Apostilled birth certificate

[mandy0312]

Hello, I am reaching out. I am in the process of applying for an OCI card for my minor US born child and I am confused by the document requirements. Do you need to get the birth certificate apostilled or not? Has anyone been successful submitting their application without an apostilled birth certificate? I will be applying at the Indian Mission in Chicago. Your help answering this is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[venukbh]

Hi @mandy0312, were you able to get the OCI? with or without apostilled birth certificate?

I visited OCI center in San Francisco today with all the docs except apostilled birth certificate and they reject the application stating that they need the apostilled birth certificate.

[paul_007]

venukbh Can you please share more information ? If the parents of the minor are US Citizens ( naturalized) , looks the Apostile requirement is being waived off. What is your case ? Is the parent a naturalized US citizen or Indian citizen ?

[paul_007]

Hi,

I had to do a renewal of my daughters OCI who was born in US. For that purposes, I had to get the Birth certificate apostilled. I thought it was going to be head ache. I live in Dupage County in Illinois. As per the Illinois State site (Link below), a birth certificate can apostilled at 2 offices - one is downtown Chicago and the other at State Capital Springfield. I went to the Chicago office at 17 N State Street. This office will need a certified copy of the birth certificate. So before you go there, it has to be certified by the county clerk office. They will not accept a normally notarized birth certificate. So first I took the original birth certificate to the Dupage County administrative office. I filled out the form. They pulled the original birth certificate well preserved for last 18 years, then printed a copy of it on a County pre-titled/printed document marked with Dupage County title and signed by County Clerk. They also embossed with County Seal. It cost me $ 14 and 15 minutes for that. I made 2 copies which helped me later. I took the Certified copy printed to the Illinois Apostile office. I had prepared an Application before. They also have applications at the local office. That office receives people for apostille purposes like birth certificate, death certificate, marriage, divorce certificates etc. Each Certified copy have their requirements. For e.g a divorce certified copy will need the signature from the court itself. I gave the Dupage County Certified copy of Birth Certificate and the application with a fee of $ 2.00. I got the Apostille copy which is an embossed seal covering two pages, a front page from Illinois office stating the facts and the Dupage County certified copy. Opening up the two pages will break seal. This is where the second copy I got from Dupage County helped. This second copy will help create other copies. Time spend at office were 10 -15 minutes each. But it needs a lot of running around. Hope that helps. The local CKGS office has accepted my documents, I am waiting for final approval of the OCI. I will let you know how it went. I am sure each State and County has its requirements. Please refer to your State Apostille requirements and procedures.

Do we need to get apostiled birth certificate everytime we renew the US passport for the kids ? The cost & effort seems prohibitive. I am just thinking does it really makes sense to do the OCI or just apply for the 5 year multiple entry India Visa ( which does not have the apostile / other detailed requirements ? cheaper too ) This is presuming that the family is all settled in US & no going back. Parents are US naturalized citizens. Any thoughts ?

[paul_007]

JUST WANT TO SHARE MY EXPERIENCE with Apostile in California Los Angeles county. For my son's OCI I sent all documents along with birth certificate copy, after document verification CKGS put the application on hold and they are asking birth certificate to be apostilled. Today I went to Secretary of State (Los Angeles) office ( 300 South Spring Street, Room 12513
Los Angeles, CA 90013 ) to Apostile birth certificate with the original one. They directly told that they can't apostile until birth certificate signature is certified by county clerk. Then again went to county clerk's office to certify the health officer's signature on birth certificate.

Both the processes were quick but it was a hassle. Just sharing my experience. this may help others.

Fees:

Certify Health officers signature: $20
Apostile Birth Certificate: $26

You can also request by mail.

Thanks for sharing . When you applied for minor's OCI were both the parents Indian citizens or naturalized US citizens ? Looks like that has an impact. Also is the county clerk in the same office or a different office ?

[pb74]

Do we need to get apostiled birth certificate everytime we renew the US passport for the kids ? The cost & effort seems prohibitive. I am just thinking does it really makes sense to do the OCI or just apply for the 5 year multiple entry India Visa ( which does not have the apostile / other detailed requirements ? cheaper too ) This is presuming that the family is all settled in US & no going back. Parents are US naturalized citizens. Any thoughts ?

Exactly my concern. What was your experience?

[lingaraj1993]

When i Submitted the document they asked me for Apostille done document.
after a lot of research i got the info on how to do apostille.
here you can get the complete details of apostille for us birth certificate