Documents required for Residency. How do I get them?
General Information
So you need a police report from a distant country?
I can advise you through the process of obtaining each and every police report from countries which issue them (very few do not, North Korea springs to mind !). Whether from Australia, China, Seychelles or any other country let me assist and guide you on the police certificate and the legalising process to make your application for residency all that easier. The same applies for marriage or birth certificates, often couples travel to distant romantic foreign beaches for their wedding, well I can help you to get that certificate as well.
UK Fast track Apostille Service
If time is of the essence and you are not in the UK I can get the Apostille for you in the UK on a same day service for any UK certificate and couriered then directly to me. This avoids having the certificate sent back to you from the issuing authority and then you sending for Apostille back in the UK who will then send back to you after 10 to 14 days. Please ask me for this service it is a great time saver.
Specific Instructions for UK Certificates
Please use this link which is the ACRO form. I recommend you use the premium service which should see it processed in 3-4 days
The ACRO link covers all of the UK including Northen Ireland.
Specific Instructions for UK Certificates
You can apply from overseas, when it asks for proof of residential address it can be any where outside the UK, it is simply to prove that the applicant is who he claims to be. If you do have family or friends in the UK I would advise you use that address and request that upon receipt they send the document to Milton Keynes for Apostille. This is just to save time and postage.
Milton Keynes is the only place in the UK that processes Apostille stamps and it must be done either directly by post, or by using one of the many companies around Milton Keynes to do that for you. Processing time is a matter of days. Please follow this link for instructions:
Please note that Milton Keynes can courier directly to any address overseas and the charges are much cheaper than having the family or friend send it.
For marriage, birth and death certificates from the UK you can order online here:
Please remember that these certificates too need to be Apostillised at Milton Keynes.
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List of Hague Convention countries.
I have reproduced this link as a guide from the official Hague Convention website.
You can check with this list to see IF your country is not a party to the Hague Convention and you will need the Consular Legalisation route as explained below:
For Consular Legalisation which was required from every country before the Hague Convention on Apostilles simplified it, Andorra simply does not have Embassies or Consular officials outside these valleys. Please see the section below for Consular legalisation
Sample Apostille Stamp - click to enlarge
Sample Consular Legalisation Stamp where the red stamp is the Embassy of France in Canada - click to enlarge
Specific Instructions for FBI and USA Certificates (all links correct as at March 2020)
Obtaining the FBI Identity History Summary Check ( FBI Police Certificate)
Immigration requires that if you were either born in the USA, or apply with a USA passport, or sometimes if your last country of residence is the USA, then you will require an FBI police report (now known as an identity history summary check). Please note for the purposes of immigration a State police certificate Apostillised or not Apostillised is not acceptable.
USA citizens and permanent residents can either apply directly to the FBI or may use a system of approved channellers who are authorised to process your fingerprints and documentation on your behalf.
USA citizens and permanent residents can either apply directly to the FBI or may use a system of approved channellers who are authorised to process your fingerprints and documentation on your behalf.
Please note to use a channeler you must be in the USA and the secure PDF certificate can be with you the very next day. If you apply directly to the FBI it will take 16 weeks currently. If you are a USA citizen or a Permanent Resident and intend to apply for residency please contact me first, this saves a huge amount of time.
Obtaining the Apostille of a Federal document in the USA.
Once you have received back your FBI certificate and they will only send the FBI certificate to an address in America you must then send off the document to be Apostillised at the U.S. Department of State, Authentications Office. There are companies available in Washington to do this for you, an example is here, please follow this link:
Once these documents have been obtained and stamped as required it is always best to email them to me for preliminary approval at Immigration here in Andorra. Please remember also that you have 3 months from the date of the FBI police certificate, NOT the date of the Apostille, otherwise you will need to repeat the whole process again to be accepted in Andorra. This is a major reason why you may need to use the system I have set up to get the certificate easily and quickly.
Apostillisation of Marriage Certificates, Birth Certificates, Divorce Certificates and other documents which are required for Andorran Residency from the USA.
All certificates including but not limited to Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, Divorce Certificates etc must be apostillised in the State in which they were issued, and do not require to be sent to The Department of State, Authentications Office in Washington.
Once these documents have been obtained and stamped as required it is always best to email them to me for preliminary approval at Immigration here in Andorra. Please remember also that you have 3 months from the date of all certificates ( except birth certificate), NOT the date of the Apostille, otherwise you will need to repeat the whole process again to be accepted in Andorra.
I have contacts in America that can get each and every certificate and get them Apostillised.
General Advice on Apostilles
Each country has its own procedure for issuing certificates and for apostillising them or for legalising them. Whilst I cannot on this website give details and procedures for all countries, I can offer this general advice and will be happy to advise by email on:-
Identify which documents you are going to require for your residency application in your specific circumstances.
Find out how these can be obtained by your country’s authorities and apply.
Find out whether your country is a party to the Hague Convention which allows the Apostille stamp to legalise the document for use in Andorra. (See the list below,) if your country does not appear it IS a party to the Hague Convention and you can get the Apostille
- If your country is a party to the convention, find out who is the issuing authority and how to submit your documents for the Apostille stamp.
- Ensure your documents are either in English, French, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish (in some but not all cases in German)
IF the documents cannot be obtained in any of these languages they must either go for OFFICIAL translation and be notarised as such in your country, and then BOTH the original document AND the official notarised translation must be Apostillised.
Alternatively the original documents can be Apostillised without a translation but then officially translated in Andorra. This alternative should be used depending on the language and only if it is impossible to obtain notarised translations in your country.
All of this may sound complicated but in most cases is quite straight forward and I am here to guide you.
If Your Country is not a Party to the Hague Convention
If your country is not a party to the convention you will need to find out which department is responsible for legalising documents for use in other jurisdictions, normally the Department for Foreign Affairs, or Ministry of the Exterior, and then:-
The same procedure for translations should be applied as if being Apostillised. HOWEVER the process for stamps has recently changed and the requirements now are as follows:-
31/03/2020 After the correct legalising stamp has been appended on the documents (and official sworn translations if done) must then be presented to the Embassy of the issuing country in either Spain OR France. I prefer Spain now as we have a good working relationship, especially for Canada and Thailand Embassies in Madrid. Please consult with me on this procedureIn all cases I recommend to applicants to e-mail me the documents for approval in advance from Immigration. I can also assist with your questions, and please if in any doubt contact me as this is a vital step in your application and if the wrong stamp is applied it WILL be rejected AND you will need to resubmit the documents when corrected.
The following countries are not members of the Apostille Convention.
Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burma Myanmar, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Congo Republic, Congo Democratic, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar Burma, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Togo, Thailand, Turkmenistan, UAE (United Arab Emirates), Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe