Took All My Romanian Documents Back to My Parents' House

Since in early 2014 I was told that I couldn't get Romanian citizenship by the embassy in Lima and this was confirmed again in summer of 2014 by the consulate in Chicago, I decided to take my huge folder back to my parents' house in the USA and leave it there. I've have mixed feelings about all this, but I've been given closure so it's ok. 

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Got 4 docs notarised

My husband needed to give me permission to change my name and register my marriage. I needed to give POA to my lawyer again and submit a sworn statement saying why I deserve citizenship.

We went back to the same notary before and expected it to be very easy like it was last time. Unfortunately it wasn't. After explaining for what seemed like the tenth time that we wanted four notarisations and not two, they said that we would need everything translated into Korean.

Trying to explain to them that no, they didn't need to know what was in the docs and that our signatures were the only important thing was like hitting our heads against brick walls.

They called someone who said it cost 60,000 to translate it and it wouldn't be ready today. Someone else came down from another office and found a solution. Yea for thinking outside the box. He said I could use goggle translate to summarise what was on the docs and they'd notarise it.

So I did.

Then very officially the man called us up looked at our IDs and asked our birthdays and if the signatures on the docs were ours (of course they were, we had just signed in front of him) and then they were notarised.

It took about an hour start to finish and only cost 62,000 for four docs and last time it cost 50,000 for two. I don't understand why it was cheaper this time, but I'm glad it was.

Now I just need to get them apostillised.

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The bases are loaded

Ok, we're in the home stretch! We need to re-do the docs that my husband signed (permission to register our marriage and permission for me to change my name) to put our Korean address on it. I also have to sign a new POA and a translation POA and so does my mom. We've got all the bases covered with all our names, including putting our last names first, so fingers crossed this will be the year.

I called the Romanian embassy and they won't help with translations since I'm not a Romanian citizen (yet!) and they said it's not possible since I don't speak Romania (yet! and we'll see!).

If all goes according to plan we'll get these docs executed this month and sent to Romania in February and maybe this Christmas I'll have my passport in hand!

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Notary check

So we got the name change and passport request notarised here in Suwon. They put the English and Romanian version together, so we only had to pay for 2 notarisations. Cost was about $25 each, compared to $1 in Peru and absolutely free in the US.

I've scanned them and emailed them to my lawyer. If he oks them that we'll get them apostillised, and that only costs $1.

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More notary fun

So after spending about $120 in fees here at the Peruvian embassy in Seoul, we were told that the MFA in Lima wouldn't approve the documents we sent and that my husband would have to go to Peru in person and sign. That's the only way to get docs apostillised in Peru. And that's utterly ridiculous.

So. . .

Tomorrow we're going to go to three Korean notaries and try to get his signature notarised. If that works, it'll only cost $1 to get them apostillised, compared to $2 in the State of Illinois and $15 in Peru. Seems a bit backwards that it's more expensive in a third world country, but Peru's a backwards place.

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Apostillisation in Peru

Turns out that Peru only apostillises documents that have been legalised IN Peru. I think this is ridiculous. I guess they expect us to go all the way back to Peru to sign a document.

My husband got them legalised in Korea, at the Peruvian embassy by a Peruvian notary, but they will only legalise them (again) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That really doesn't help us; we need them apostillised.

We're going to try to get them done in Peru. His mother has power of attorney, so we sent his ID with the paperwork to Peru. Fingers crossed this will work!

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Legalising signatures at the Peruvian embassy in Korea

Getting a signature legalised in Peru costs about $1. Overseas at Peruvian embassies it costs about $25. Not fair if you ask me. And we can't send the documents to Peru because you have to sign them in front of the notary. So to get the 4 documents legalised in order for me to change my name and register our marriage, I'm going to have to pay $100 for my husband's signature to get notarised. Then I still have to pay to get them apostillised. At least that only costs $8 for each document.

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Peruvian docs arrived in US

My mom got all my documents, so now she's just got to take them to the notary and get everything apostillised and send everything to our lawyer in Romania. Seems like we're almost there.

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Will be signing contract with lawyer

I'll be signing the contract with my lawyer this week. I'm excited to get the ball rolling. All these years we've been getting the runaround with the Chicago Consulate. It seems like things will finally start falling into place.

My head's spinning looking at all the documents that I have to get. It's not that much, but there's lots of certifications, notarisations, and authentications. Plus, I'm in Peru, but the majority of the documents are in the US, so I'm having my mom help me.

Seems like my passport will be a problem. I have to get it translated from English to Romanian, I just don't know if I can find a translator here in Peru. i have a feeling that I'll have to go from English to Spanish to Romanian. But maybe the Romanian Embassy will know someone who can go directly from English to Romanian.

Be sure to read about what has happened so far. You can find everything in the quick summary of dates.

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