Adoption Documents Apostille for Chile

When a Chilean parent adopts in Florida, registering the child as Chilean depends on Chile accepting the Florida adoption, and a domestic Florida adoption judgment may need recognition by the Corte Suprema first. Ask a Chilean lawyer early, because the answer decides which documents you need. Expect to provide the adoption judgment certified by the Clerk of Court and the child's amended Florida birth certificate signed by the State Registrar, each apostilled and translated into Spanish. Adoption files are sealed, so the clerk releases certified copies only to the parties or their attorney.

The final judgment of adoption certified by the Florida Clerk of Court (wet-ink or official e-certification), with all pages attached; its state fee is $20. The new birth certificate must be a certified copy signed by the State Registrar and certified in 2014 or later; its state fee is $10. Both fees are included in our price.

Adoption records are confidential under section 63.162, Florida Statutes, and released only on court order. The easiest time to get certified copies is through your adoption attorney while the case is still open; for an older case, ask the clerk what they require, since you may need to file a request with the court. Clerk and Vital Statistics fees are not included in our $220.

State fee for this document: $20 — included in our price. Full details on the adoption documents apostille page.

The Servicio Nacional de Migraciones handles residence applications, which can be filed online from outside Chile. The Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación registers births and marriages abroad and handles posesión efectiva for estates without a will. Foreign judgments, including divorces, need exequatur from the Corte Suprema. The Universidad de Chile revalidates U.S. degrees, and the Servicio de Impuestos Internos issues the RUT that foreign owners and companies need.

Our general rule for translations is certified by the translator, notarized by a separate notary and apostilled in Florida, but Chile often needs less or something different. Migraciones requires an official translation only for documents in a language other than Spanish or English. The Registro Civil instead wants a certified Spanish translation from Chile's Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the relevant consulate; the Ministry's service translates the apostilled original and can deliver it online. Translate after the apostille, and only when the receiving office asks.

For work-based residence, Migraciones requires the criminal-record certificate to be issued no more than 60 days before you apply, so order it last and apostille it immediately. For other documents, ask the receiving office; a freshly certified vital record also avoids the pre-2014 signature problem.

Consular office serving Florida: Consulate General of Chile in Miami.

$220 per document, $380 for two and $160 each for three or more — the state fee, request form, in-person filing in Tallahassee and FedEx shipping inside the U.S. are included. Shipping the finished apostille to Chile is a flat $100 per order.

Not included: whatever the issuing office charges for the certified copy or certificate, and notarization (online notarization is $40 for the first document — $10 notarization fee + $30 technology platform fee — and $20 for each additional one).