Apostille and documents ?

[durden2128 4]

My Russian fiance keeps talking about needing an apostille for numerous documents after we received our NOA2. I didnt know what it was and we are having a hard time understanding each other.  I was wondering if anyone could help me out and let me know if this in fact required. " An Apostille is a certificate issued by a designated authority in a country where the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalization of Foreign Public Documents, Apostille Convention, is in force. See a model Apostille. Apostilles authenticate the seals and signatures of officials on public documents such as birth certificates, notarials, court orders, or any other document issued by a public authority, so that they can be recognized in foreign countries that are parties to the Convention. "

 

Marko

[Matisyahu 8]

An apostille is like a notary who checks the authenticity of a document and stamps it with an approval seal. Does he need his documents apostilled as a requirement from the US Embassy in Russia?

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

The documents that are accepted from Russia for different purposes are found in the reciprocity schedule on the travel.gov website. Those are documents that are recognized without apostille.

https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/fees/reciprocity-by-country/RS.html

[Petulc 28]

8 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

The documents that are accepted from Russia for different purposes are found in the reciprocity schedule on the travel.gov website. Those are documents that are recognized without apostille.

https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/fees/reciprocity-by-country/RS.html

Hello!

I'm confused, in the link you posted it says: 

Civil documents, except as noted below, are available in the Russian Federation. Certified copies of available documents may be exported. The person to whom a civil record pertains may obtain a replacement copy of the record from the local office of the Bureau of Acts of Civil Status (ZAGS) in the event of loss of the original document. ZAGS will not issue certified duplicate copies od civil documents except as a replacement for a lost or destroyed document. Documents which have been certified by ZAGS or a local notary office can be affixed with an apostille by the Ministry of Justice or other selected offices empowered to do so. The apostille is accepted in all countries that are parties to the Hague Convention on the Abolition of Legalization of Documents. Documents that bear an apostille need not be authenticated by an American consular officer for use in the United States.

 

I don't know about Russia, but I had all my documents translated and apostilled, as my country is part of the Hague Convention.

 

 

[durden2128 4]

5 minutes ago, Petulc said:

Hello!

I'm confused, in the link you posted it says: 

Civil documents, except as noted below, are available in the Russian Federation. Certified copies of available documents may be exported. The person to whom a civil record pertains may obtain a replacement copy of the record from the local office of the Bureau of Acts of Civil Status (ZAGS) in the event of loss of the original document. ZAGS will not issue certified duplicate copies od civil documents except as a replacement for a lost or destroyed document. Documents which have been certified by ZAGS or a local notary office can be affixed with an apostille by the Ministry of Justice or other selected offices empowered to do so. The apostille is accepted in all countries that are parties to the Hague Convention on the Abolition of Legalization of Documents. Documents that bear an apostille need not be authenticated by an American consular officer for use in the United States.

 

I don't know about Russia, but I had all my documents translated and apostilled, as my country is part of the Hague Convention.

 

Im equally confused. I just want to know if she can just get them notarized, because an apostille is essentially hieroglyphics to me, and its much more difficult and time consuming.

5 minutes ago, Petulc said:

 

 

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

11 minutes ago, Petulc said:

Hello!

I'm confused, in the link you posted it says: 

Civil documents, except as noted below, are available in the Russian Federation. Certified copies of available documents may be exported. The person to whom a civil record pertains may obtain a replacement copy of the record from the local office of the Bureau of Acts of Civil Status (ZAGS) in the event of loss of the original document. ZAGS will not issue certified duplicate copies od civil documents except as a replacement for a lost or destroyed document. Documents which have been certified by ZAGS or a local notary office can be affixed with an apostille by the Ministry of Justice or other selected offices empowered to do so. The apostille is accepted in all countries that are parties to the Hague Convention on the Abolition of Legalization of Documents. Documents that bear an apostille need not be authenticated by an American consular officer for use in the United States.

 

I don't know about Russia, but I had all my documents translated and apostilled, as my country is part of the Hague ConvC

 

 

From the website:

"Civil Documents and How to Use Them

Immigrant visa applicants are required to submit certain civil documents as part of their visa application, such as birth certificates and police records. (Nonimmigrant visa applicants do not routinely need to submit civil documents as part of their visa application.) Each Reciprocity Page will provide detailed information about how to obtain these civil documents from the country* you have selected, as well as the location of the U.S. Embassy or Consulate where you can apply for your visa."

 

Reciprocity means that the countries have an agreement where certain documents are accepted and in return documents are accepted in the other country. This applies to many documents used in the immigrant processing of visas. These documents wouldn't need an apostille (unless otherwise noted). Where there is no reciprocity the Hague convention and apostilles come in - as they give automatic legalization of documents. For countries without reciprocity and not members of Hague convention the documents would have to go through a authorization/legalization process.

 

Look for your country's reciprocity schedule and information on how to obtain the needed document. I have not gotten any apostille for any document.

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

As it does in the case of those Russian documents, it will say on the reciprocity page if an apostille is needed.

[Petulc 28]

4 minutes ago, Suss&Camm said:

As it does in the case of those Russian documents, it will say on the reciprocity page if an apostille is needed.

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

Just now, Petulc said:

Thanks for clarifying.

 

no problem - I guess you could also look at it as some foreign government bodies being recognized so that their stamp acts as a direct "apostille".

 

In the case of reciprocity, the most common example is with Driver's Licenses - when you come to the US as a visitor you can drive on your foreign license from many countries. In return the US citizens can do the same in that country. Although, each state can have their own reciprocity agreements.