This Is an Apostille
Six weeks ago today I mailed off my FBI background check to the Department of State in Washington DC to obtain an apostille. An apostille certifies documents so they can be recognized in foreign countries that are members of the 1961 Hague Convention Treaty. It is like a worldwide notary verification, but it only applies to government issued documents and can only be issued by a country's state department. Here is the one I received today for my Ecuadorian background check. I got this apostille from the Ecuadorian consulate in Houston. You may notice the document was issued in Quito, which is the capital of Ecuador. When the consulate in Houston received my request and payment for the apostille of my Ecuadorian certificate of no criminal activity, aka a background check, they electronically transmit the certificate to the state department in Quito to verify that the certificate of a clean record was issued by the Ecuadorian government. (I was able to obtain the certificate on th