Certification and Apostille

Well I took all of our paperwork to be certified and apostilled on Thursday, September 27.

Here is how it all went. I called ahead on Wed. to the county clerks office to let them know I had about 50 documents that I needed certified. Jessica was so nice and helpful and all she needed each notary's name and the number of documents for each notary. I gave her the breakdown and she said don't come from 11-1:30 as it can get crowded. I then called the Secretary of State to see if they needed any info before I came in the next day. The lady on the phone said no that there was nothing that needed to be done.

I got up Thursday morning and was over at Metro Center to the County Clerks office by 8:20am. Of course it has not rained in months and it was pouring. Luckily I was able to park right in front of the door. I did not want any of my paperwork to get wet. I met with Jessica inside and it took her about 20 minutes to staple each sheet to each sheet of my paperwork. We did have an issue with one stack of paperwork that the staple did not want to go through. I had her redo it about five times until the staple went all the way through. I was afraid it was not going to be strong enough and could have potentialy come undone from the paperwork. I know I was probably being paronoid but all this paperwork is so detailed and the smallest thing can make your paperwork be rejected.

Next I went to the Secretary of State between 7th and 8th avenue. The address is actually 8th avenue but the entrance is on 7th and there is NOwhere to park. Since this building is right by the capital all the parking is for state workers. It was absolutely pouring down otherwise I would have walked but again, I did not want the paperwork to get wet. So I drove around...and around...and around. I finally found a little side street with a 2 hour parking limit on the curb and walked about a half mile to the building. One good thing about my driving around was that the sun came out by the time I found a parking place. I would recommend that you take someone with you and have them drop you off while they drive around. Or be prepared for a hike.

Once inside I made my way to the apostille counter on the 6th floor. Jamie was very helpful and it took her about 40 minuties to attach her paperwork to my paperwork. I did not realize how thick all the paperwork would become. It went from about an inch of paperwork to three inches of paperwork. She even put all the paperwork in a couple of boxes for me. She said she would probably see me again as people usually come back because they have mistakes. I do have to go back anyway for the I-171H whenever we get that.

Both offices were very easy and not too bad to deal with. Later that day I made copies of everything. Just don't unstaple ANYTHING when you make your copies.

I then took everything to our agency and now it is off to the St. Louise office to get translated into Russian while we wait on our I-171H.