@crmark Here are the best answers I can give based on our experience:
What are the costs of WDC Apostille services? We paid $80 (we needed only 2 FBI reports apostilled by the US DoS but this fee would have covered up to 15 documents) + $40 ($20 per document that is the US DoS current fee) + $12 (USPS return mail - trackable, got here in 2 business days) + $8 (credit card fee), for a total of $140.
Do they certify/apostille, translate, and courier/post/mail to our attorneys in Portugal? This question has 2 parts - first, their service doesnāt include translation. We use a great, responsive translator in Connecticut who provides certified translations of the documents we email to her. Second, our attorney in Portugal doesnāt need the hard copies of items until we go for our SEF interviews. He filed the SEF application using scanned copies of our apostilled, translated documents. So I do not know what WDC Apostille would charge for sending the hard copies directly to him.
You can email them the documents that need apostille? Yes as they are facilitating the apostille of documents provided by the US government (not state governments). We got our FBI reports in pdf format emailed to us from the DoJ and then we emailed them to WDC Apostille. WDC Apostille prints them and gets them through the apostille process (quickly).
What is required besides FBI background check- birth certificates? Your attorney will advise you on other documents that may be needed, but we did not need to provide birth certificates at all as that is taken care of based on the fact that you have a US Passport, and there were no kids involved in our application. You will need a certified/apostilled/translated copy of your marriage certificate, and this apostille is done by the Secretary of State of the state in which the marriage took place. WDC Apostille does not have anything to do with a marriage certificate apostille as it is at the state level and they work at the federal level.
So just to recap based on our experience, WDC Apostille helps with US DoS apostilles for FBI reports, state Secretary of State apostilles marriage certificates, US passports are not apostilled, and there is no need for birth certificates at all unless there are kids involved in the family reunion application.
As always, follow what your attorney says re the exact documents you will need in your specific case.
Wow! I hit the jackpot! Thanks so much for your response!
So it looks like we can accomplish most everything via email, except receipt of the apostilled FBI reports, which will be returned by mail, and the marriage certificate, which Iām guessing Iāll have to carry manually to Nashville to get apostilled?
Would you be willing to connect me with the translator you used? Sounds like I can email documents to her to be translated? Does she return them via email as well? Charge? On the WDC Apostille website it mentions āTranslationā as a service so thatās why I thought they would be a āone stop shopā for everything?
Thanks so much, again, for timely valuable advice. Weāre trying to do this last minute before the end of the year.
I sent off my motherĀ“s fingerprints for the Background check. She is over 90 years old and her fingerprints are virtually non-existent because of her age. They were rejected by the FBI. Has anyone run into the problem of elderly peopleās fingerprints being rejected? Is there any leniency on SEFĀ“s part in these cases? She is applying as my dependent.
I used Languex and myapplication was just accepted so I would say yes. They have pretty quick turnaround, reasonable cost and will mail you a copy if you want (mailed copy took a long time). The certification is nothing special - not embossed, etc., just a signed statement. I printed their letter in color on good paper and attached the translation and sent to my attorney.
Hi @crmark , To @garrett ās point, yes you will likely have to provide hard copies to open your bank account, but the rest of this information is related to documents for SEF. Again, always follow your attorneyās guidance.
Note that WDC Apostille does provide a scanned copy via email of the apostilled FBI reports when they mail the hard copies, and in our case, our attorney filed those scanned copies with our SEF application. We will bring the hard copies to our SEF biometrics appointments.
For apostilling your marriage certificate, youāll need to refer to the TN Secretary of State site for instructions as to whether they are accepting in-person apostille requests or if you will have to mail the request to them and have them mail the apostilled document back. In our case it was the latter due to Covid protocols. But all states are different in their protocols.
The translator we use is Dulce Branco (email sent via DM). Yes, she will translate from documents you email her, and she will email back a scanned copy of the translations as well as provide hard copies that are certified with her signature notarized. Again our attorney used the scanned copies for our SEF application and we will take the hard copies with us for our SEF biometrics appointments.
