Apostille--what the heck?

[Fox1983 5]

Wait no. ...the 4th floor OIJ thing is not in the instructions. Just the type of report (he got the wrong one either way). Where are you getting all of this from? A lawyer there? You're really doing things the hard and expensive way which if that's what you're choosing to do for yourself, that's fine, but please stop passing this along like it's some requirement that somehow only you know about.

I am not doing the stuff the expensive way, it's just following instructions. When you go to get the OIJ crime report to the building A, the guy that gives you the report hand you a paper saying that you need to take that report across the street at the OIJ building 4 th floor. It also says that if you leave it there before 12:00pm, the document will be ready until 3:30pm. fYI it does not cost anything. I am not making things up.you are free to do whatever you want

[Pennycat 880]

My husband was told about 4th floor by the place that issues the police certificate. Embassy didn't say anything. But that's Costa Rica for ya. Its how it is. I guess back in the day, instructions letters had to be picked up. They didn't even email them. So they just explained it face to face. We had all the stuff done the day after our approval. I was on top of everything because I had VJ. I really feel sorry for the people who don't know about VJ. I can't even imagine the long wait because If I didn't know.

Got it...I figured it had to be something like that which is why I wanted him to spend 3 days in San José and do all the documents there too. He skipped that day on the schedule, without telling me, and got the documents in Perez Zeledon, thinking he'd saved a day of hotel/food in San Jose.

Well, they gave him the wrong judicial form and of course in PZ they have no idea about this 4th floor OIJ thing.

I had a plan. Down to the day and the dollar. With a calander. We'd be interviewing next week if he'd followed it. But instead he's gone rogue and effed up every single aspect of my plan and budget and every time something goes wrong it was "I didn't know!" And my answer is "I did that's why there was a g-d effing plan!" . So...yeah. now I really really need to figure out actual mandatory vs nice to have. Already looks like a 2nd trip to SJ will be necessary for the OIJ thing unless there's an office in PZ or if he can do it a day or two before the interview . Unless it, too, needs to be translated (which again....unless the other filer is lying or lucky...doesn't seem to be the case) then I just don't know. This is why I had a plan. Because things made sense that way. Now it's a mess and I'm missing my single days when there was no one to mess up my plans.

[Pennycat 880]

I am not doing the stuff the expensive way, it's just following instructions. When you go to get the OIJ crime report to the building A, the guy that gives you the report hand you a paper saying that you need to take that report across the street at the OIJ building 4 th floor. It also says that if you leave it there before 12:00pm, the document will be ready until 3:30pm. fYI it does not cost anything. I am not making things up.you are free to do whatever you want

That's what my question was is HOW do you find out? Now it's been answered. He won't find out because he's doing this in PZ (against my plan and literal begging) but we can get the stamp next time he's in SJ, if I can get him to believe me that this is a requirement. And yeah professional translator and apostille is more complicated and expensive than necessary and you've been pushing this on me for weeks like they are an absolute necessity when they are simply not.

[LoveMyTico 999]

Its doesn't have to be a professional translator. It can be a friend or teacher who is biligual. There is a form for them to sign stating they are fluent. It can even be you if you're fluent in Spanish.

[LoveMyTico 999]

Jason dear. You don't need a special translation. My friend did our marriage and birth cert and my sister in laws collegue did the police certificate. Its not required to jump through hoops for a translation. Btw..my husband is 100% tico . we just went through this whole process including an i601 waiver. We had to gather documents twice and get 2 medical exams. You don't need to be nasty. She doesn't know. She is frustrated because Costa Rica is definitely not clear with the instructions. She can get the police certificate and get it certified on the 4th floor, get a friend to translate and be done. I really think your tone is uncalled for. Please don't act like you know everything about Costa Rica. My husband is tico...her fiance is tico....and good for you that your fiance is a tica. She came here asking questions and Costa Rica is ### backwards sometimes.

Edited September 19, 2015 by LoveMyTico

[TBoneTX 45,308]

Five posts have been removed -- two for violations of the VJ Terms of Service, the others for quoting or bickering.

Any fiance(e) who appropriates the regular user's account to violate the TOS risks the regular user's loss of use of that account. Therefore, knock it off.

