hey one question, when you say stamp included... this is to get married and the form with requirements says that the birth certificate has to be stamped by the haya.. in the us there is no haya that i know of but i called the embassy and they said it had to be stamped by the secretary of state of nj or something like that which i must admit i didn't really understand :lo: and i was thinking about calling back, but i imagine that you are doing the same thing so i will ask you, jer. when you say stamp included do you mean that stamp that is needed and it can be a regular notarized copy of your birth certificate from the us (with the raised seal)????? and while we're on the subject, to prove that you are single what are you doing? they told me i could go the embassy and swear with an affidavit that i am single.. is that what you're doing? i'm just scared that one person is telling me something but then it's something else and i don't want to make this process take any longer than it already is taking!! thanks in advance!! i hate paperwork and beauracracy but hey, it's a part of life and the end is worth it i think!!!!!!!! :ks: !!!!!!!!!
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Posts: 30 | Location: cherry hill, nj usa | Registered: 22 September 2002
What you need for your birth certificate is called an "apostille". Sometimes it is also called an "authenticated" birth certificate.
Basically the thing is that any state documents must be authenticated to be considered valid by another country.
Make sure you tell them what country you are having it authenticated for, because different countries have different requirements. There are sites out there that specialize in obtaining authenticated documents and will take care of the whole process (and speed it up)--of course for a price. Otherwise, you'll have to contact the NJ office that takes care of this and find out what you need to do...
In our case, we had to have a new birth certificate issued--because Virginia wouldn't authenticate any document older than one year old--and then we had the birth certificate office send it to another office to have it authenticated and then they sent it to us from Virginia.
We also had to have our police clearances for our visas "authenticated" in DC. Ah, those were fun times...
Posts: 1081 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 10 December 2002
Julie, the "stamp" i was referring to in my post was the "traductor jurado" stamp (sworn translator's stamp), not the hague seal/stamp.
i am marrying ena as a brit, not as an american (though i could have gone that route too) so my stamps and seals will differ a bit from yours but here goes...
you need to get the certificate stamped first with the apostille that mariposita mentioned, then translated by a sworn translator and stamped with their seal that says they are a sworn translator. i sent my birth cert. to london to have it stamped and it took about 10 days to come back.
my translation advice took for granted that one already has the birth certificate stamped as "legit" by the corresponding country beaurocrats.
as for the "certificado de solter�a" (proof that one is single). i got that here in madrid at the british consulate and all i had to do was sign a statement saying i was not married in uk nor anywhere else and pay them 32 euros for the stinkin piece of paper
if you go to the "registro civil" they can tell you exactly what you need to marry a spaniard here. i went but can't recall where it is, will ask ena and post it. i'm sure it's online too but am too tired right now to look.
so, i...
1) got both my and ena's "certificado de empadronamiento" at the town hall here (the one that corresponds to our address in the plaza mayor). 2) got my certificate of not-married. 3) sent my birth cert. to uk for hague apostille (stamped by the "foreign and commonwealth office" in london). 4) got the hague apostille and birth cert translated to spanish and stamped by sworn translator. yours will have to be done by the u.s. official that is responsable for that as mariposita said above.
now when ena gets her birth cert., we can go back to the registro civil and get a marriage date.
by the way, this beurocratic crap is ONLY necessary when one is having a civil wedding, if you do it the churhc way you do not have to go through hell and high water, you just have to pay (bribe ) the church a ton-o-cash. hope this all helps.
hey Reb, the crap we are going through is TO GET MARRIED.
you are already married so you will have different crap to deal with
your situation totally parallels that of Juleitte and Roland (both friends and board members) so if you have problems when you come over, post and they will be able to help you as they have gone through it all.
thanks for the info!! luckiliy my mom is helping me out so i will have to give her this information.. i will let you all know how it works out, although i don't anticipate it being any time soon. she has the birth certificate, now we just need the apostille and then we can get it translated with yet another seal of approval!! this will be the specialist specialist certificate ever!!!!!!!!! anyway, thanks again and i will report future developments! besos
live, love, laugh and be happy!
Posts: 30 | Location: cherry hill, nj usa | Registered: 22 September 2002
I'm from the UK, my wife's Australian, we got married in Finland and our baby, Alicia, was born in Madrid! Everything we do, from trying to get a health card for Alicia, to throwing out the trash, seems to require reams of paperwork from various places worldwide, that need officially translating into differing languages and then taken to multiple government offices which are spread, inconveniently, over the whole of Madrid!
Hey, many thanks to all for the recommendation of Blanca Calvo (91 445 7640).
She did a great job translating my college transcript (which was ridiculously complicated). Sworn translation isn't cheap (around 8 cents per word, I think), but it was great to just be able to hand it off to her and not worry. She got it back to me--perfectly translated--two days later.
It cost 100 Euros for 1300 words--I believe it costs a certain percentage more if you have her bill you later--so it's better to pay in cash when you pick up the documents.
Posts: 1081 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 10 December 2002
Hi all-- I was wondering if anyone knows anyone else--other than the aforementioned Blanca Calvo--who does traduccion jurada. Blanca seems to have gone MIA (totally normal, given that it's August).
I need to get something translated in early September, so I think I'll need to use someone else, since I don't know when she'll come back and I don't have her "movil" number.
Any ideas? It has to be totally official with all of the stamps and squigglies. And it's going to (unfortunately) be a pretty big job.
Thanks!
Posts: 1081 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 10 December 2002
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