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Apostille problems, Help please

Hello there. I have had an absolute hell of a time sorting out documents for my wedding which we hoped to have in May. 5 months of trying to find out what i need etc.

I am a south african , born in Zimbabwe, resident in London, UK.
My fiance is Colombian.

Noboday in UK , be it laywers or in government, at South African Embassy, nor at Zimbabwean Embassy have heard of an Apostille. I have gone in person, spoken on the phone, and they all say whats that. I explain to them, and they say It is just a legalisation of the documents from your country.

So, I sent off documents and have all my documents Signed, certified by a solicitor here in london, as well as each document has been Stamped and signed by the respected Country Governments with their seal.

I fedex`d them to my fiance and she went to the translators to get
them translated so we can finally after all these problems with nobody knowing what on earth the colombian government needs.. The
Translator tells my fiance, sorry we cannot translate these because they are not apostilled and not official documents from the countries.

I am completely ANGRY that they say this. What on earth do I have to do ? My governments TOLD ME that all they do is legalise/authenticise the documents with their seal/stamp and thats what they do, Zimbabwe dont belong to the Hague convention, so how am I supposed to Apostille it?

The problem now is. My fiance has my documents in Bogota,Colombia. Does anyone have any suggestions what we can do? Can she take it to a foreign office in Bogota and get it apostilled there? or send it to the embassy`s in Colombia/venezuela and have them apostille it.

I am completely stumped and fed up with this rediculous notion and tired of nobody being able to help me, and everybody giving me different stories.

thanks for your help
Cade

By cadeyboy on Mar 10, 2006, 12:55 in Visa & paperwork.

utopiacowboy says on Mar 10, 2006, 19:31:

Read this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostille South Africa is a signatory to the convention so they should know what an apostille is. Here is how to get one in South Africa: http://apostilleinfo.com/southafrica.htm

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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