Some Latinos who must apostill documents to send to their countries look for different options to carry out this procedure, given the difficulty of doing so at the North Carolina Secretary of State (NCSOS), due to the delay in delivery and the impossibility of making appointments. To be served.
In the NCSOS, documents, as indicated on its website, can take up to 45 days to be authenticated using the apostille.
“It is a long-standing problem with the Secretary of State in Raleigh, that is why I had to look for other options,” Yolanda Figueroa, a notary who is also dedicated to processing taxes, told us.
In his case, Figueroa must send an apostilled proof of survival to his country every six months, in order to claim the pension payments he has in Colombia.
According to what was reported to Enlace Latino NC According to NCSOS spokespersons, this agency has had problems with a lack of resources and personnel, which has led them to have to cancel all appointments that were already scheduled in March and temporarily remove this option.
👉 Problems apostilling documents at the North Carolina Secretary of State
Who must apostill documents to send them to their country?
The people who must apostille documents are those originating from countries where the document is to be used and who are on the list of members of the 1961 Hague Convention.
The American countries that signed this agreement are: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Venezuela and also Brazil.
The apostille is used to prove that an official or notarized document in the US is valid in another country, and is used to verify signatures, seals or stamps on important documents.
These documents can range from court orders, contracts, civil registration certificates, marriage certificates, exit permits for minors, survivals, to educational diplomas, among others.
Where can you apostill documents?
Apostilling documents can be a complex process. In many cases, you must obtain an original or certified copy of the document that requires an apostille.
Once you receive it, the document must be presented to the office issuing authentications, such as the Secretary of State, and the Department of State in Washington DC
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What can you do at the consulate or embassy?
Another option to carry out this procedure of authenticating or legalizing the signature on a document issued in the US is consulates and embassies, under the Hague Convention.
As several of the people who have written to the editorial staff of Enlace Latino NC about the problem of apostilling your documents coming from Colombia, we contacted the Consulate General of Colombia in Atlanta (Georgia), with jurisdiction for the Carolinas, to find out about this procedure.
Henry Camargo, advisor to the consulate, informed us that for example the exit permits for minors, survivals, and other documents that require a “signature recognition” to be legalized. This procedure can be done before a local notary, and in that case it must also be apostilled at the Secretary of State.
“But signature recognition can also be done at the consulate, and in this case the apostille is not necessary,” said Camargo.
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An expensive option
If a person decides to go to their consulate in Atlanta, Colombia or other Latin American countries that have their headquarters in that city, they must travel from Charlotte, a journey of at least four hours and 250 miles away.
If you were from Raleigh, the closest consulate is in Washington DC, where the embassies are also located. It is 262 miles away and 4 hours 51 minutes.
However, for many, going to the consulate is an expensive option and requires at least one business day to complete the procedure.
The official also said that in the case of “documents signed by Colombian authorities that require an apostille, the process can be done online on the Foreign Ministry website.”
Go to the secretariat of a neighboring state
Another option that our sources have mentioned is to get the apostille done in a neighboring state, such as the South Carolina Secretary of State.
“There they are very friendly and they are not complicated, it is not necessary to make an appointment, and the document is delivered the same day, it takes about two hours. The only thing is that the document must be notarized by a notary from that state and be in Spanish and have a translation in English,” Figueroa explained.
On site from the South Carolina Secretary of State in Columbia, it is indicated that it is served on a first-come, first-served basis and the process costs $5.
This secretariat also offers the service of sending the document by mail to have an apostille, along with a sealed envelope to be sent back, which can take between three days to a week, according to Figueroa.
“I was doing this apostille procedure for at least seven years in South Carolina, and it went very well, that's why I recommend it to anyone who asks me,” said Figueroa.
Clarification about this article
The purpose of this article is to share with readers the alternatives that Colombians in North Carolina are looking for to process an apostille in view of the problems faced at the NC Secretary of State. However, be careful and know how to identify red flags and prevent scams if you do business with sites that are not known to you.
How to avoid being scammed when purchasing services online
- Verify that the website is authentic: websites of poor quality or with spelling mistakes. Real companies are very careful with their online presentation.
- Check that the phone numbers and addresses on the sites are authentic, so you can contact the seller in case of problems.
- Carefully read the service delivery, refund and privacy policies. If they are ambiguous or non-existent.
- Don't assume a website is secure because it's encrypted. Many fraudulent sites use the encrypted "https://" in front of the URL to provide a false sense of security.
- Do not provide more information than the entity or company needs. That's just your billing information and shipping address.
- Limited or suspicious contact options – They only have one contact form to fill out. Customer service email is a Gmail or Yahoo account, not a corporate account.
- Be careful when they require payment by bank transfer, money order or gift card.
Through intermediaries
The intermediaries can be companies or people who are dedicated to carrying out different procedures, including the apostille; They are generally advertised online and as we found through Google, they charge between $50 and up to $300.
But is this legal? Generally, these intermediaries have notaries, and for a price established with the client, they carry out the procedure before the Secretary of State where they are located.
Figueroa said that after completing the apostilles in South Carolina, he began to complete the process through a parcel shipping company that operates in Florida.
“Someone gave me the information, and for me it has been much better, since I don't have to leave my house, nor do the translations of the document, they also do it for me, and they take the document so they can put the apostille stamp on it.” at the Florida Secretary of State. And they also send me the document to Colpensiones,” said the Colombian.
How can you get an apostille through an intermediary?
In order to know first-hand how the process of apostilling a document can be done through an intermediary, we had to contact the parcel delivery company that Figueroa uses to be able to apostille and send his survival to Colpensiones.
“We manage an Avianca Express office, but not all offices have a notary. In this case I am a notary, so I make the survivals and other documents. I notarize the document and request the apostille. We send the documents to the Secretary of State in Tallahassee and they give us the apostille of the document that was notarized. As a notary you can do it,” explained the official.
How is the notarized signature done virtually and not in person?
The official continued explaining that, in the case of survival, she fills it out and sends it to the person, who must print it to sign, but this step is done through a video call.
“They sign it, and they show me the identity document, I take a photo of it, and then they have to physically send it to me, to send the document to Tallahassee for the apostille, and that takes about six days,” said the official.
The notary said that the procedure costs $40 dollars, which includes the cost of taking and picking up the document at the Secretary of State, notarizing and apostilling it, and adding the value of sending the document to the entity in Colombia.
Can a notary notarize virtually?
Traditionally, if a document needed to be notarized, a notary had to be found to witness the signing in person. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many states had to introduce online notarization, allowing this process to occur virtually from anywhere on the planet.
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