Apostille--what the heck?

[Pennycat 880]

So, I think that this will probably just confuse the issue EVEN MORE for me but I may as well give it a shot. A couple of filers(current and previous) from my fiance's country have been super helpful with tips and tricks and everything and a few of them have said that you must take your documents (birth certificate etc) to get apostilled. I do not mind doing this if it is necessary. It is logistically a bit difficult but we can make it work.

But my biggest question is that this is nowhere in our embassy instructions. So what is this FOR? I don't get it. I really don't. And I'm not in the mood to send my fiance hundreds of miles away to pay good money for a stamp that isn't actually necessary. I will, but if this is a waste of time and money for any sort of "just in case" I don't think it's worth it. Anyone have any insight into this? You'd think if it was mandatory, they'd have said so....

[TBoneTX 45,288]

Contact the embassy and ask them point-blank.

[Pitaya 2,577]

Contact the embassy and ask them point-blank.

^^^^ I am liking that idea, Si man.

[Pennycat 880]

Contact the embassy and ask them point-blank.

Been there, done that, got an auto-reply telling me to forward to USTraveldocs. I'm not optimistic at getting a reply. And as it happens, it is a bit time sensitive because my fiance is only in the capital until tomorrow evening and could hurry and get yet more copies of these documents right now, and have them apostilled today/tomorrow, or need to go through another 8-hour round trip sometime in the coming weeks. Hence the asking here....

[TBoneTX 45,288]

Oh, boy. You have to weigh the inconvenience now against the inconvenience (or 221g) later. If it were me, I'd go ahead and get it now.

Be sure that your fiance remembers to ask the consul to clarify the embassy's official policy on this matter. If apostille is official or expected, the website surely needs to state this.

After the interview, I'd write to the Bureau of Consular Affairs about this, if apostille is formally necessary but the website says nothing.

[Pennycat 880]

I guess worst case scenario, he returns to the capital a day early for the interview (or, well... we're shooting for Monday, I'll arrive Friday night, he can arrive early Friday morning and do it before I get there). I'm just annoyed with a capital A because I wanted him to take care of 100% of all of this in the capital, for the exact reason that I didn't want this process split up all over the country (and because I trust that the offices in the capital will know more about proper stamps, and types of forms than the ones in his city) but nooooooooooooooo no no someone knows better! The person who hasn't spent the past 6 months obsessing over this process and reading about best practices and potential pitfalls. YEP. That person for sure has the right idea on how to proceed. ::headsmack::

[TBoneTX 45,288]

Don't headsmack too hard, or you'll hurt your hand. If this is the biggest issue that you face in getting the visa, you're ahead of the game.

Just be sure that you allot ample time to get all the stamps -- we know how "timely and efficient" people and processes can be in Latin American countries.

[Pennycat 880]

Thanks No, it's not really our biggest issue with the visa (a bit of confusion with a question on the DS-160 but not a big deal), but this is very quickly becoming a very giant issue in our relationship.

After him making bad choices or otherwise delaying our application process for B2 visa and then the I-129f (1. against my pleading, he skipped the B2 interview to take a job that only lasted 6 weeks with an "option for them to extend him after", spoiler alert: it was seasonal only and they said that to convince people to take a shitty job for 6 weeks; 2. took a MONTH to get his act together and get his info for G-325a, then remarked about how much easier it was than he'd thought and 3. and has the gall to complain about not being able to wait for the visa here and how long it is taking, both of which were at least a little bit in his control !!!!) , I had him swear up and down, with a witness that when it came time for the consular part of things that he would do exactly as I say, when I say it, with no argument, question or "better ideas" or needing a prolonged explanation about why. To Just. Do. It.

Well. That hasn't happened once yet. But at least the documents (and I pray that they are the correct ones) have been gathered, are being translated and we're 2 of 3 medical appointments down, 80% through the DS-160 (troubleshooting one thing) and he claims to be paying the visa fee right now. The rest is my stuff, and I'm flying down for the interviw. That is all the good news. The bad news is that literally none of this happened where or when I scheduled it to happen and we've had some logistic issues (see my original post) as a result and have been doing nothing but fighting over this for a week. Yaaaay!

[jess100 53]

Too funny! I had a few of those issues in the beginning too!

I'm not sure about this exactly, but there are some countries that require apostilles and some that don't and I think it's based on a reciprocity agreement made by the Geneva Convention. That might help you to google it, and take a better guess if it's needed or not.

When we were thinking about getting married in Costa Rica aposilled (?) documents were needed (or supposidly needed) But I don't think they're needed for Mexico-at least for the K-1 visa. So far attorney has said not needed. I'm guessing this has to do with the reciprocity agreement.

[Fox1983 5]

Catherine,

If the documents are issued in Costa Rica and they will be used within the country then you do not need an apostille.

If the documents are issued in Costa Rica and you will use them overseas( in this case the US) then you need the apostille. You should check in the state and county where you plan to marry him to see if they required his birth certificate and single status to have an apostille or a raise seal

By the way, you can just go to the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores " Casa Amarilla " take with you a set of stamps for each document and leave the documents, they take 3 days to have them ready, you can pay there at the entrance to get them delivered to his house by Correos de Costa Rica . Each set of stamps just costs 800 colones ( around $1.70) and then translate them

I just got my divorce decree, single status and birth certificate apostilled because that's where the county I am getting mArried will request, it could be different for u

Edited September 18, 2015 by Fox1983

[Pennycat 880]

Catherine,

If the documents are issued in Costa Rica and they will be used within the country then you do not need an apostille.

