What is an Apostille?
Apostilles authenticate the seals and signatures of officials on public documents issued by member countries of the Apostille of the Hague Treaty. An FBI Apostille is, simply put, an Apostille attached to your FBI criminal background check.
An Apostille makes a document issued in one country legal for use in a foreign country. In other words, without the Apostille, New York state issued marriage certificate is just another piece of paper. It’s useless for any purpose for which you might need it. Put a NY State Apostille on it and boom! Government entities in Spain now recognize you and your spouse are legally married.
In the United States, documents elegible for an Apostille can be issued by a state agency, federal agency or a U.S. consul. State issued documents include birth certificates, college diplomas and court orders. Federal documents, on the other hand, include passports, consular reports of birth abroad, and FBI criminal background checks.
If you’re applying for the Spanish non lucrative visa, your application must include an FBI report with federal Apostille. In fact, an FBI report with federal Apostille is a requirement for ALL Spanish residence visas.
Who Issues Apostilles?
In the US, there are two different levels of authority as to who may issue an Apostille:
- Individual Secretary of State office’s issue Apostilles for that state’s state issued document.
- The US Department of State for federally issued documents. This is the only office in all of the US authorized to issue the federal Apostille.
Family Move Abroad has partnered with Monument Visa Services to provide stress free guidance to get the Apostille for your FBI report. Monument Visa Services is an experienced Apostille company located just minutes from the U.S. Department of State in Washington D.C.
Can’t get enough about Apostille jargon? Read more about how to Get an Apostille here.
Benefits of Using Monument Visa
Monument Visa’s online ordering platform is simple and easy to use. Fill out the information for Monument Visa. Then, they prepare the US Department of State’s Apostille request. This saves you time and confusion and eliminates the risk that you’ll fill out the form incorrectly.
With Monument Visa, there’s no need to mail anything to the department of state. Simply upload the digital file of the background check you received the FBI. No need to print it! Monument Visa will ensure the printed quality of the report is up to snuff. This saves you time, printer ink, and avoids the risk that your printed report doesn’t meet the department of state’s standards. Plus, you’ll save money in postage fees for tracked or expedited mail that you’d pay if you were sending your Apostille request yourself.
You pay directly to Monument using a credit card. No need to track down a money order or other acceptable form of payment.
Finally, Monument will return Apostilled FBI report back to you, anywhere in the world, using your preferred form of mail. No need to obtain a prepaid self addressed stamped envelope.