Felt like hell in the process, but it’s done!
In Texas, I called my Uni, sent them $15, and they mailed me a notarized copy of my diploma in less than 2 weeks. I went downtown to the police station for a local background check, waited 30 minutes, paid $24, and they took my prints and info. Came back 2 days later for the notarized copy. I took both of these down to the Sec. of State (yes, I live in the capital city, so that did expedite this part of the process!), waited less than 5 minutes, and walked out with both my degree and background check apostilled for $15 each. Florida, oh Florida Idiocracy: a month of phone calls and money and paperwork. Can you believe that for this one sheet of paper (the apostille by FL on my teaching license), I had to get THREE NOTARY STAMPS!! 1) On the the license, 2) on a SEPARATE statement by the notary affirming that their stamp on the license was “true”, and finally, 3) on a letter from me which “describes” the document (apparently FL govt is too stupid to look at a teaching license and see: “oh, it’s a teaching license for so-and-so from the FLDOE”—so I had to write a letter *describing* “this is a teaching license issued by FLDOES for Gina...” (Spokes very, VERY slowly like you are talking to an ESL learner or a 3-year-old) Aargh! But it’s done! Felt like hell in the process, but it’s done! Blessings and some sort of special universe magic to ya’ll dealing from this abroad... yours is a special ring of hell. Can’t even imagine that, so I got two apostilled license copies so I don’t have to deal with the FL Idiocracy again for some years! Whoo Hoo! Going to China!!! Countdown 53 hours! Blessing and some sort of special universe magic to ya’ll dealing from this abroad... yours is a special ring of hell. Can’t even imagine that, so I got two apostilled license copies so I don’t have to deal with the FL Idiocracy again for some years! Whoo Hoo! Going to China!!! Countdown 53 hours!
2 Comments
Jamie
5/21/2020 02:10:03 pm
I know this post was from 2 years ago, but I HAVE TO KNOW...how did you get your florida license apostilled for an international school???? At the time of doing this, were the florida licenses still only available by download? My issue is they don't send out hard originals, so how can I get a copy notarized before the apostille if there is no hard original(it's just the pdf) and i'm assuming I need it notarized before I can get it apostilled, is that correct?
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Hi Jamie, thanks for you comments. Yeah, FL is the most frustrating state in which to get certified, as far as the state goes. It's a slow, bureaucratic nightmare and I know of teachers who have had to FLY back to FL to handle their paperwork because they are either inept or unwilling to offer a streamlined process for getting your documents and getting them authenticated. Yes, when I was getting everything ready for overseas, they were still NOT printing out the cert!! And they also do NOT notarize them which makes it even harder! Ridiculous, because my University sent me a notarized copy of my degree that they did there, on site, for free (Texas). Aargh. I simply took the file to a print shop and had them use the high quality cloth diploma paper and printed it to appropriate size. My Sister lives in FL so she was able to get in notarized. Then I found an authentication firm who handled the rest with the state. Of course, I suggest two copies of everything. Hope that helps!
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