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The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention)

The Hague Adoption Convention is an international treaty that provides important safeguards to protect the best interests of children, birth parents, and adoptive parents, who are involved in inter-country adoptions.

When adopting from a country that has signed the Hague Adoption Convention, there’s a process to follow, according to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS):

Hague Process for International Adoption:

1. Find a Hague Accredited Adoption Service Provider

2. Obtain a Home Study from someone authorized to complete a Hague adoption home study

3. Apply to USCIS before adopting a child or accepting a placement for a determination that one is suitable for inter-country adoption. 

4. Once USCIS approves the application, work with the adoption service provider to obtain a proposed adoption placement.

It is important to note that all adoption organizations will require that you obtain either an Apostille or a Certification on all your relevant documents. If you are adopting from a country that is a part of the Hague Adoption Convention, it is likely that you will only need to obtain an Apostille. For countries not a part of the Hague Adoption Convention, your documents will require Certification through the means of Embassy Legalization.

To avoid any delays in this process, gather all the necessary legal documents.

Examples of Documents:

  • Criminal FBI Background Checks
  • Birth Certificates
  • Marriage Certificates
  • Divorce Decrees
  • Home Studies
  • Deed of the House (certified by the county)
  •  Baptism Certificates
  • Bank Accounts
  • Reference Letters

WCS: The Go To People for Document Authentication

WCS is located right next to Washington, D.C.! We have close access to the necessary government entities and embassies needed for authentication. With WCS on your side, we will handle your document authentication, whether you need an Apostille, or Embassy Legalization. As always, We work diligently to ensure your documents are authenticated appropriately with the correct stamps and certifications, and returned back to you, headache-free. Not sure what kind of authentication your document needs? Contact us today!

Apostille and Document Legalization Services

To Apostille or Not To Apostille—That REALLY is the question!

In our industry, some terms are used as if they are interchangeable. For example, “apostille” vs. “authentication.” However, when it comes to document apostille and/or legalization, using the proper term not only ensures clarity, it ensures that your documents will not be rejected by the Embassy before it even gets to the destination country.

Bottom Line: If you request an “apostille,” the regulatory agency is going to give you an apostille, even if that’s not what you need!

We often hear our clients ask for an “apostille” of a document. But what does “apostille” mean and when is it applicable to the document legalization process? And, when can using the term “apostille” incorrectly cause a problem?

Apostille Definition

First, what is an “apostille?” An apostille is a certificate that authenticates the origin of a public document. The word “apostille” is a French origin and is derived from the old French word “postille” which means “annotation.” I am sure this is more than you needed to know.

In any event, all signatory countries to the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents have agreed to accept an “apostilled” document from all other signatory countries. In the document legalization business, these are the “Hague” countries.

When You Use Apostille

So, if you need to use a non-federal document in a Hague Convention country, no problem. All Hague countries accept the apostille certification from all US states. So, just send the document to WCS and we can get the apostille from the Maryland Secretary of State (NOTE: However, all personal documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, and death certificates must be apostilled in the state of origin).

What about Federal documents? If you need to use a Federal document in a Hague Convention country, just send the original document to WCS and we can get it apostilled at the U.S. Department of State. So far, so good.

When To Not Request An Apostille

Ah, but what if the destination country is not a signatory to the Hague Convention? These are the “Non-Hague” countries. Now things change. This time your document is going to be “authenticated”, which is a lot like an apostille, but is not an apostille.

So, here’s the problem. Many people mistakenly ask that their Non-Hague document get “apostilled.” Of course, if you make that request to us, we will alert you to the incorrect terminology. For Non-Hague countries, the document must go to the state Secretary of State before it gets “authenticated” from the U.S. State Department. But, if you send your document to your local Secretary of State (or use a service) and request an “apostille”, you will get exactly what you ask for. The Secretary of State will simply apostille the document and send it back to you. And, then when you send the incorrectly apostilled document to the U.S. State Department, it will be rejected.

Oh, and just to make it a bit more challenging…if your document is coming from California or Oregon, the Secretary of State will only apostille (not “authenticate”) the document, so you would be asking for an apostille from those 2 states irrespective of the destination country. The U.S. State Department makes exceptions for those 2 states!

Confused? Ok, we understand. Not Confused? Great. We could hire you!

Here’s a simple rule of thumb:

  1. If your document is going to a Hague convention country: We can get it apostilled for you!
  2. If your document is going to a Non-Hague convention country: We can get it authenticated for you!

Here’s a simpler rule of thumb: Just call us. We’ll make sure you only get an apostille when you need one!

