Aaaa-paw-steel
It took me some time to correctly pronounce “apostille”, let alone to understand what it was. For those of you who are looking to obtain one to attach to their police record, this is the post for you.
At its heart, the Apostille of the Hague is a piece of paper with a giant gold stamp on it. Pretty fancy sounding, right? Well it is – and without it, you won’t be going anywhere. Basically, what it is an international notarization. Just like important documents (titles, deeds, etc.) here need to be notarized by a Notary Public to carry weight as an official document, this apostille is an agreed upon standard that basically says to the consulate, “Hey, this document is legit, and I’m here to prove it.” (in my mind the apostille sounds a little whiny-voiced).
So basically, your police records must first be notarized at the local level so that the state knows that the document is legitimate, and then it must be notarized (again) with the apostille so that other governments (like the one represented at whatever consulate you’re visiting) will know that the document is legit… get it? Sorry, that was a mouthful, but I think you get the point.
Right about now you may be asking yourself, okay, so how do I get this shiny gold stamp then? …and I may just have an answer for you! SO here it is in steps:
Step 1 – Obtain police record from your towns police department. I literally stopped by my towns “safety complex” one summer afternoon and asked the woman at the front desk about it. You’ll probably have to fill out some brief paperwork answering why you would like to request a background check on yourself (or letter of good conduct), and in a couple of days they’ll have it ready for you. Make sure it’s notarized – more often then not a staff member at the facility is a Notary Public and can notarize the document for you.
Step 2 – Visit your state’s State House. For me, I googled “apostille of the hague new hampshire” and found this helpful website . I went to the state house that afternoon (no appointment) and bartered a price ($10) for the certification.
That’s it. This part of the application was intimidating at first (wtf is an apostille??), but it was actually one of the easiest and most pain-free things to complete. You shouldn’t have too much trouble with it, once you know what you’re looking for.
