Legalize American Birth Certificate

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by Alfredo Guzman

What you need to do is have your birth certificate certified at the Dominican Consulate in your country of birth (since you mentioned you were born abroad). It's a fairly recent requirement.

Where can you get a birth certificate translated and "Consularized" in the DR?

[richardmci]

Karl Heinz,

Yes yours is an unusual life story for sure. But as you say, you were naturalized as a US citizen at age 4, so the solution is still the same. As a US citizen, you must obtain a 'certificate of report of birth' from US Dept of State. You may obtain multiple copies for this and future use. You must provide the information requested at the webpage I provided under the post 'Consular report of birth abroad.' Go there and follow the instructions. Any further questions, call the State Dept at the phone number there. This is not complicated actually.

You do not need to return to Germany and go to the DR consulate there, if you are a US citizen.

P.S. I do not believe the US and Germany have a dual citizenship treaty, the way we (U.S.) do with some countries (Spain, Colombia, etc.) When you were naturalized a US citizen, it is my understanding that you (or your parents / legal guardians) renounced other citizenship. By virtue of our German birth, at our eighteenth birthday we had the opportunity to again elect German citizenship. I was sent a letter by the German embassy and I declined. If you are a German citizen now, then you had to take steps to affirm it at some point. And if there is / was no dual German - US citizenship (I could be wrong), then you could possibly be afoul of US law in this regard. It is true that the Feds have done very very little enforcement in this arena though. But in situations like this, you do have to decide which donkey you're riding.

richard

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by cobraboy

Where can you get a birth certificate translated and "Consularized" in the DR?

Bumped to ask the question again:

Where can you get a birth certificate translated and "Consularized" in the DR for residency? I can do it in the states, but I'm in the DR.

[bigbird]

Originally Posted by cobraboy

Bumped to ask the question again:

Where can you get a birth certificate translated and "Consularized" in the DR for residency? I can do it in the states, but I'm in the DR.

If you have a DR mailing address you can send it to a Dominican Consulate in the states with a SASE. There is a $70 USD fee for this service.

[expatsooner]

Originally Posted by richardmci

I do not think this thread has properly addressed the issue. please see my thread on Consular report of birth abroad of today.

see Documentation of U.S. Citizens Born Abroad


richard

Thank you so much for this link - my son was born in the DR and this site was so helpful in finding out about the Report of Birth (DS-1350) that can be ordered in multiple copies and is acceptable for all legal purposes. Since he was born after 1990 we will be issued only one Counselor Report of Birth Abroad certificate (FS-240) so finding out about the DS-1350 is such a good thing, especially as we are continuing to live overseas and we need to have a copy of his birth certificate authenticated by the Dept. of State so he can get the paperwork to stay in Kuwait.

Thanks again for the link - it is super helpful.

[J D Sauser]

Laws change or are being "fine tuned" constantly around here. Last I have seen with birth certificates was:

1. They asked for a recent copy of the birth certificate.
2. For the birth certificate to be authenticated by the Dominican Consulate in the certificate issuing country (E. g: If you are a US-citizen, the Dominican Consulate in the US closest to the place issuing the certificate).
3. The above consular authentication, authenticated again by the Cansilleria in Santo Domingo.

I don't understand why they put so much emphasis on these stupid birth certificates... they are a non identifying document as they have no pictures nor biometric information. Well, maybe because until not so long ago US-citizens could re-enter their country only showing a birth certificate (which was unbelievable for above reasons).


... J-D.

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by J D Sauser

Laws change or are being "fine tuned" constantly around here. Last I have seen with birth certificates was:

1. They asked for a recent copy of the birth certificate.
2. For the birth certificate to be authenticated by the Dominican Consulate in the certificate issuing country (E. g: If you are a US-citizen, the Dominican Consulate in the US closest to the place issuing the certificate).
3. The above consular authentication, authenticated again by the Cansilleria in Santo Domingo.

I don't understand why they put so much emphasis on these stupid birth certificates... they are a non identifying document as they have no pictures nor biometric information. Well, maybe because until not so long ago US-citizens could re-enter their country only showing a birth certificate (which was unbelievable for above reasons).


... J-D.

So even if me and my recent, official birth certificate is in the DR, I have to ship it BACK to the US for a Dominican Consulate there to authenticate it?

Weird.

[Chip]

Originally Posted by cobraboy

So even if me and my recent, official birth certificate is in the DR, I have to ship it BACK to the US for a Dominican Consulate there to authenticate it?

Weird.

This is no longer the case as having been told by a lawyer at the official Santiago Migracion office about a month ago. In other words it can all be done in the DR now like it used to be.

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by Chip

This is no longer the case as having been told by a lawyer at the official Santiago Migracion office about a month ago. In other words it can all be done in the DR now like it used to be.

So no need to have it translated/authenticated?

What do I do with it?

[Chip]

Originally Posted by cobraboy

So no need to have it translated/authenticated?

What do I do with it?

The document needs to be translated by a certfied translator and then legalized.

My understanding is that any certified translator can do it but as far as the legalization I'm not sure if any lawyer can do it or the Migracion office needs to do it - best bet is to call them and ask, they are super helpful and not really that busy at all.

Also, I am resending you an email with all the contact info of a translator and lawyer that charge economical prices and are trustworthy.

I would not have any problem calling the Migracion office myself but I'm sure they would rather speak to Alida as her Spanish is much prettier than mine.