PBH / colombia (travelguide, pictures) / post

Apostilles, References, Translations and Certificate of Singlness Samples...

FIRST (Most Important):

Each notary in Colombia may have different requirements.
BEFORE embarking on document creation, choose your notary, talk with him/her and find out their requirements. It is not unusual for requirements to vary between notaries even in the same city. If one seems too complicated try another. Be polite and respectful and do not try to twist their arm into accomodating you. You won't be happy with the results.

SECOND (Apostilles):

Here is a list of offices of the Secretary of State for all US states. Call them and they will walk you through the procedure for getting an APOSTILLE on your documents. In general your documents must be certified originals with the raised seal of the state in which they were issued. Colombia asks that they have been issued within 90 days of your planned wedding.

http://www.shirleylaw.com/en/resources/apostille_usa.htm

THIRD (Spanish Translations):

Each required document must be accompanied by an equivilant certified, notorized document in Spanish, also with an Apostille. Here is a link to a company that will translate all of your documents, guarentees them for legal usage and will also have the apostille attached for you! Turn around time varies by document count but averages 3-4 business days. I have used them many times and have had no problems.

http://www.certifiedtranslation.net/

FOURTH (Certificate of Singleness):

You will require a letter from two acquaintances stating that they know you and that you are single (i.e. not married). These must also be done in english and spanish, notorized and with Apostille. Below is a sample letter in english (supply your own friend's names). The format for this letter is not important fix it up to be as pretty as you like.

FIFTH (Minor Children of Previous Marriage):

If you have been divorced and still have minor children from a previous marriage I would encourage you to discuss this with your notary. There are additional requirements in this case. Even though the marriage will be in colombia and the children will not travel there, they still require some financial and support documents. In my case, the notary was kind enough to pretend she never saw my divorce papers and continued on without making me do additional work, this is totally at the discretion of the notary. Be polite, respectful and abide by what they decide and you should do just fine.

SAMPLE:

CERTIFICATE OF SINGLENESS

I (friend's name) with ID # (driver's license #)
Do affirm that I have known (your name) with passport ID (Passport #) for (x) years.

I affirm that to the best of my knowledge this person is single and is able to be legally married.

_________________________________ (typed - friend's name)

_________________________________ (signed - friend's name)

_________________________________ (date)

Affirmed before me this day the 45th of SomeMonth 200X
in the county of (County name)

____________________________________ (notary Signature & seal)

Best of Luck to all!!

By kkemerait on Jun 16, 2008, 02:31 in Visa & paperwork.

juicerbud says on Jun 16, 2008, 03:30:

New Jersey
New Jersey has an official Certificate of Singlehood that you can get from the vital statistics office in Trenton. It is the same place that you get your birth certificate. You can't just take your regular birth certificate, you need one issued by the state. You then need to take these docs across town for the Apostille seal. Keep in mind that the Apostille seal takes 8 hours or so which means you need to arrange to have it picked up the next day or arrange to have it mailed to you prepaid.
In NJ, the state will not put an Apostille on a translation, only on the documents issued by the state. The notary seal is okay for these documents. If you are in NJ and need a certified translation, many spanish travel agencies have this service. They basically translate your documents and then have another person in the office notarize their signature.
Good Luck!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

mariacvetanoski says on Jun 16, 2008, 04:28:

Thanks, I have a NY birth certificate, but live in NJ. I want my birth certificate notarized to get the Apostille. My mother was born in colombia and I want to be able to live over there and teach English without updating and extending visas. Should I go to the NY or NJ office to get an Apostille? Also someone said you may have to update your current birth certificate due to terrorism, fraud and whatnot. We got all the papers from colombia and can do the translations in bogota, need this apostille first- gracias. thanks for the info... it was very useful.

Save the street children of Colombia Now!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

GregYohn says on Jun 16, 2008, 06:01:

Hola!

I plan to get married almost immediately I am divorced, so the CERTIFICATE OF SINGLENESS may not be needed. I also contacted the local Cali notary also!

12VOIP.com gives free calls to Colombia.Greg

0 funny, 0 helpful.

calipro says on Jun 16, 2008, 07:03:

GregYohn

I know a lawyer in Cali that can get you married with nothing more than your passport.

However it is a bit cheaper if you can also come up with at least a birth certificate.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

wendell13 says on Jun 16, 2008, 09:04:

Why pay a lawyer or someone else to help you get married in
Colombia? Go to San Andres and get married with only your passport . Spend the money on the trip. It is probably cheaper to do it this way than to accumulate all the required documents to get married on the mainland

The Colombian government gave San Andres special considerations in this matter to help with tourism

There are several posts about this here on PBH

0 funny, 0 helpful.

juicerbud says on Jun 16, 2008, 17:44:

Maria, You should go to trenton office of vital statistics and they can give you a notarized BC. Then you need to take it across town for the Apostille. After that, you should be all set. I think only NJ can produce NJ BC's. You can check online.

Greg Y - Good Luck and congratulations!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

lpdiver says on Jun 17, 2008, 06:00:

The birth certificate needs to be obtained from the state in which you were born. The apostille will need to be optained in the state where the birth certificate was issued.

t

"cook some rice!"

0 funny, 0 helpful.