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Radhagrrl · Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2008 12:45 am Post subject:

Update: I went straight to my college and asked them to notarize it. Answer: no, can't. I called the Texas secretary of state office and they said if I brought a notarized copy AND the original, they would apostille them both.

Jeez, could they make this any more confusing?

Also, the sec. of state says I don't need to get the marriage certificate notarized before the apostille as it's already an official state document.

I sure hope this all works.

jfurgers · Joined: 18 Sep 2005 Posts: 442 Location: Mexico City

Rad,

You need to go to the Wells Fargo in McKinney. I can give you the address and the name of the person who will notarize it for you. It's a long drive from Ft.Worth but it may be worth it. You can take the original degree and copy on the back of it what I posted earlier.
Then send that to Henry in Austin. He'll send it back to you with the apostille attached.
I went through this back in March of this year in Texas so I know it will work.

Betty Rubble · Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 9

Writer · Joined: 31 Mar 2008 Posts: 31

I had my documents apostilled in California. I did NOT have to have my birth certificate, marriage certificate or university degree notarized because I had the originals (official CA documents). However, when CA apostilles documents, the originals get stamped - at least, a small corner of them gets stamped, as they fan the pages so all pages are stamped. I was told that if I didn't want the stamp on my original, I could bring in a notarized copy of the state document. I chose to do that with my university degree. I had my CELTA certificate notarized. California requires that you go to the county clerk's office and have the notary's signature verified before the Secretary of State will apostille the documents.

So my process had three parts: (1) I got my documents notarized, (2) I had the County Clerk's Office verify the notary's signature, and then (3) I went to the Secretary of State's Office and had all my documents apostilled. I didn't mail the documents; I took them to the various offices and walked them tnrough. Took some traveling and waiting in line, but I got it done in two days. I brought the originals with me (as it turned out, the California Secretary of State's office didn't require them, but if I were you, I'd bring them along).

Hope this helps.

geaaronson · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 948 Location: Mexico City

I had problems as well, but dissimilar. I used the notary at my credit union to notarize my copy of my college diploma. I brought both to the secretary of state`s office (Georgia) and they double checked the notary`s signature against the computerized database. Guess what, ever so slight difference in signature. Considering it had been 5 years since her signature had been entered in the database, small wonder. Back I went to the bank, solicited another notary who forgot to properly use the seal to notarize. My third try was successful.

wildchild · Joined: 14 Nov 2005 Posts: 519 Location: Puebla 2009 - 2010

i didn't have any problems getting a notarized copy at Bank America in Oregon. nor any trouble with the apostille. then when i got to Puebla...

migracion in Puebla didn't ask to see my diploma or a notarized/apostilled copy. Apparently the letter of solicitation of employment from the Uni was enough...

oh well, better safe than sorry. in the end, i gave them a copy of the copy/apostille anyway....

Writer · Joined: 31 Mar 2008 Posts: 31

Wildchild, you sure were lucky! Hautulco required not only the offer letter from the university, but my birth certificate, university degree and TEFL certificate (all apostilled). Fortunately, they accepted the translation from the department secretary, so I didn't have to pay for an official translation of my documents.

Ruffle the cat · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 32 Location: different counties

I had to get my birth certificate notarized here in Queretaro for the IMSS people. But it was notarized by a Mexican notary. Wasn't translated. BC was from Ontario, Canada.
When I was getting things for the migra a few years ago I had to have everything translated by an autorized translator in Queretaro. This was when I worked for myself and had a small school in San Juan del Rio. I think as everyone has said here before it depends on the state where you go to get your FM3

Ruffle the cat · Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 32 Location: different counties

Here they don't usually care what the original documents look like or that they are originals in your country to the migra they might be copies. So get every thing done. Had friends who came here from Toronto got married in England at that time 40 years before. They needed original marriage license but since then migra had changed their rules many times. My friends didn't have the original document never needed it and had lived in different countries. So if you think you have problems getting your documents think of them.

Tretyakovskii · Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 462 Location: Cancun, Mexico

I was told you need certified, and apostilled originals of all educational records/degrees/diplomas/TEFL certificates, all officially translated by a "Perito" (translator with certificate of expertise from the Mexican government) to complete the application here, in Quintana Roo, for the FM3 with permission to work. Not good news for me.

To do this properly, it looks like you have to first obtain certified, originals; then, you have to submit them to the proper authority, in the country/state where they were issued, to be apostilled.

Since I don't want to travel back to get these (I have originals, but they are not certified), I'm going to attempt to get certified originals, and have them apostilled (authenticated), using the mails or FEDEX.

As some other posters have said, better to be fully prepared, where possible and have all documentation certified and apostilled, before coming to Mexico, as it's a lot easier to deal with while you're still in the country where they were issued.

GuerroPaz, if you're still following this, did you complete the process of getting your TEFL authenticated by the Thai authorities? I'm curious how bad that turned out to be. (As I understand it, Thailand is not a party to the Hague Convention and the apostille procedure is not followed there. Instead they seem to follow a process called "authentification" which the Apostille procedure was meant to replace, and simplify.)

raulyn · Joined: 09 Nov 2007 Posts: 64 Location: D.F.

I was in NYC when I decided to move to D.F.. I needed my Diploma, Birth Certificate and my TEFL Certificate apostatized. I got my TEFL certificate on-line and it was issued in Thailand. I sent all the original documents to a friend in Oklahoma. He had them copied, notarized and apostatized in Oklahoma. Yes, they even apostatized the Thai document and without me physically being there. I gave them to the school I work for in June and will be picking up my FM3 tomorrow.

I suggest doing this before coming to Mexico. It's a whole lot easier.