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1. How in the world is a birth certificate notarized? How would a notary know if the signing authority was legal? I’ve had mine in my possession since 1995; what would a notary do with this?
2. Must these documents be taken physically to the secretary of state and the consulate or are they generally mailed?
Thank you in advance.
Good questions.
I am a “Notary” in the USA.
My notary authority is to certify the authenticity signatures only, not to make sure the document is real.
That is the only question I can answer.
Pura Vida
Bill MaesAnd this is what I mean, Bill. How would you certify that the signature on an old birth certificate or marriage license or whatever is real?
I don’t know if I’ll need my marriage license; I’m a widow, but my name was changed 36 years ago. My birth certificate and my passport don’t match because of this. How do you certify this old signature? How would you certify a 60 year old birth certificate? How would you know?
This is one of the finicky little matters where you may get a different answer from each person you speak with …
Like when you ask five different people at the IRS a question about your taxes and get five different answers.
I would think that it’s the ultimate ‘purpose’ that’s the most important thing to bear in mind here…
In assuming that you are asking these questions for the purposes of obtaining residency, the best person to ask would be an attorney that specializes in Costa Rica immigration. It’s what they want that is important and not what a US attorney ‘may’ think they want…
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comMarilyn, if you’re asking about notarizing a birth certificate in regards to a residency application, you’re asking the wrong question. Your birth certificate, police record, etc. don’t have to be notarized; they have to be authenticated.
The simplest thing to do is to order a new birth certificate from the Office of Vital Records in the state where you were born. Then send the new birth certificate to that state’s Office of the Great Seal which authenticates documents produced by that state. Each state has an Office of the Great Seal which is usually housed in the state’s Secretary of State’s department.
Once the Office of the Great Seal has applied its seal, which authenticates the document, you forward it to the Costa Rican Consulate which serves the state which issued the document. They, too, authenticate the document in the eyes of the Costa Rican government.
So, even though you live in Florida, if you were born in (say) Wisconsin, you’d get the Wisconsin Office of Vital Records to issue a new birth certificate, forward it to the Wisconsin Office of the Great Seal, and then forward it to the Costa Rican Consulate in Chicago.
Some Costa Rican Consulates have the required revenue stamps and will charge you for the authentication. Others do not; you’ll pay for their services here in Costa Rica before you submit your application to Immigration.
I think what you are talking about is not a “notarization” but an “authentification”. The Secretary of State will look at your documents and verify that the official signatures on it are authentic. Such as the County Clerk was actually the person elected to that office during the time of the issuance of the document. If it is a notarized document they will verify the notary is indeed a notary for your state and in good standing. The Secretary of State puts a stamp on your document that it is authentic and does not notarize it. I did mine in California and was able to just mail it to the Secretary of State; it was returned within about 2 weeks.
The procedure for me went like this: I obtained a “certified” copy of my birth certificate from Vital Stats. It was signed and “certified” that it was a true copy of the actual certificate on file. I then sent it to the Secretary of State’s office and they “authenticated” it or added an “apostille”. At the Sec of State’s office they have a list of every notary in the state so they can “authenticate” that the person who “certified” it was qualified to do so. Likewise, when you send documents to the Costa Rica Consulate in the area where you live, they too have a book of names of notaries, etc. and they look that name up and then “authenticate” that the other “authentication” was really authentic. Although Costa Rica is not a signatory to the Hague Convention of 1966 (or it is 64?), some of the documents I did obtain had the an Apostille on it as required by the Hague Convention. Costa Rica does accept such documents.
In additional answer to your statement elsewhere, Maravilla, about my working wist someone — my lawyer kept using the term “notarized” and this was my problem; I think he meant “certified” by the Office of Vital Statistics. I couldn’t imagine a notary’s signing off on a document when the person who was signing it wasn’t known to him/her and wasn’t there in person. This was a language problem I think. I’m now clear and I thank everyone who helped with my question.
The terms notarized, certified, authenticated, and apostilled are all variations of the same theme. Yes, someone signs the “certified” copy of your document, then the rest of the procedure kicks in. People argue whether documents for Costa Rica are “authenticated” or “apostilled” — it’s the same damn thing, just a different term and most people do not refer to “apostilled” documents when it comes to Costa Rica because only countries who are a signatory to the Hague Convention require “apostilled” documents so that is why when you send your documents to the Secretary of State you MUST DESIGNATE WHICH COUNTRY THEY ARE FOR.
“you MUST DESIGNATE WHICH COUNTRY THEY ARE FOR.”
Good to know, Maravilla!
Aside from getting needed information from this site, I’m learning soooo very much in general. I’m a definite proponent of lifelong learning and I thank Scott as much for this as for hosting a site that’s so beneficial for required matters.
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