Apostile NZ Passports and Marriage Certificate

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David321

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#304365 28-Apr-2023 10:11

Hi all, before I contact the department of internal affairs, wait who knows how long for a reply, for the reply to be about as helpful as reading what is already on their site, I was wondering if anyone here has had a New Zealand passport and/or NZ Marriage certificate "Apostilled"?

We need this done for the embassy of Armenia in Indonesia to obtain my daughters Armenian citizenship and passport, the guy at the embassy has said we need to send him a scan of our NZ passports and my wife and I's NZ marriage certificate which also need to be apostilled. He has said we can scan these and send to him.

The thing is when looking online the paper apostille consists of the document you want apostilled with a cover letter from internal affairs attached to it (with a ribbon seal type thing), making it probably not suitable for scanning. The other (and probably more suitable) option is a secure PDF apostille.

With the PDF version I am wondering if you need to send the original documents to internal affairs or if they can pull up the documents on their systems and send them to you via email with the secure PDF attached?

Just wondering if anyone has been through this or something similar and can share their experience and knowledge of it?

_David_

gehenna

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#3068736 28-Apr-2023 10:23

If it were me I'd have dropped DIA a line anyway so it's at least in flight while you're looking for other feedback here. They are the arbiters of the true story here. Their processes are generally pretty robust and responsive in my experience of using them and having worked on their side near the Passports services, they process a megaton of these sorts of requests every day.

Lias

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#3068767 28-Apr-2023 11:47

Found this request form which seems to have more information on it than the main website does.. did you spot this in your research?

https://www.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Passports-citizenship-and-identity/Request-a-document-authentication-or-apostille.pdf

New Zealand passport The document must be:

sufficiently certified by the NZ Passport Office, or
notarised by a New Zealand Notary Public

New Zealand birth, death, marriage, civil union or name change certificate

The document must be the original document with a round seal from the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
We don’t authenticate or Apostille a Copy of Particulars of Marriage (the document you signedon your wedding day).

So my reading of that would be that you definitely have to send the original for the Marriage, the passport is less clear (1st line could be read as them internally authenticating it)

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David321

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#3068798 28-Apr-2023 13:06

Lias:

Found this request form which seems to have more information on it than the main website does.. did you spot this in your research?

https://www.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Passports-citizenship-and-identity/Request-a-document-authentication-or-apostille.pdf

New Zealand passport The document must be:

sufficiently certified by the NZ Passport Office, or
notarised by a New Zealand Notary Public
New Zealand birth, death, marriage, civil union or name change certificate

The document must be the original document with a round seal from the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
We don’t authenticate or Apostille a Copy of Particulars of Marriage (the document you signedon your wedding day).
So my reading of that would be that you definitely have to send the original for the Marriage, the passport is less clear (1st line could be read as them internally authenticating it)

Looks like original passport can be sent to them for the e-apostille, which makes sense for us to do as we have to send the marriage certificate anyway.

_David_

FailedWOF

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#3068853 28-Apr-2023 14:38

It's relatively quick. Needed to get my sons birth certificate apostilled and translated for an overseas citizenship declaration (EU country). I sent the paperwork to DIA around 21-23 November last year. Had the e-Apostille back via email on 7 December, and the physical version a few days after that. So it was about 2 - 2.5 weeks including for the apostille, translation, and posting documents back/forth.

Goosey

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#3068854 28-Apr-2023 14:42

You can either go via the DIA route or fund yourself a Notary Public….but they charge money just like any lawyer (as they are lawyers but very special ones), would and some…

David321

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#3068856 28-Apr-2023 14:45

FailedWOF:

It's relatively quick. Needed to get my sons birth certificate apostilled and translated for an overseas citizenship declaration (EU country). I sent the paperwork to DIA around 21-23 November last year. Had the e-Apostille back via email on 7 December, and the physical version a few days after that. So it was about 2 - 2.5 weeks including for the apostille, translation, and posting documents back/forth.

@FailedWOF

Thanks for that, you managed to get the e-apostille AND paper apostille? I assumed it would be one or the other.

I think you have to put a prepaid courier bag in the courier bag you send the documents in so they can send you originals back? If so I am curious if it has to be a certain courier?

_David_

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Handle9

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#3068858 28-Apr-2023 14:46

Goosey:
You can either go via the DIA route or fund yourself a Notary Public….but they charge money just like any lawyer (as they are lawyers but very special ones), would and some…

If you do this make sure it’s acceptable to the country you are sending it to.

Handle9

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#3068859 28-Apr-2023 14:49

The process listed by @Lias is correct. Pre Covid (2018) I had a lot of docs done and they would turn them around in a week.

Edit: OP is correct about the cover page. Worst case you will have to courier the attested docs to the embassy.

FailedWOF

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#3068861 28-Apr-2023 14:53

Yes, the request form allows you to select both types. If you've got multiple documents you can also choose to have them apostilled as a single set, or split up into individual documents or distinct document sets. They will only send documents back via courier, which is $5 within NZ. No need to supply your own bag.

https://www.govt.nz/browse/passports-citizenship-and-identity/proving-and-protecting-your-identity/use-your-nz-documents-overseas

https://www.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Passports-citizenship-and-identity/Request-a-document-authentication-or-apostille.pdf

Goosey

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#3069081 29-Apr-2023 08:12

Just be aware that sending a passport overseas requires a registered courier service. NZ Post wont take your passport in a standard international courier bag.

(Check their terms and conditions on the website).

I got caught out when using a standard bag, took it to the counter (with customs declaration) and the guy said "Nope", cant do it... it has to be registered international courier.

Old passport only took 2.5 working days to reach the UK from the time I handed it over the counter.