Getting Documents Ready

We are in the midst of moving to Netherlands! Things we are working on is to have our birth certificates and marriage licence legalized (aka authorized). Taking these steps for our certifications to be legalized/authorized creates value in other countries, in this case, the Netherlands.

For a California birth certificate, we had to:

1. Order a new certified copy through the county (I used http://www.vitalchek.com/).
2. Have both notarized certificate of acknowledgement and a sworn statement faxed in also. Note that some states require a copy of your ID.
3. When I receive the birth certificate from California, I have to send it back to the Secretary of State of California to have it authorized (apostille).(http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/notary/authentication.htm).

For out of country birth certificates, in our case, Taiwan. The steps we took to have the birth certificate legalized/authorized are:

1. Obtain birth certificate/ancestral registry from local city hall/government office.
2. Get the birth certificate stamp-approved by the Taiwan court
3. Get it officially legalized by the Dutch Embassy in Taiwan

Thankfully, we have kind relatives who are doing this portion of it in Taiwan.

For our marriage license, it was much easier since we live in the same state.

1. Ordered a new certified copy of our marriage license through the county Records Office. Going in-person, you can get it right away.
2. Send it to Washington Secretary of State to have it authorized.

Just a note that the Netherlands require all certifications to be current (within the last 6 months).