When it was time to finalize the purchase our home in Puerto Aventuras, Mexico, several documents needed to be completed. One of the documents was a power of attorney (POA), which needed to be legalized and certified with an Apostille. So, what exactly is an Apostille and how is it used?
“Apostilles authenticate the seals and signatures of officials on public documents such as birth certificates, court orders, or any other document issued by a public authority so that they can be recognized in foreign countries that are members of the 1961 Hague Convention Treaty.
The U.S. Department of State only issues apostilles for federal documents to use in countries that are members of the 1961 Hague Convention.”
Needless to say, we were unaware of this type of document and needed guidance and direction on how and where to obtain it. Our closing attorney told us we would need to contact the Secretary of State in our state of residence in the United States — the Secretary of Commonwealth in Virginia.
In viewing their website, it provided a form and detailed instructions for us to follow (see form below). The process is done using FedEx, both in the United States and to Mexico. However, if you live close to the Secretary of State office that you would be using, they provide drop-off instructions and hours of operation.
Once we received our signed apostille back from the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia, we needed to FedEx our document to our closing attorney in Mexico immediately. The cost to send our apostille from the United States to Mexico (overnight mail) was $45 USD for a one-page, 8.5 x11 sheet document.
There was a slight delay in the document being delivered in Mexico
After our closing attorney received our apostille, we moved forward with the process. The rest, as they say…is history. We are now living in the beautiful marina community of Puerto Aventuras, Mexico.
Below is the form, with instructions, that we sent to the Secretary of Commonwealth in Virginia.
AUTHENTICATION REQUEST
Mailing
address:
Secretary of
the Commonwealth notary@governor.virginia.gov
Attn: Authentication Request Phone: 804-692-0114
1111 East
Broad Street – 1st Floor
Richmond, VA
23219
*Date (Fecha) ______________________
*Destination Country or
Embassy(País o
Embajada) __________________________________________________
Authentication at the state level is not
valid for use within the United States or its territories.
*Number of Documents Submitted (Numero de documentos)____________________________________________
Use a paper clip or staple to separate each document/ separe cada documento
con un clip
*Name of Requestor (Nombre del que requiere el documento)
_____________________________________________
*Requestor’s Address (Dirección) _________________________________________________________________
*City/State/Zip (Ciudad/Estado/CodigoPostal) _________________________________________________________
*Phone # (Telefono)_____________________________________________________________________________
*Email Address (Correo Electronico)________________________________________________________________
The fee for authentication of documents is $ 10.00 per
document, payable to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. If there are several
documents signed by the same public official (notary public, deputy clerk,
etc…) on the same date for the same country; the fee is $
10.00 for the first document and $ 5.00 for each additional document.
·
We accept payments in the form of check or money order payable to: Secretary of the Commonwealth.
REMINDER: Please include a self-addressed,
prepaid return envelope. Make sure all marriage,
birth, death, divorce certificates and single status statements have been issued from Vital Records in the past 12 months. Vital Records can be
reached at 804-662-6200.
·
Marriage Certificates may also be issued by the corresponding Circuit Court as a two-page
exemplified copies or certified with
triple seals.
·
Death Certificates issued on white paper from Department of Health are only valid for 4 weeks after the
date of death, otherwise contact Vital
Records for official state issued document on pink and blue watermarked paper.
·
All other documents must be properly
notarized by a Virginia notary within the past 12 months before submitting to
our office for authentication.
·
DOCUMENTS ISSUED
FROM VITAL RECORDS OR COURT HOUSE CANNOT BE NOTARIZED
REQUIREMENT FOR ALL NOTARIZED DOCUMENT (All 7 items must part of notarization or
your document will be returned)
Requirements on the notarization/Must be in English
|
Requisitos en la notarizacion/Debe ser en Ingles
|
|
1
|
Acknowledgement statement must reflect
what is being notarized. i.e. – signature(s) or true copy of an original.
|
Acto del notario: lo que se esta notarizando,
ej: una copia del documento, o la
firma original en el doc.
|
2
|
State and city/county where the document is being
executed
|
El Estado o el Condado donde se esta haciendo la
notarizacion
|
3
|
Date of notarization
|
Fecha de la notarizacion
|
4
|
Notary’s registration number
|
El numero de registro del notario
|
5
|
Notary signature
|
La firma del notario
|
6
|
Notary stamp or seal
|
El sello del notario
|
7
|
Notary’s expiration
date
|
Fecha de expiracion del notario
|
To avoid delay in processing, be sure to
look over your documents before submitting
(revise el documento antes de enviarlo)
El costo para autenticar cada documento es $10.00 por documento, sí el juramento lleva
la firma del mismo funcionarío (Notario Publico, Oficial de la corte, etc,) y la misma fecha, y es para el mismo pais, el costo es $5.00
por cada documento consecutivo .
Como forma de pago aceptamos efectivo, cheque, money order pagadero a la
Secretary
of the Commomwealth.
ATENCIÓN:
Cuando envie documentos por correo por favor asegurese de que incluya un
sobre con su dirección y con estampilla.
Sí su documento es un certificado de nacimiento, matrimonio, divorcio, difunción o solteria, tiene que
haber sido expedido en los últimos doce
meses por la oficina de Registros Vitales.
Usted se puede comunicar con ellos al (804) 662-6200. Cualquier otro
documento tiene que estar notarizado correctamente
y haber sido expedido en los últimos
doce meses.
·
Certificado de Matrimonio: tambien puede obtenerse en la corte donde se caso
pero debe solicitar el triple seal
(le daran dos hojas)
·
Certificado Defunsion:La hoja en
blanco y negro es solo valida por 4 semanas despues de la muerte de la
persona, despues de esto contacte Vital Records para una copia official.
·
Todos los otros documentos deben ser notarizados apropiadamente ( Ver Cuadro de
requisitos)
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