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I am starting my residency process and have returned to the states to begin everything. I am not clear on one thing. I know I have to get a copy of my criminal record (and lack there of). Is that a background check? I was planning on going to my county clerks office today or tomorrow but I am not sure what I need to ask for completely. Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you,
CarlosIt must be a [b]notorized[/b][u][/u] background check. I could not get a notorized background check from the local police station here in Florida as they did not have a notory on staff. I had to request a notorized background check from the State. I did this online. Once you get the document back it must be sent to the State Department (form was online) for authetication. Then both of these documents need to be sent to the Costa Rican Embassy that serves your area for certification. Each step in this process requires a fee that will vary from state to state. I requested that the background check be in Spanish. They weren’t too happy about this but they did sent it to me in Spanish which saved me the cost of having it translated in Costa Rica. I don’t know how many states other than Florida would be able to do the document in Spanish. It is a very complicated process but every document you get must follow this same pattern.
Thanks, that makes things a lot easier. I will go and ask for it. My aunt is a notary. I am in NY for two weeks, so I am hoping that I can take care of it in that time. (at least get the processes going). I think they would be able to get it in Spanish too, but, if not, I know someone in Costa Rica that is an official translator.
I got a letter of good conduct from my local police station, considering that I do not have a criminal record. I’m hoping that will be sufficient! If not, does anyone know where I might get a background check for residency?
[quote=”cacevedo222″]Thanks, that makes things a lot easier. I will go and ask for it. My aunt is a notary. I am in NY for two weeks, so I am hoping that I can take care of it in that time. (at least get the processes going). I think they would be able to get it in Spanish too, but, if not, I know someone in Costa Rica that is an official translator.[/quote]
PLEASE – before you take anyone’s advice on this subject (including mine) call the Sec of State office in the state where the document was issued and ask (1) “Please tell me what is required to get your office to ssue an apostille statement of authentication?”, and (2) may I please have your name?
Then, wait one day, and call back and ask the same questions. If it is different, call abck one day later and ask for a supervisor (name please?), and ask again. Chances are until you get to the supervisor you will get some num-nuts that does not really know!
We just recently got all of our papers “approved” by the CR Consulate in Washington DC, and after they told us 3-5 days it took 4 weeks, but at least they did it without loosing it!
Depending on the state, it MAY NOT be necessary to get a notary – Texas did not require it for “certified” documents but Florida did. Here is the strange thing….Florida in no way was authenticating the document, only that the person who notarized it was in fact authorized to do so!
After 3-4 calls to Sec of State office, a supervisor informed me that I did in fact need the document notarized but that the notary was only notarizing MY statement that “I attest and affirm that this document was issued by and signed by the entity indicated by signature hereon for the purpose intended”.
So in fact, they were notarizing my signature and statement, not the county clerk, hospital registrar, issuer of marriage licence or county sheriff – only me and my signature. CRAZY!
Also, I would have nothing to do with the consulate having jurisdiction over the state where you get your documents. I suggest going straight to the CR consulate in Washington DC. It may take a week or so longer, but they definately know what has to be done and how to do it!
I started in late April by submitting to Florida (police background checks, Social Security benefits letter) and Texas (2 birth certificates, marriage license), and then all docs to CR consulate in Washinton DC on 13-may. All of my papers were submitted to caja today by my attorney via Power of attorney and letter of authorization.
Thus far I am out of pocket LESS than $1000 incuding postage, state fees, overnight delivery (US to CR), CR registration fees, attorney fees, translation, etc.
It has been frustrating (in CR, what isn’t) but least less than I anticipated.
crb
GO USA in WCAlso, remember that your police check must be within three months of when you apply for residency/submit your paperwork. I didn’t go through any of this hassle. I hired Javier Zavelta of Residency in Costa Rica. http://www.residencyincostarica.com. He was OUTSTANDING and well work the $1500 I paid. He did EVERYTHING including getting the police document and all others. I all I had to do was go to Immigration once for fingerprints and then again at the end of of the process. I am sure my neighbor, Marvalla, can also attest to how good Javier was.
Thank you all for the advice. I am sorry I haven’t thanked you sooner but I am in the States and in the middle of University work. My concern is that I only have a couple of more days in the States. Can all of this be done by mail? I mean, do I have to physically be in the United States to get everything done? Also, I am legally married to a Tica. Our marriage is already in the Registro. I was under the assumption that would make my residency application easier, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
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