Authentication of City Clerk Signatures NYC

[cdevita]

Does anyone know if the Authentication or certification of the City Clerk's signature which needs to be obtained in NYC before an Apostille needs to be tranaslated?

[johnnyonthespot]

From this New York State site:

All birth and death records originating from the five boroughs of New York City (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island) must be certified together with a Letter of Exemplification by contacting the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 125 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013. The Letter of Exemplification must be requested when ordering the birth or death certificate. The telephone number of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is (212) 788-4500 or (212) 669-2400. This service is not available online. The original document must then be presented to the New York County Clerk’s office to verify the signature of the City Clerk. The New York County Clerk is located at 60 Centre Street, New York, NY 10007. The document can then be presented to the New York State Department of State for authentication.

Apostilles do not require translations.

[Mulé]

Does anyone know if the Authentication or certification of the City Clerk's signature which needs to be obtained in NYC before an Apostille needs to be tranaslated?

Short answer: Yes.

Long detailed response:

My marriage license has the same thing. There is a cover sheet that authenticates the city clerks signature with a signature from the state official. The apostille then certified that the authorization signature (state level) is valid, so the chain of validity is intact from apostille (dept. of state -> state -> city clerk). I only have one other document that needed this intermediary level of signatures. This happens when the underlying signatory isn't registered at the dept. of state level to be recognized as valid for the apostille to be applied.

As for the translations, I would translate that little bit (at least on my two documents it has been about 2 - 4 sentences and signature), as it was attached to the document before being sent to get the apostille, so I view it as part of the document and not part of the apostille.

IMPORTANT: As others have posted, the actual apostille itself does not require translation.

[cdevita]

Thanks Johnnyonthespot and Mulé--I understand Apostilles do not need translation. I was more concerned with the intermediate doc authenticating the signatures. My docs are already at the translators. I guess I will let her know to hold off until authenticated docs come back.

[Mulé]

Thanks Johnnyonthespot and Mulé--I understand Apostilles do not need translation. I was more concerned with the intermediate doc authenticating the signatures. My docs are already at the translators. I guess I will let her know to hold off until authenticated docs come back.

You might want to let the translator fly with what they got, no sense in slowing them down. When you get those little authentication pieces back, either translate them yourself or send one off to the translator. If they are all coming from the same place and are generally the same, only get ONE translated and do the substitution yourself if possible for savings, no?

[cdevita]

yes!

[mler]

The intermediate certification was not required to be translated or apostilled when I applied in New York, but things may have changed. This is not part of your document set; it is simply an additional requirement by the City and State of New York so that they can determine that the signature is authentic. It is, as you note, a requirement for the apostille. As such, I think it is unlikely to be of interest to the consulate. They want your documents to be authenticated, and the intermediate notarization is just one step in the process.

[cdevita]

thank you so much!

[mazzini]

I am going through this right now. I need 5 documents to be Apostilled in NYC. The NYC birth, death and marriage records need to go from the city clerk to the NY County (Manhattan) clerk to the State to be Apostilled. This can be a 12 week or more process with mailing back and forth.

No way was I going to rely on the back and forth timing.

I'm in LA. I was thinking of flying to NYC and doing it myself. It would take a day, two at most if I lived there.

Luckily I found a notary who will do the county clerk and apostille docs for me quickly.

What a pain!

[cdevita]

I know! I was thinking the same thing--But I could not afford the time out of town. So three days ago I mailed-CERTIFIED, PRIORITY, to County Clerk office with a small GIFT in the box two copies of everything to be authenticated. I ordered three copies of everything as a just in case and kept a copy here with me. I am going to start calling them everyday once I receive notification that they received the envelope. I find that their office is surprisingly efficient and very reachable by phone. My appt in LA is on March 26th. Depending on when I get certifs back, I may send to a cousin of mine in NYC to have him walk into the state office for the final Apostilles.

[mler]

You can do it in an hour if you are in NY. You go to the courthouse for the notarization and then it's a ten-block walk to Williams Street for the apostille.

I don't think it's worth a trip, though. I had to obtain three out-of-state apostilles (Texas, Maryland, and Connecticut). They all came back to me within a week. Since NY is a two-step process, it would likely take a week to get the notarization and another week for the apostille. This is not like applying for a document. It's done quickly.

[mazzini]

I called the NY County Clerk. They told me it would take over 4 weeks by mail for their certification.

Texas and Oklahoma apostilled in a week for me also. California took 30 minutes.

NYC is the problem.

[mler]

That's too bad. Do you know anyone in NYC who can run the documents through for you? As noted, the process is very easy; it all can be done in one morning.

[Mulé]

Yeah dealing with the mail is the worst part. Handling them in person is so much quicker. You might even be able to find a courier or an assistant on craigslist or somewhere should you not have/know anyone who could/would do this for you. If you are in a time crunch, might be an alternative to waiting out the 4 weeks by mail method.

[mazzini]

yes, back up on Feb. 12 I noted I found a notary to do it.

Not a problem.