What is Apostille Service
Apostille Service is a service where you verify some official documents or translation in one country so that you can use in another country to various purposes. This service was established according to 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. The counties who signed this agreement would provide validation to their official documents so they can be used in other countries. For example, you have a death certificate that you need to use in China to handle the assets of your recently diseased husband. You will receive a certificate of death from Maryland, and then how China would know this document is an official document from the state of Maryland? Given so many frauds and false documents, even false money in this world, it is so easy to forge some documents and present to other countries to carry out some business transactions or even stealing. So there must be some measures to make sure these documents are true and accurate copy or translation of their original documents.
Who Issues Apostille Service in Maryland
Maryland Office of the Secretary of State will issue the Apostille Service and they charge $5 per copy based on the information on their website. For example, if you need your original file and translated file apostilled, you need to pay two fees for them. If you have a birth certificate, and another death certificate, that also are considered as two document. You can go to their office Monday to Friday from 9am and 1pm and each costumer is limited in 15 minutes. But based on my experience you don’t need that much time to finish your business in the office but the waiting time could vary depending how many people are waiting for the service. You can call their office at 410-974-5521 to ask any questions. Call before you go there and somebody will pick up the phone to answer your questions. You can also go this website to check more details. The website address is https://sos.maryland.gov/Certifications/Pages/default.aspx/LINK_TO_AGENCY_HOME. Their address is 16 Francis Street, Wineland Building, Annapolis, MD 21401. If you cannot go there in person, you can also mail in your document with your returned envelope to get your apostille service. If you mail your documents in, the turnaround for FedEx, UPS, USPS Priority Mail is 3-4 days but the regular mail is 7 days. But here is the tricky part. You might want to read their instructions carefully or call them to clarify any questions before you mail them our. They may return or reject it if you did not provide the proper documents.
What You Should Know Before You Go There or Mail the Documents
First you have to understand what kind of documents they will provide apostille service for. It usually includes some official documents issued by various state agencies, such as birth certificates, death certificates, marriage records, divorce records, police records, corporate good standing certificates, adoptions, dual citizenship, business activities, school record transfer. It also includes the letter to certify appointment and elected officials, portions of annotated code of Maryland.
But they do not deal with some federal documents. Federal documents such as FBI background check, USCIS documents, Born abroad birth certificates should be sent directly to the State Department for certification and Apostille.
Documents for countries that are part of the Hague Convention will get an Apostille. But for counties that are not part of the Hague Convention, the documents should be sent to the state Department Authentication Office after you got the MD SOS certificate. MD SOS here stands for the Maryland Sectary of State.
What You Should Know About Certification of Your Translation and Notary
One thing you want to know about regarding your Apostille service for some documents intended for international use. You must have your file translated by a certified translator or a qualified professional translator. This translator must provide an affidavit of accuracy for the translation. He or she must state in this letter that he or she is a professional translator, knows both languages well, and certifies that he or she has translated the documents correctly. Then he or she must personally appear to a Maryland notary office to sign on the notarization letter that he or she personally translate that document. Then the notary officer then sign his or her name and put the notary stamp on that letter. You can get the notary for free if you visit your own bank. But it still requires time to travel so it is a cost as well. If the translation company request the translator to do the notary, the company usually has to pay his or her time to do so as well. Not only so, the Maryland Secretary of State specifically requires that this notary letter must be certified by the Circuit Court of Maryland. I went to one the Circuit Court of Maryland to certify that notary. The purpose is to verify the good standing of that notary officer to make sure he or she is still registered in the state as a qualified notary officer. They only charged me less than $2 but I still have to drive their for 30 minutes one way to take care of this. So this time will be included in the cost if you want to hire an agency to take care of this for you. At Translation Boulevard, we can take all of these steps for you if you want to go to two to three different places in person. We offer a special package to take care of your Apostille need.
In Case You Want to Visit Their Office In Annapolis
In case you want to handle everything yourself, and get the translation done by a certified or professional translator with the certificate of accuracy and the notary, then you visit the office of the Maryland Sectary of the State in Annapolis, you could plan a day there to visit the downtown dock, and other historical sites and sceneries there. You are very close to the downtown dock where you can take a boat to cruise the Seven river, or you can visit the beautiful campus of Naval Academy. You are allowed to enter Naval Academy but you must bring your ID with you. There are street Meter parking available. Sometimes it could be hard to find a parking space but I found it was not always that difficult. We wish you good luck in getting your Apostille done but we are here for you. Please contact us at 202-992-2626 or email us at contact@translationblvd.com.