So, my visa plan consisted of the following:
1. Take my local PD "Good Conduct Letter", which has already been notarized, to the Regional Office of the Secretary of State in Los Angeles, and obtain the Apostille of the Hague on May 7th.
2. Go to my appointment at the Spanish Consulate on May 14th.
3. Feign ignorance about the requirement to have the certificate issued by the FBI.
4. Hope for the best...
My plan has been foiled. Despite the fact that the website explicitly states that the Secretary of State issues Apostille for documents notarized in the State of California, they, in fact, did not. Becuase my certificate was issued by the San Diego Sherrif's department, that official, despite the notary, is not in the correct hierarchy or something to be authenticated by the Secretary of State. It first needs to be authenticated by the County, and only THEN can it be apostilled by the State. So, for future reference of anyone that ever reads this blog.
1. Get the document notarized. You basically sign a document saying the certificate is authenticate, and they staple a notarization.
2. Then you take hte document with the notarizaiton to your COUNTY, and get the notary autheticated.
3. THEN take the document, the notary, and the authentication of the notary by the county to the Secretary of State office in LA where you SHOULD be able to get the Apostille...
Since I now have to take Thursday afternoon off of work to go back to the Apostille, now that I've spent my Friday on the 5 driving to Norwalk and exploring the county office, I will only find out the day before my appointment if I can actually get the Apostille...
None of this is even gonna work, though, since the stupid FBI certificate is gonna arrive on the 5th of never. Really, I'm brimming with optimism.
