Help MX - Do we need to translate long-form birth cert to Spanish and authenticate?

[~*Kathy*~]

Ok, so firstly, please forgive me if this is in the wrong place.

 

On to the good stuff:

 

I am losing my mind here! My wedding is less than 3 months away and I'm STILL not sure what to do about this civil ceremony in Mexico stuff! The internet can be a fabulous wealth of information, or if you're like me, a place to totally confuse you and make you paranoid.

 

Here's the lowdown:

 

I am booked to have a civil ceremony at the Iberostar Paraiso Beach (Mayan Riviera, Mexico) on Feb 19/09. My WC at the Ib* told me that all that is required from my FI is our long-form (un-translated) birth certificates and our passports. However, EVERYWHERE that I have read/researched online explicitly states that we MUST have our long-form birth certificates translated in to Spanish and authenticated (can someone explain the authentication process to me?).

 

So, if there are any of you brides out here on BDW that are from Canada (even better...Alberta resident or born here) and are having a civil ceremony in the Mayan Riviera please enlighten me! I will do whatever I need to do, I just have no idea what that is and I'm freaking out. Sorry for the long post, I know you have all probably seen posts similar to this before but everytime I look something up about this stuff, I learn that I need to do something else or something new. It's so frustrating.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Maybride2009]

I am right along side of you!

Having the SAME problem.

I know we have to have our long form birth cert, but do we have to have them certified at the embassy...and I was told they had to be translated, but do they have to be translated before they are certified?

I am confused too...I will let you know if I figure any of it out!

[~*Kathy*~]

Thanks MayBride2009! Those are some of my additional questions as well lol. Ugh...it's not difficult to see why so many people get married locally first...

[boscobel]

I updated the thread title so people would know what you needed help with...

[~*Kathy*~]

Thanks Carly! I'm so bad at thread titles lol.

[Maybride2009]

Quote:

Originally Posted by paraisobeachbride2009 Thanks MayBride2009! Those are some of my additional questions as well lol. Ugh...it's not difficult to see why so many people get married locally first...

I know! I really want to do the civil ceremony there, but when you take into account the cost of the birth cert/ translation/certification/blood tests and JOP it seems like A LOT compared to the cost in ontario which is close to $100

We are really struggling with it

[boscobel]

Oh, I don't think a "Please help, losing my mind" title is bad at all! I just know that it's a busy week and weekend in the US since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so I wanted to just make it clear what you needed help on, so peeps didn't just skip the thread if they were short on time. I hope you find the information you need! Your TA might also be able to answer your question, although I'd rather hear it from a bride that actually got married there! Good luck.

[~*Kathy*~]

Ok, so I called the Mexican Consulate on my lunch and now I'm more confused than ever!

 

The woman on the phone at first told me that I need translated certified copies (by a lawyer part of the Law Society of Alberta), then I told her that my WC at the Iberostar told me all I needed was my original birth certificate and passport, so she changes her tune and says then if that's what I told then it should be ok and she (the wc) should know what she's doing. THEN the lady from the consulate when on to say that I would still require a certified copy of the certificate and that I would need to send it to the consulate for authentication.

 

I am so lost. Should I just do as my wc has instructed?

[Maybride2009]

Ok, I think I have some of this figured out thanks to a translator.

We have to get our long for birth cert and then go to the mexican consulate to have them certified...then we need to have a translator translate them into spanish before we go.

Once we arrive in MX we need to keep the little papers they give us at the airport...and then ask our wc what the heck to do.

 

I think we need passports/bloodtest/translated and certified birth cert to get legally married.

 

The costs that I have run across were:

Birth cert $35 each

Mexican consulate $60 each

Translation $155 for both

Blood test$170 USD

Plus the civil ceremony

 

I am happy to send you the translator's email address, but if anyone has another translator I would love to compare prices as my resort WC suggested her, I am expecting she is probably on the high end.

[~*Kathy*~]

Thanks MayBride2009!

 

I asked my WC about it again and she insisted that all I needed to bring was my un-translated birth certificate, passport and tourist card. Maybe she does the translating and the rest down there herself and it's included in the wedding package fees? I must have asked her this ten times and she keeps telling me the same thing each time. What do you think?

 

Maybe some WCs will do it for you at some resorts and others don't? Does that make any sense or am I going totally looney? lol