The RAPS Convergence Convention Wrap Up

WCS was honored to host a booth at the annual Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS) Regulatory Convergence from September 9-12 in National Harbor, MD. It is always stimulating to be amongst your peers in an environment that encourages education, professionalism, and camaraderie. For WCS, it was a rare opportunity to meet old friends, current clients, and potential clients.

The best part of the event was the personal interaction with regulatory professionals from many companies. Without exception, each person I met was eager to learn from industry leaders and apply best practices to drive regulatory and organizational performance. To put it simply, they were there to learn how to do their jobs even better.

With such a nurturing environment, we were very excited to demonstrate our new software product, WCS Express ™ at the convention. We have dedicated many hours to researching the biggest challenges our clients face. WCS Express™ is the application we designed based on the feedback we received from our clients. We are very excited about the potential for this application.

We will be deploying our new application in the next few months. And, now thanks to the opportunity to meet so many regulatory professionals at RAPS Convergence, we will have the opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities to even more of our regulatory partners.

Why Regulatory Affairs is like Herding Cats….

According to Wikipedia Regulatory Affairs (“RA”) professionals are responsible for “ensuring that their companies comply with all the regulations and laws pertaining to their business.” Considering the stakes involved, there are few functions more important. After all, if you don’t get the regulatory environment right, not only will your company not be doing any business in the country, you might be breaking the law!

Of course, no one (and I mean no one) can possibly keep up with all of the unique and ever-changing regulatory requirements in international business. Memorizing the regulatory requirements for each country is a herculean task. And, that’s before you consider that these regulations can shift on a moment’s notice. Being in RA is a bit like herding cats. Just when you think you have every cat in place, one of them scurries in a different direction.

Which leads us to document authentication and legalization.

Here are some examples of special rules that can trip up even the most experienced regulatory professional (always subject to change):

  • Want to sell your product in Iraq? Then make sure you get the document notarized and certified by the Secretary of State where the document  originated. Not where the company’s headquarters is located.
  • Want to sell your product in China? If your documents were “created” by the state (e.g., Articles of Incorporation), then they have to be notarized and certified by the Secretary of State where the document was created. But, if the document is not created by the state (e.g., Power of Attorney), then it can be notarized and certified in any state. Oh, and an individual working for the submitting company must submit their individual identification (i.e., copy of driver’s license, passport, etc.) along with the document to be processed (Also true for Taiwan (below) and Lebanon)).
  • Want to sell your product in Taiwan? Good news. Your document can be certified by any Secretary of State in any state of origin. But…if you’re going to use a service to handle the processing, you have to provide a Permission letter for that company to the Embassy of Taiwan. And, see the above note on China regarding individual identification requirements when submitting corporate documents.
  • Want to do business in Qatar? You will need an authorized stamp from the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce in addition to the state certification, U.S. State Department certification, and a certification from either the Qatar Embassy in Washington, D.C., or the Qatar consulates in New York, Texas, or California (depending where the document originated).

This is just a small sampling of the unusual (and sometimes unknowable) aspects of regulatory compliance for international document authentication…for now!

So, faced with this type of uncertainty, what should you do? The best approach is to get as close to the decision makers as possible. Of course, that’s not easy. Just keeping tabs on internal needs is more than enough for most RA professionals, much less keeping tabs on every bureaucrat in every embassy.

Instead, do what our clients do: Let WCS be your connection to the decision makers. We are working with these people every day. We’ll take care of “herding the cats” and you can focus on the other challenging aspects of your job!

Fake Stamps!

Watch Out for Fake Stamps!

Recently we received a call from a major corporate customer asking about our document legalization services for United Arab Emirates (UAE). He was comparing our prices and processes with his current service provider. As we went into the details, he explained that our National U.S. Arab Chamber of Commerce (NUSACC) stamp was more expensive than the US Arab Chamber of Commerce stamp that his current service provider used.

This was an odd statement because there is only ONE authorized Chamber of Commerce stamp for legalizing documents in UAE: the NUSACC stamp with the green outline (pictured). We contacted the UAE Embassy and were told that the only recognized “Chamber” stamp is the NUSACC stamp and that any other stamp is fraudulent. More importantly, the completed documents could not be legally used in the UAE.

Unfortunately, some providers in this industry are engaged in unethical business practices. They “invent” their own Chamber stamp (see the stamp outlined in yellow) and then convince their customers that the stamp is legitimate.

The service providers using fraudulent stamps are engaging in unethical and possibly illegal practices. More importantly for regulatory professionals, by accepting such a stamp, you may be exposing your company to substantial risks, including the non-recognition of your documents in a foreign country, claims of violating the law in a foreign country, and millions of dollars of lost revenue.

Fake stamps are no laughing matter. If you are concerned about documents that may not have been properly and legally authenticated, contact WCS. We will be sure to give you accurate, trustworthy guidance.

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