can get away from work at a decent hour.
I just hope there is no additional, even higher level of blessing necessary...
4 comments:
Ahh the apostille. For Russia you need 3 copies of all documents all notarized. 1 copy of each document must be apostilled. In WA the fee is $15 per doc. I think only CA has a higher fee. Good luck.
The OH fees were quite reasonable, as I remember, although dragging along a helpful Elliott made the cost much higher. There were many snacks, and the promise of a pony by the end of a VERY long day of office visits. But hey, #2742 is here! woo hoo!!!!!
Well thank goodness...it's about time the pope blessed it!
Notary fee alone here is $20/document if you go through the consulate. (Shiver.)
I wonder if some shiny gold stickers would be good enough...
Actually, I'm glad someone else had to apostille things! (Sorry for you, but...) I was beginning to think it was another hoop held only by the world of Russian adoption.
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