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What is it?
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An Apostille is a document attached to your original US certificates by the Secretary of State’s Notary Public of the state from which the document originally is from.
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An Apostille is simply a document stapled to your original certificate by the Secretary of State Notary Public of the State in accordance with the Hague Convention, which means that the documents can be used officially in a foreign country.
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Apostilles must be placed on any birth/divorce/death certificates presented for your civil wedding ceremony in Italy. It is NOT a regular Notary Public stamp.
Generally documents to be apostilled must be current certified copies or must have been notarized by a Notary Public.
If you are a Naturalized US Citizen: your naturalization certificate will substitute for your birth certificate and must be apostilled.
How to:
The process of obtaining and Apostille is done via mail, you simply call your Secretary of State’s Notary Public (http://www.nass.org/NPA/us/UnitedStates.htm )
to find out the mailing address and forward your certificates to them with if applicable a small fee for processing and it will be returned to you with the seal. You do not have to do anything in person. The matter can also be handled with a very short time line if needed by pre-paying for express shipping.
Example:
Jane Smith was born in Miami, Florida. She therefore sends her Birth Certificate to the Secretary of State’s Notary Public office in Tallahassee requesting an Apostille. It is returned to her with the Apostille/Seal.
The link to all of the Secretary of State Notary Public offices in the US is:
http://www.nass.org/NPA/us/UnitedStates.htm
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