Notarization and Apostille

As mentioned before, this entry will be about your state level criminal background check and the documents you will need from your college and university as part of your recruiter's application for an E2 visa for you to teach abroad in a foreign country.

While the process varies by the state you live in, you can retrieve your criminal background check for Massachusetts at the Criminal History Systems Board. If you scroll down to the middle of the page, there is a subtitle that says "Requesting Criminal Records" and then under that, "I Want to Request My Own CORI". Whether you click on adult criminal history or juvenile criminal history depends on your age. (I knew someone in high school who went to teach English in Mongolia for a summer, so this job opportunity is available to minors - the main difference is that younger people are only allowed to do this in the summer for school reasons.)

Either link will take you to a form, which you will print to fill out. The second page on of the form for adults is titled "Affidavit of Indigency" which basically means a fee waiver, so you only need to print those pages and fill that out if you cannot pay the $25 dollar fee. Again, specifics vary according to state. IMPORTANT: DO NOT sign the form yet. This note does not apply to the juvenile form.

After you filled it out to the best of your ability without signing it, you will prepare a self addressed stamped envelope (SASE). SASE means that you take a long white envelope, the kind for business letters, and write your name and address in the center of it, then put a first class stamp on the top right hand corner. Write a check or money order for $25 if you can afford it; if not, the Affidavit of Indigency will waive it. Put these aside in a safe place.

Now, do you have your diploma on hand? If not, then you should contact your college's registrar for them to pull up your information and they should be able to print another one for you. You'll need to prove your identity with a license or student ID, as well as pay them. The information for Umass Amherst alumni is here.

If you do have your diploma, take that and your filled-but-not-signed criminal background check form to the local town or city hall. Show the clerk your form and ask for notarization. You will swear an oath as per her instruction, and then you can sign your form, and she will stamp it with something like this. After she is done with the form, you can ask her to photocopy your diploma and then notarize the copy. In Massachusetts, each notarization costs $3.

When you are ready to mail it, write your name and address on the top left corner of a manila envelope. Then address the envelope to your state's criminal systems board; the address should be on your criminal background check form. Now put your signed and notarized criminal background check form into the envelope, along with that SASE and your check or money order (unless you filled out that Affidavit of Indigency, then no payment). Send this out. With first class or priority mail, it should take them about a week or two to send back your criminal background check using your SASE.

When you get your notarized criminal background check - if it's not notarized, make sure to call or email your criminal systems board - it's time to apostille both the copy of your diploma and your criminal background check. You can do that in your public records building, which is usually located in the capital of your state. The specific addresses are right here. An apostille is a gold stamped sticker, and should look like this. For Massachusetts, it costs $6 to stamp one document.

These two documents are now ready to be sent to your recruiter. It's up to you and your recruiter whether to send all the documents at once, or to send them one or two at a time. I sent mine in all at once to save on postage, but mistakes are less noticeable and harder to correct if you do it this way.