Newark Appointment -- NYC Translation Certification?

[williamsburger]

Hi, everybody! Due to the hurricane, my appointment in Newark was postponed from Aug 31 to Sept 15th. This was in some ways a blessing, as it allowed time for my mother's birth certificate to arrive, with the corrections I had been desperately waiting for.

However, in the interim, I've moved to Ohio... Nothing is ever easy for me. Thankfully, the appointment was always in my mother's name, so as long as I coach her well, I think she'll be able to handle it.

The one thing I wasn't able to get sorted before I left, however, was having all of my NYC documents certified for Newark by the New York consulate. I have a friend who has offered to run my apostilled documents to the consulate, and I received instructions for how to make sure that she is an acceptable intermediary, but we're once again at the point where time is very tight. Does anyone know:

1. whether translations can be certified while you wait?
2. whether translations can be picked up in person the next day?

Theoretically, my friend will head to the consulate Tuesday morning, come back and pick them up on Wednesday, and drop them off with my mother for her Thursday appointment. I know that expecting speed of any consulate, especially one as busy as New York's, is probably a fool's errand, but I thought I had read elsewhere that there was a way to speed up receipt of these documents by getting them in person.

Please let me know if you have any advice -- it's ridiculous that I've run this whole marathon, only to be tripped up at the finish line!

[sforza]

The NYC Consulate told me you can drop off the documents without an appointment, and that they would not do it while you wait, but that you have to leave a SASE. The hours for walk-ins are 9-12 M, T, Th, and Fr. Not Wednesday. I followed up with them about the forms of payment they accept, and then was emailed with a formal appointment time. This was odd, but I'm hoping it means I can walk out with the documents.

[JJ313]

How far out is your appointment? I mailed my docs to them 2 weeks ago and still have not heard anything from them. I am not sure if it is typical for them to take this long or if there is a problem. I do not want to start making inquires in fear that they will move me further down in the pile. Any idea who I can contact there? Thanks.

[sforza]

Two weeks doesn't seem unusual. In terms of whom to contact, I never did get a signed response - just a few anonymous emails from officials there.

[stingray4051]

How far out is your appointment? I mailed my docs to them 2 weeks ago and still have not heard anything from them. I am not sure if it is typical for them to take this long or if there is a problem. I do not want to start making inquires in fear that they will move me further down in the pile. Any idea who I can contact there? Thanks.

JJ313, have you received your verifications yet? I'm going to the NYC consulate this Friday to drop off my documents for verification and I was wondering what sort of time frame to expect for their return. I'm also terribly paranoid that they will lose my precious documents under a pile of papers/ fedex will lose the return envelope!

[JJ313]

I finally received them on Saturday. I sent them out on 8/27 and there was a 2 day delay in delivery due to the hurricane. I used priority mail both directions and included delivery confirmation so I could track the docs.

The documents were approved but the one odd thing was they substituted their own translation for my marriage certificate.

[stingray4051]

Okay, so I guess I should expect to get mine back in about a month! I dropped them off this morning.

[stingray4051]

It's been five weeks and I haven't heard anything... starting to get anxious here. I'm trying to resist emailing the consulate because I don't want them to get annoyed and take longer!

[sforza]

How close are you? Perhaps a visit would help.

[stingray4051]

I'm an undergrad at Columbia so I'm pretty close... but I don't know how helpful a visit would be, considering that the first time I went there I helplessly confused the receptionists with what I needed for my documents.. they tried giving me AIRE forms to fill out, passport forms, richieste di trascrizione ecc. It was a mess lol they ended up just telling me to just stuff my documents in the drop-off box with my cover letter attached.

[stingray4051]

Finally received my documents! I emailed the citizenship office at the 6 week point asking for a status update, and the next day my credit card was charged. 5 days later (today) I got the certifications in my self-addressed fedex envelope. All the translations were approved, and they charge 8.27 EUR per page of translation.

Now I'm all set for my appointment in a month!