Documents from the USA

[JScanio]

Hi everyone,

My husband needs to get a copy of documents from his mother who currently lives in the USA to submit for his citizenship.

He needs a copy of the following:
Her Birth Certificate from Chile
Her Marriage Certificate
Her Divorce Certificate

Obviously we are not submitting the original documents to the consulate, but copies of some sort.

Are these to be regular certified copies or notarized copies from any public officiary? or is there a special type of copy that is required?

Also, when we send the document to get translated from spanish into Italian, should they already have an apostile, or should we apostile the certificate with the translation?

Molto Grazie!

[PeterTimber]

www.registrocivil.cl (in spanish) forregional office of the city where she was born in Chile www.gochile.cl/info/map/mapindex.asp for region number.

The rest I leave to my fellow colleagues. =Peter=

[jwazevedo]

You don't say whether her marriage and divorce was in the US, but the subject of your message suggests they were. For marriage, although the procedures vary by state, you generally request a copy of the record from the county vital records office (often the County Recorder) where the marriage license was issued. Go to the website for the county of interest, and they usually have specific instructions for requesting the document. you will receive an official copy of the record. Then, you send that copy to the state for the apostille (see the state's website for address and instructions). Translation is done separately - a good thing to be doing while you wait for the apostille - and generally does not have to be certified (check with the consulate where you are applying).

Divorce records are often stored with the court where the decree was issued. Check the court website for the jurisdiction of your mother-in-law's divorce, and they will have instructions for how to get a copy of the record. Apostille procedure is the same as for the marriage certificate.

Hope this helps.

Good luck!
Jerry