If the documents are issued in Costa Rica and you will use them overseas( in this case the US) then you need the apostille. You should check in the state and county where you plan to marry him to see if they required his birth certificate and single status to have an apostille or a raise seal

By the way, you can just go to the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores " Casa Amarilla " take with you a set of stamps for each document and leave the documents, they take 3 days to have them ready, you can pay there at the entrance to get them delivered to his house by Correos de Costa Rica . Each set of stamps just costs 800 colones ( around $1.70) and then translate them

I just got my divorce decree, single status and birth certificate apostilled because that's where the county I am getting mArried will request, it could be different for u

I checked with my jurisdiction and they said just his passport is fine. Where are you getting married that requires all that? That seems really intense.

I'm mostly confused why another CR filer says that she got it, too. I'm just so worried about messing this up, but I don't want to needlessly stress him out or make him go back and forth.

[blondedoc 35]

Ok, I had to have it on my marriage certificate, so I know what it is... I got married in Bahamas and we knew from the people who were organizating my marriage that a marriage certificate can be with an appostile or not... As we were scared to loose time (because it takes a week and a half to get ready) we had them right over... Is just ask by the notary were you will sign and show your documents to marry. I´m not sure if at the other places is like this...

I just gave my experience on that and maybe with that I could help some!

This is a kind of stamp that make them sure that de document was issued by a certificated government office, just!

[Russ&Caro 1,549]

1. against my pleading, he skipped the B2 interview to take a job that only lasted 6 weeks with an "option for them to extend him after", spoiler alert: it was seasonal only and they said that to convince people to take a shitty job for 6 weeks; 2. took a MONTH to get his act together and get his info for G-325a, then remarked about how much easier it was than he'd thought and 3. and has the gall to complain about not being able to wait for the visa here and how long it is taking, both of which were at least a little bit in his control !!!!

Whew! Best of luck to you, Catherine. I worked in Costa Rica for a spell during 2014, managing a number of Ticos! And then I kept managing them remotely, within the U.S., for a full year. They became good friends of mine and several of them are still Facebook friends since I moved on from that job. I don't mean to generalize too much here. They are great people and the pura vida thing seemed very real to me. In many ways they'd give me the shirts off their back. But in a way that intersects with your issues mentioned above, they sometimes weren't too concerned about details, some of which were really important in regards to the job they were hired to do. I did a lot of coaching and they really seemed receptive to learning lessons. I hope I can return someday to see these friends, hopefully on vacation instead of work. Again, best of luck to you as you complete the visa process and start your life together in the U.S.

[Pennycat 880]

Whew! Best of luck to you, Catherine. I worked in Costa Rica for a spell during 2014, managing a number of Ticos! And then I kept managing them remotely, within the U.S., for a full year. They became good friends of mine and several of them are still Facebook friends since I moved on from that job. I don't mean to generalize too much here. They are great people and the pura vida thing seemed very real to me. In many ways they'd give me the shirts off their back. But in a way that intersects with your issues mentioned above, they sometimes weren't too concerned about details, some of which were really important in regards to the job they were hired to do. I did a lot of coaching and they really seemed receptive to learning lessons. I hope I can return someday to see these friends, hopefully on vacation instead of work. Again, best of luck to you as you complete the visa process and start your life together in the U.S.

Yeah.... we're both driving each other bonkers right now. We really do work well together, just not at this. I'm trying to stay calm, but it's nearly impossible when you keep getting conflicting information out there-- for every helpful tip I get on Visajourney, he's getting 3 in Costa Rica. And they are often extremely different. And then we fight about it. (Example: he's been told to skip the apostille because it's 100% unnecessary and costs upwards of $200. I'm being told that it very well could be necessary is is $1.70).

This is made all the worse, when our approach to this is WAY different (me: do everything just in case, do everything possible to avoid any potential problem from even coming up him: just do what it says, save your time and money and calm down already, we'll deal with any problem as it comes up), and it is just not possible to do any of this at a leisurely pace because he doesn't live in or near the capital. So every day there is a hotel, meals and day paying the petsitter, plus the cost of transport to and from. It is getting really out of control really quickly.

Ticos are great. The pura vida thing drives me absolutely insane unless I'm on vacation (East Coast born and raised, you couldn't beat the tension out of me with a stick. I dislike Northern California for the same reason). I have had several bad experiences there involving lack of attention to detail and lack of sticking to a plan. Not just from my fiance, but just kind of randomly (obviously it's not everyone but it's much more common than I'm used to), and often with big consequences (stuck in the no-mans-land of the CR/Nicaragua border in the pitch black for 3 hours due to someone else's poor planning, engagement party photographer just up and canceled the morning of because she got busy that day....). So this is bringing my anxiety level up to 11. Which makes fighting over our conflicting pieces of advice much, much worse.

I hate this process so much and cannot wait for it to be over.

[TBoneTX 45,288]

stuck in the no-mans-land of the CR/Nicaragua border in the pitch black for 3 hours due to someone else's poor planning

Details!