How To Legalize Your Transcript

One of the requirements for application to a foreign university is a legalized copy of your transcript. Simple, right? Actually, not so much. It took me quite a bit of searching on the internet, trial and error, several hundred dollars and several phone calls/emails before I finally got my transcript in a format accepted by the University of Chile. Your university may not be so strict, but here are some hints if you are applying to a university in Chile with a degree from a university in the United States.

Chile is one of a few countries that still (as of the writing of this post, 4/11/11 does not accept the Hague Convention, which "abolishes the requirement of legalization for foreign public documents". This means that instead you must follow a "chain of authentication" which starts with your university, then goes through a notary, a Secretary of State department, a Chilean Consulate in the US, and Exterior Relations in Chile. Each step takes a significant amount of time (and money), so I would suggest starting 2-3 months in advance to allow for things to go wrong.

First, get a notarized copy of your transcript from the university you graduated from. The transcript must be notarized by a notary in the same state as your university, which is no problem if you still live in that state. If you don't, the easiest thing to do is request a new, notarized transcript directly from your university and see if they will mail it to the state department for you, along with the requisite form. Since it's a little complicated, they'll probably want to send directly to you. The cost will depend on your university and whether or not you've left enough time for regular USPS mail or need to get it FedExed to you. The end result of this step is that you now have a notary saying that your transcript is real, your university is real, and the person who signed your transcript from your university is real. And legal.

Second is to send the transcript to the Secretary of State (of the state your university is in) for authentication. For instance, I got my notarized transcript from Connecticut College, and then sent it to the Commercial Recording Division of the  Connecticut Secretary of State. Looking at "agency services" or "legalization" usually brings you to the right page. Because Chile does not accept the Hague convention, you need to make it clear that you need an "authentication" and NOT an "apostille".  They will then send your authenticated document back to you. Prices vary according to state; in Massachusetts it is something like $20 per document, in Connecticut it is $40.  More on why I know that later. The end result of this step is that you now have the Secretary of State saying that the notary who signed your transcript is a real notary. And legal.

Third is a trip to your local Chilean Consulate. There are not Chilean Consulates in every state, and some are more "official" looking than others, but they are all official. Luckily for me, there was a consulate in Boston (Brighton) who authenticated that the Connecticut Secretary of State was a real Secretary of State and everything was legal. I would make sure before you go that your specific consulate can legally authenticate a document from the state your university is in. I believe there are certain regions allocated to each consulate. It cost me $12 at the Boston consulate.

The fourth step is the hardest, since you now have to get your beautifully stamped, signed, stapled, inked and stickered transcript to Exterior Relations in Chile. I contacted Spencer Global at this point, a lawyer group who told me that you cannot mail your transcript to Exterior Relations, but must deliver it in person, stand in line, etc, etc. Obviously, it was cheaper to pay them about $106 USD than to buy a flight to Santiago and back. For that price, they also sent it to the University of Chile for me.

All of this takes a lot of time. And if you are like me, you will run into a few problems. The first time I got my transcript notarized in Massachusetts (when it needed to be in CT), because I had un-notarized copies of my transcript left over from when I graduated and didn't know better. This mistake was not caught until after I had legalized it both at the Massachusetts Secretary of State and the Chilean Consulate in Boston. After getting new, notarized copies of my transcript from Conn, the CT Secretary of State did not recognize the notary Connecticut College had used because she had married and changed her name, but not updated her notary status. At which point I had to ask for a new copy notarized by somebody else and start the process over again. Everything went smoothly from there-on in (thanks to my father for his numerous visits to various government departments), until it was time to send my transcript to Spencer Global. Sending it DHL or FedEx costs a pretty penny, but makes sure that your transcript will actually get to where you want it to go.

The problem now was that Spencer Global lost my transcript between receiving it and taking it to Exterior Relations.

Therefore I had to go back through the entire process again, starting with a new transcript, which considering I lived on Martha's Vineyard, went to school in CT, and had to get things legalized in person in Boston was no easy feat (again, much thanks to my father in Boston for being amazing and making many of these trips for me. I'm not sure what I would have done otherwise). Spencer Global refunded me all of my expenses.

Needless to say, 3 months is NOT going to be too much time.

If you have any questions or doubts, I believe there are a number of legal services who will do all of this for you and take away the headache (for a price). Just look up "foreign legalization of documents" and you should be able to find someone to take care of it.