Paperwork for Civil Weddings in DR for US Citizens

Bride2B1130 · March 26, 2013

Hi All, At the moment I am getting all of my paperwork together to submit to the US DR Embassy. I will have the originals however they mentioned that they needed to have an original birth certificate apostilled prior to submitting all of my information. First of all, what is this? I mentioned that this is probably the original being notarized prior to sending it again but one of the officials said that it wasn't just notarized it was apostilled. So what's the difference? Can anyone help me out with this. I have everything else in order and when I drive to the embassy I want everything taken care of so I don't have to go back and forth. I never understood why this was so complicated all they want is money so take my money and lets move forward with this lol. Also, how long is the validity of this document once they send that information back to us? (I'm getting married in November FYI) Please please somebody help me out as this is super annoying. Thanks! -Bride2B1130

OctDRHR · April 1, 2013

In its most basic definition an apostille is a confirmation of a foreign document, similar to our notarizations.

Check with your state to see if they can do this for you. I was born in Georgia and they have a process for getting it done that isn't crazy expensive like some places I have heard about. Also, my FI is from Texas and the cost is very reasonable through them as well. The information for Georgia was easy to find on the Department of Vital Statistics website but I found the info for Texas in a random FAQ page so you may need to check around. I don't know if this service is available in all states, just the two I looked at but it might be worth checking.

Good luck!!

Bride2B1130 · April 1, 2013

Hello! Thanks for your reply it was very helpful. Thankfully, I was able to pay for it relatively quickly -- receiving it may be another issue. I just want to have everything in order as I want to go to that embassy twice - once to drop it off, once to pick it up. Hopefully this is a smooth process!!