FEBRUARY 10, 2017

If you plan to live, study, work, get married or adopt a child in a foreign country, you will need to present your U.S. documents apostilled / legalized, and translated. What should be done first: apostilles or translation.? This is one of the most common question our clients ask. The answer is: your document needs to be apostilled / legalized first. Then, everything in the document (including notary seals, if any, and all legalization pages) needs to be translated.

Have the translation done locally, in the country where you will use the document(s). Local translation agencies know all the requirements including notarization, formatting, ribboning, etc. Besides, it will be a lot less expensive.

Some consulates and embassies require that you present your documents and the translations apostilled. This is an entirely different story. In this case, the translation has to be done in the U.S., the translator's signature has to be notarized, and then apostilled.

Related search terms: "new york apostille and translation", "translation of apostille", "should the translation be apostilled", "where to get apostille translated"