TBoneTX

VJ Moderation

Edited September 20, 2015 by TBoneTX

[Pennycat 880]

Update for any future Costa Rica filer with this question (we are now finished the interview, approval, visa delivery and POE with no problems)

Apostilles are in no way required for the interview portion for K1 process. When you get your records from the Judicial Registry, they will send you across the street to OIJ for a stamp or certification. I have no idea if this is a requirement or not (and forgot to ask) but we did it. They (the Judicial Registry, not the Embassy) will also tell you to go to Casa Amarilla for an apostille. It needs to be translated for the apostille and this process (translation + apostille) is 3 or so days and $50 or so. This is the part that is, for sure, not required.

We checked with the embassy twice, and asked direct questions at Casa Amarilla and they said in both places, as repeated here, that it is NOT needed for the embassy. If for some reason you think you will need this document in the United States (what for, I can't imagine), do it. But you don't need it for the US embassy in Costa Rica. The the Foreign Service Officers (the Americans working at the embassy) are trained to know what the correct seals/stamps for Costa Rica documents are. If you have a document (birth certificate, police report etc) from a third country-- one that is not the US or Costa Rica-- THAT must be apostilled. Because while embassy employees can be trained and expected to be experts in the documents of the countries they're assigned to, they can't be expected to know them all. There is no harm in doing it and if you have time and don't mind spending money for some sort of peace of mind, go for it. But don't stress about it.

Translations: nothing needs to be translated for the interview portion for the K1 visa. This may very well be different for other types of visas (specifically IR1/CR1) but not for K1. Again, these Foreign Service Officers are trained in the local language. Some embassies require translations either because that's just how they want to do things, but more likely because not all languages are created equal-- the degree of fluency required on the part of the FSOs depends on the language. Spanish, being a romance language with Western alphabet and very common in US schools has a much higher burden than say, Arabic or Mandarin or Russian. FSOs who work in embassies in Spanish-speaking countries are therefore able to read these sorts of documents with ease. Translations are required at other embassies because this is not necessarily the case in those languages.

Why have some people experienced this requirement at the CR embassy? Either that's an old requirement that has changed, or it's the differences in visas. IR1/CR1 comes with a green card. Issuing the green card is USCIS's business, not State's. USCIS has no language requirements for its employees. THEY need documents translated (as K1 filers will see during AOS).

Depending on your situation, it may be quicker/cheaper/easier to have documents translated in Costa Rica, and if that's the case, may as well get it done before the interview because you will need a translated birth certificate for AOS. For us that turned out to not be the case. The weeks leading up to the interview were sheer chaos on both of our ends and we wound up unable to complete this part of the plan. We checked and triple checked with the embassy and previous filers who didn't even think to translate anything and were also fine. And we were fine. I'd still have preferred to do it just in case, just to not give them any reason to say "we prefer translations, come back with them" but it just wasn't happening. It is also possible that if there is anything on the judicial report, perhaps they will request/require that translated. My fiance's was clear so I don't know about that. We are taking care of the birth certificate (and any other documents needed for AOS I haven't thought about yet) translation here, where there is less of a time crunch (and I have many more options for people to do this--for free).

Finally, if you find that you need any government documents from Costa Rica while in the US, many of them can be obtained (and authenticated/apostilled etc) at one of Costa Rica's 10 consulates in the US. Having gone through the K1 process, should have all that you need, but it is nice to know that there are options in case something is lost or something unexpected arises.

Edited October 26, 2015 by CatherineA

[TBoneTX 45,308]

Great update that will be very helpful to others.

[Pennycat 880]

Thanks, TBone.

I should also add that I have no idea why they (Judicial Registry) send you to Casa Amarilla. Maybe some other embassies require it (remember, Costa Ricans can move to, say, Germany to be with spouses/fiances) and it's not clear to them which ones do and don't, maybe it's some miscommunication, maybe it's a way to throw more work at the official translators, maybe it's a "cover all bases because why not". But this is clearly where the confusion begins.

There is literally no harm in playing it safe and just doing it for the sake of doing it. That was my personal plan all along. However, my fiance had a differing opinion (to him, hanging around San Jose for several extra days-- with the associated costs of house/pet sitter, hotel, meals etc for no good reason was the definition of insanity). And then life just sort of blew up from there and there simply wasn't time for an extra several days in San Jose or for another trip (without further delaying our timeline which just seemed silly to do because it was dead clear that this was not a requirement). He HAD to go home to deal with an emergency (that sadly never got resolved).

Advice on the translations would be to just do them before the interview because why not, you'll need to do it eventually. But if there's no time, you can't find someone in your city (not living in or near the capital makes a BIG difference in logistics) etc.... don't worry. One caveat is that *maybe* if there is information on the judicial registry thing... maybe they will ask for that to translated and it would be better to do it "just in case" then need to leave and come back with the translation.