If you live in Virginia and plan to travel outside of the United States, you may need apostille certification in Virginia prior to your trip. But what exactly is an apostille, and why do you need this service before travelling abroad?
Apostille Explained
Apostille is the authentication of the seals or signatures of officials on public documents. Some examples of public documents include:
- Marriage certificates
- Academic documents
- Naturalization documents
- Birth certificates
- IRS documents
- Job certificates
- Distribution agreements
Let’s say you plan to travel outside of the United States to work in a foreign country. In that case, you’ll need some government-issued documents, such as criminal background checks, to be granted a work permit in the country you intend to work.
The same case applies if you are travelling abroad for studies; you’ll need to have your academic documents apostilled.
However, apostille documents are only issued for use in countries that are part of the Hague Convention. For countries that aren’t part of this convention, such documents may need to be authenticated.
How to Apostille a Document in Virginia
Virginia apostille certification services vary depending on the type of document to be apostilled. For example, suppose the document has been issued by the state of Virginia, such as a birth certificate. In that case, it is the responsibility of the Virginia Secretary of State to apostille such documents.
If the document has been issued by the federal government, for example, a certificate of naturalization, it should be apostilled by the US Secretary of State office.
But here’s the problem:
First, such a document will have to be notarized before being mailed to the Virginia Secretary of State. Also, you’ll need to gather all required supporting documents, which could mean making multiple trips to the pharmacy to take passport photos or even the library to make copies of the documents.
You’ll then have to mail the document to Richmond, which could take days to arrive, depending on your location. Now the worst part is if you miss anything, the apostille process will take even longer because you’ll have to resubmit some paperwork.
Alternatively, you may decide to drive or fly to Richmond for an in-person visit at the Secretary of State offices. This option is expensive and inconvenient, especially if you live far from the capital, Norton, for instance.
Use Travel Visa Pro Apostille Certification
The second option is to consider our VA apostille certification service, which is, quite frankly, faster, easier and flawless. At TravelVisaPro, we have a team of travel experts with unmatched experience handling all kinds of documents that need to be apostilled.
Wouldn’t it be great to have all your documents apostille from a central place rather than dashing from one office to another to beat tight deadlines ahead of your flight? That’s exactly what we offer at TravelVisaPro.
All you need to do is submit the required documents to us and then sit back and focus on other aspects of your trip. We help reduce the waiting times for such documents by a considerable margin, giving you a hassle-free travel experience.
Ready to have your documents apostilled in Virginia? Talk to one of our travel experts, and we’ll be glad to help you travel overseas safely and legally!