NYC Birth Certificate Apostille

[tangoguitar]

Hey all,

I am looking for help *specifically* with:

A birth certificate issued by New York City.

Has anyone ever gotten one apostilled?

My research tells me that you must take ALL of these steps:

1.Get a letter of exemplification from the NYC board of health
2. Get the birth certificate notarized by a notary in NYC (do I need a long-form birth certificate or not?)
3. THEN take both the birth certificate and the letter of exemplification to the Country Clerk in NYC for certification.
4. Finally, send all of the following to the NY Secretary of State in Albany with 10 bucks for the Apostille.

Please let me know if you've done this in NYC. Does anyone think it's possible to do this long-distance without contracting a service? (I know that sounds ridiculous)

I have apostilled other types of documents in other states, but this particular combination is a doozy.

 

[Mitch]

Hey all,

I am looking for help *specifically* with:

A birth certificate issued by New York City.

Has anyone ever gotten one apostilled?

My research tells me that you must take ALL of these steps:

1.Get a letter of exemplification from the NYC board of health
2. Get the birth certificate notarized by a notary in NYC (do I need a long-form birth certificate or not?)
3. THEN take both the birth certificate and the letter of exemplification to the Country Clerk in NYC for certification.
4. Finally, send all of the following to the NY Secretary of State in Albany with 10 bucks for the Apostille.

Please let me know if you've done this in NYC. Does anyone think it's possible to do this long-distance without contracting a service? (I know that sounds ridiculous)

I have apostilled other types of documents in other states, but this particular combination is a doozy.

I put on a lot miles in the NYC subway system getting the above done 16 years ago.

 

[tangoguitar]

I put on a lot miles in the NYC subway system getting the above done 16 years ago.

Thank you, Mitch. I can imagine!

 

[tangoguitar]

Here's something else for anyone else who has had NYC BIRTH CERTIFICATE experience:

I have found some info on the NYC Dept of Health and Vital Records website that conflicts with the info about the "Letter of exemplification." They say:

If you are ordering a certificate from us and you need an apostille for it, we can help by forwarding your certificate to the Department of State which will return the certificate with apostille to you.
In order for us to forward your certificate to the Department of State, you must order by mail and pay for expedited processing ($45.00 per certificate copy) by check or money order payable to the New York State Department of Health.

I ordered a birth "vault copy" birth certificate from them three years ago. But are they saying that if I order another one and ask them to send it to the DOS for apostille we can just forego the notary stamp and the letter of exemplification?

 

[tangoguitar]

In case anyone is reading this and has the same questions I have, I just spoke to the NY DOS and they told me this:

I CANNOT do the thing where I order a vault copy from the dept of heath and they send it directly to the DOS. I think this may only work if you were born in NYS outside of NYC.

1. Since I already have the birth certificate I don't need the letter of exemplification (this seems odd)
2. I have to get birth certificate notarized, then go to the county clerk in the county where my notary became qualified, and the county clerk will certify it.

Then I can mail it to Albany OR there is a DOS office in Manhattan where I can go and get same-day apostille service.

 

[milanesas]

I had to get a new copy of my birth certificate (not from NY) a few years ago for Argentine immigrations and discovered that the US State Dept. does not do apostilles for birth certificates. What I did, and worked for immigrations, was get the state (NY in your case) to do the apostille and translate and certify it in Argentina.

Requirements to Get an Apostille

Learn about how to get an apostille added to your document if it was issued by the federal government, and it will be used in a country that is a member of the Hague Convention.

travel.state.gov

State-issued documents for use in countries that are members of 1961 Hague Convention must be authenticated by the competent authority in the state where the document was executed.

A state-issued document with an apostille does not require additional certification by the U.S. Department of State or legalization by a U.S. embassy or consulate overseas to be recognized in a participating country.The U.S. Department of State will not issue an apostille for state-issued documents.

 

[tangoguitar]

Thanks to all who are replying and telling me general things about apostilles, certifications and translations in Argentina. I don't need any of that info. I've gotten apostilles in other states, for other kinds of documents, and gotten them certified and translated here. Never did I come up against anything so convoluted (on the US side) as this particular example.

*This is specifically about New York City birth certificates*

As stated in my original post, there are several particularly pesky steps involved on the US side of getting an apostille for a NYC Birth Certificate. Any stories about your experience with that specific situation will be much appreciated.

 

[AFVA]

Should I assume that this procedure would also be required for a New York state (Utica NY) birth certificate too? Did they give you a time frame?

 

[ben]

I never needed this but have spoken to other people who did.
Most of what you wrote appears about right, with the following exceptions:

2. Get the birth certificate notarized by a notary in NYC (do I need a long-form birth certificate or not?)

I’m pretty sure that notarization should not be required for official documents, particularly vital records. And indeed, some poking around shows nothing about it being required. (Marriage records may require it; pretty sure birth cert. does NOT).

1. Since I already have the birth certificate I don't need the letter of exemplification (this seems odd)

I am hearing (and reading) conflicting reports of whether the LoE is truly required. If doing everything long distance probably best bet is to err on the safe side and get it .

Finally, give thanks that you’re from a country that does the apostille altogether, as opposed to others that don’t. In which case, apart from having the country’s Department of State (or Foreign Affairs) certify the document, you also need to deal with the Argentine consulate with jurisdiction in the area where the record was issued. None of this is fun.