My apologies if it’s already asked and answered. I searched the community trying to find an answer to no avail.
My GV attorney just notified that my GV renewal appointment got scheduled in December. They (well, AIMA) are asking for “Certified copy of all passport pages”.
Route 1: Consulate General of my country of birth doesn’t seem to provide apostille for all passport pages.
Route 2: I’m under the impression that Secretary of State will issue an apostille only for documents issued by the state. (I could be wrong on this. The language I saw at once place was “State Level Apostille: Issued by the Secretary of State for documents originating within a state (e.g., birth certificates, notarized documents, etc.).” so photocopy of passport pages created and notarized in NY counts as “documents originating within NY”, would they issue an apostille or is it just my wishful thinking?
If someone got their foreign (i.e. non-US) passport notarized & apostilled in the US (especially in NY), I’d love to hear your experience.
In theory, you could copy each page and on each page have a statement “I, [your name here], attest under penalty of perjury that this is a true and correct copy of page __ of my current passport.” Sign each page in front of a notary, who also signs and stamps with language that “State of ____ County of ____, Signed and attested to before me on ___ ___, 2025 by [you] who signed in front of the notary.” You can then take it to the Secretary of State for the State which the notary is licensed in and have each page apostilled. Cumbersome, but should work.
In my state, it’s $2 a page to apostille documents. The most expensive is the notary, who might charge $25 per page. Some libraries will notarize for free.
Keep in mind that if your passport gets lost in transit to Portugal, you’re in a world of hurt. A new passport will be both blank and have a new passport number. Try explaining that to AIMA.
Oh lucky. In California it’s $20.00 per Apostille. Cheapest notarization I’ve seen is around $5. So multiply that by 30 pages and it’s $750.
However since the the notary is not actually certifying the copy of any particular page, merely your statement that the copy is accurate, you could try just sign one statement in front of a notary that all the copies of all pages are accurate, and apostille that. Technically, it’s just as meaningful.
Thank you all. Yes, my GV attorney in Portugal does offer an option to certify my passport, but I’m somewhat concerned about the possible loss of the passport in transit as well.
I’ll check with my attorney if they had any of their client had done something similar in the US while I do my research on the cost of notarization and apostille done in NY.
Just send it to your lawyer Portugal via a reputable tracked service like DHL or Fedex so they can do it and send it back by same service. Plenty of people do that, and courier companies don’t question it. I’ve had to send my passport by tracked courier more than once for legal processes in various countries and have never had any issue. In fact, I got my passport back this morning by DHL after sending to a third country I lived in for a few years for a police check for my Portuguese citizenship application. I’d only advise to not use standard mail - it will always be slower even on fastest service and more risk of loss or theft.
In addition to the potential risk of losing my passport, I didn’t want to be in a position where I need to travel (e.g. to my home country due to family emergency. My parents are old.) but I can’t because of my only passport is not with me. But now I think about it, the consular general will probably issue a travel document in those circumstances. So I guess it boils down to the risk of losing it in transit, which is not so likely but the damage can be substantial.
Obviously, I’d never ever send my passport over postal services. Merely thinking about it almost gives me a heart attack. Too many things stolen, broken by the international postal network.
Congrats on the apparently soon-to-come citizenship application, btw!
As someone with elderly parents, I understand that. But if you’re sending by DHL from NY, transit time is only c. 3 working days max, sometimes faster, so you should be able to turn it around in under 2 weeks if your lawyer knows it’s urgent. And thanks on the congrats. I’ll be eligible to submit in 5 weeks, so I just have to pray they don’t change the law in the meantime ..
As far as I know, all you’d need to do is to make a copy of your entire passport and pass it on to your lawyer, who would certify it as a ‘true copy of the original’.
This is totally normal and has been like this for all biometric appointments with SEF/AIMA, whether initial ones or renewals.
I have never heard of a requirement to make a notarized and apostilled copy of your passport for AIMA.
All I had to do was make a color photocopy of all pages of my passport and send them to my attorney. They certified them for submission to AIMA and I didn’t have to do anything else.
Thanks Tommy & Doug. I’ll check with my attorney. I really hope they’re ok with what you guys are describing and that this is not because AIMA changed their policy.
If memory serves, I did it like Mark. Right before the AIMA appointment my attorney photocopied and certified. You may want to clarify whether having at the time of the appointment will do.
Apostille, notarization and certification are different things. We apostilled the FBI reports and marriage certificates, and certified passport copies via our Portuguese lawyers. I don’t think you can apostille a passport in the US.