Check with Dulce if her charges have changed, but as of last year she charged $30 per page (so one apostilled FBI report is 2 pages, etc.) + $8 (USPS certified mail to get hard copies to us). We just refreshed our documents for SEF (FBI reports and marriage certificate) so we have ones that are dated in the window SEF requires, and Dulce just completed translation on these refreshed documents, but the translation charges were significantly less since she wasnāt translating from scratch, so I am unsure if her standard fees are the same as last year. We did not explore WDC Apostilleās fee structure for translation as we had already identified Dulce as the translator we wanted to use. If you explore it, that would be useful info to provide to this thread.
Thanks so much. And yes, weāve already submitted hard copies of documents to our bank.
One question I have is about the ādated in the window SEF requiresā part. I understand that the āwindowā is within 90 days of application submission that apostilled documents have to be signed/dated, is that correct?
Iām hearing that SEF is really backed up for biometrics appointments? Iām hoping itās not the case that biometrics must be done within this 90 day window?
@crmark, According to our attorney, the FBI report is supposed to be dated no more than 90 days before your SEF biometrics appointment, and the certified copy of the marriage certificate is supposed to be no more than 6 months before the date of your SEF biometrics appointment. This is why we recently went through a ādocument refreshā since ours were well outside those windows. So we have gotten new FBI reports and a new certified copy of our marriage certificate, and weāve had them apostilled and translated.
Technically, since our documents were in the valid 90-day/6-month window when they were submitted with the SEF application, our attorney has indicated that even if we were to show up at our SEF appointment with āexpiredā documents, they would likely let us send the documents with updated dates to them as soon as possible after the appointment, and then the process would proceed from that point. We are just being proactive and getting the documents refreshed to hopefully prevent any slowdowns.
So we have no control over when the biometrics appointments are available, but we do have control over keeping our documents refreshed and ready.
Weāre starting late in the game and trying to beat the deadline before minimum increases. Sweating it a bit!
āsubmitted with the SEF application"- thatās key I hope? As long as we get the SEF/GV application in on time, prior to years end, we qualify for current minimum Investment, correct?
Then we contend with potential added expenses of having to redo documents within time limits if biometrics appointment is delayed?
@crmark, Re āsubmitted with the SEF applicationā being keyā¦yes, that is our understanding that if investment is completed and the application is submitted to SEF before years end, it would qualify for the current minimum investment, but please confirm that with your attorney rather than relying on our understanding.
And yes, youāll want to come up with a game plan that suits you for either keeping your documents refreshed on a rolling basis so youāre ready with validly-dated documents for even a last minute SEF appointment, or just doing it once and then potentially going to the interview with āstaleā documents that youāll need to update afterwards.
For community benefit, Iāll follow up on that burst by recommending that Monument Visa will FedEx your apostille to your lawyer in Portugal for $60 extra, which is faster, safer, and much less expensive than having it mailed to you through the struggling USPS, then turning around and shipping it yourself by FedEx to your lawyer in Portugal. Monumentās shipping rate is over $100 less than what Iād pay at the FexEx retail counter.
For the initial ARI application, there is no need to post the original documents to SEF, right? One simply uploads scans of them? And then one should simply bring the originals to the SEF biometrics appointment?
I ask because I am a little confused as to why people are sending hard copies to their lawyer. Lawyers only need scans; itās the applicant (whoāll be attending the biometrics) who needs the hard copies - right?
This is all correct.
I guess some people send all of their originals to the lawyers because thatās what their lawyers tell them to do without mentioning that those very same originals will be presented to the SEF office at the biometric appointment which the applicant will have to attend in person anyway!
There is a lot of confusion over this issue. I submitted all my documents to the SEF in August. My lawyers have told me that my investment will not qualify this year unless my application is accepted this year. However, reading through forums, it seems that other lawyers contradict what my lawyers say and that it is indeed the date that the application is submitted that counts.
I have been sent a PDF of my FBI background check. Can I print this out and send it to get the apostille, or does it have to be the original hard copy that I have to send off to get the apostille?
without mentioning that those very same originals will be presented to the SEF office at the biometric appointment which the applicant will have to attend in person anyway! 