Apostille on New Jersey issued Birth Certificate

Hi Jillian,

I am not an American but what I can tell you is that you can only obtain an Apostille stamp in the country of the subject document's origin.  I am also wary of posting important documents so the way I avoided that route was to courier my documents to friends and they then went and got my document stamped and couriered the documents back.

Hope this helps.

Regards
Tanya

Hi Tanya,

Thank you very much for the reply!

I think I may have to go the same route. I hope you don't mind if I ask another question. I know that you're not American but I think the same rules may apply; was there any issue having someone else obtain the stamp for you? Did you have to sign a waiver or something of the like to give them authorization to obtain the apostille?

Thank you again. I sincerely appreciate it!

Regards,
Jillian

Hi Jillian,

My pleasure!  Please feel free to ask me anything and if I can help, I am more than happy to oblige.

No waiver is required and anyone can get anyone else's document Apostille stamped because the Apostille stamp serves to verify the legality of the document and not it's bearer.

Hope that makes sense?

Regards
Tanya

We will be happy to guide you during your apostille process.

We have a do it yourself guide on our site.

Apostille.net provides expedited apostille processing service solutions for a wide array of personal, corporate and academic documents.

With over 14 years of experience, we have taken the sometimes complex process of obtaining an apostille and simplified it for our clients.

We are located close to the  New York County Clerk and the Secretary of State office.  We process apostilles every single day rain or shine.

Best,

Luis

Wikipedia has a useful article on apostilles. An apostille is usually just an authentication of a notarisation. A licensed notary (i.e. licensed in his own country) authenticates a signature or a document-copy, but that notarial authentication itself has to be authenticated by somebody higher up the legal ladder. I remember many years ago while working in Nassau, Bahamas, what a process it was, to go the whole nine yards to get a proper certification down to a client in Panama. The Bahamian notary's signature had to be authenticated by the local Governor (Bahamas was a British colony at the time), then the Governor's signature had to be authenticated by the UK Consul-General in Washington, DC, then his signature had to be authenticated by a US Assistant Secretary of State, who then - ahh, I forget what happened after that; the Assistant Secretary's signature had to be authenticated by the Panamanian Ambassador or something like that.

Probably, most times, some of the intermediate steps are skipped; but if big money is involved, maybe not. For Jillian who wants her NJ Birth Certificate certified - how important is it that the notary who signs to say it's a true copy really is a licensed notary and not just some joker who has bought a ten-dollar Notary Stamp at Walmart?

To me Gordon,  it's a fine art of bureaucracy.

Primadonna wrote:

To me Gordon,  it's a fine art of bureaucracy.

Oh yes it is, Donna! Although... it amazes me sometimes how few people check to see that their Notaries are legitimate. My wife is one (here in the Cayman Islands) - and is properly licensed by our government, which means the UK government - and she certifies copies of documents galore. VERY few of her one-time foreign clients bother to ask to see her Licence, and even fewer ask for an apostille. Most people still trust strangers, I guess.

Hello! As long as the document abides by the guidelines of the prepaid, self addressed envelope; you MUST also mark yourself as the sender and receiver of the returned papers; include in your cover letter that you are specifically using USPS or the like with such and such service; along with your US issued identification,certified NJ birth certificate ( it has the raised seal), and applicable filing fee, they should have no issue. You may want to utilize the USPS Priority International flat rate envelope or Priority postage in your own envelope (which is most likely since I doubt you have a USPS issued envelope hanging around) but it needs to fit the USPS measurement guidelines and also not weigh more than 16oz/1lb and 3/4" in girth I believe to be able to qualify for NO customs form and it also comes with free tracking. Also FYI, it's not a gold seal or such that they use for the apostille! It looks like a poorly photoshopped piece of paper you print off a school computer! For all the dox I had apostilled, I paid around $150 for something I could have made at home lol   Hope that helps!