If you haven't got your passport, get your pennies together (currently $140 plus the cost of passport photos - get extras, as they're multi-purpose when travelling) and get down to the post office today. Seriously, today. Passports can take 6-10 weeks to process (though it's never taken mine that long), and with a thousand or a million other people applying for their passports as well, why on earth would you wait?
Now. I only had two documents to authenticate: my teaching certificate and my Masters degree. I started the process on 28 February and just got back my last stamp and seal today. That's a month and a week. And I am fortunate to have the essential forms and formats already in my files, and to live in my state's capital city. That and paying for overnight mail in both directions cut my time down significantly. But here's the breakdown:
- Had copies of my 2 certs made, added a note stating "This is an authentic copy of the original document", took copies - and originals for notary to compare - to a notary public (found at your local bank often enough). I signed the copy in front of the notary, who notarised my signature. 2 hours finding a notary and figuring out exactly what was needed, 2 minutes to get the stamp, seal and signature. No fee.
- walked my 2 notarised documents into the Secretary of State's office. I called them first to make sure I knew what to do and where to go. (If you're not 100% sure what to do, always call first!) Requested a "foreign use stamp", got an authentication of notary for international use (nobody actually has a foreign use stamp, regardless of what Teach Away advised). 20 minutes, $2 per document. Sometimes it's good to live in South Carolina.
- Mailed notarised, authenticated documents to the US Department of State with an attached form/cover sheet found on the State Dept website. Elected to pay for express mail (overnight shipping) in both directions. $8 per document, plus $18 per express mail envelope. Took a full month to receive documents back from the State Department with signature and seal affixed.
- Mailed notarised, authenticate documents to the UAE Embassy. Also enclosed a letter (emailed to me) from my university declaring its accreditation. For extra assurance, I also printed off a copy of the accreditation record from the CHEA website. Again with the express mail cost. This step cost $30 per document, plus mail fees. Time: one week.
If you have documents of identification (marriage certificates, birth certificates, adoption certificates, or other miscellaneous items (divorce & letter from ex-spouse permitting child to leave the country, death certificate for your child's other parent, etc), those documents follow a slightly different authentication process - basically, you have to get them directly from your State, not get notarised copies (the copy sent from your records dept will be notarised or whatever already), and carry on from there. These documents will take longer to get, and if they're from other states or countries, you must get them authenticated at the Secretary of State for the state (or equivalent for country) of the document's origin. (Certificates can be notarised anywhere.)
Key item: Photocopies must be notarised and authenticated in the same state. And a notary will only do an in-person notarisation (because he's authenticating your signature, which he/she can't do unless you're signing it in front of them). So do what you can locally.
I think that's all I have for today. Other than a small celebration that I have all my paperwork completed now. And another celebration that it was far less effort-intensive than the stuff I had to do for my UK work visa.
So I'm going to work. Happy paperchase, everyone!
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