mission prep 101.6 - how to get a Visa

Here involves one of the craziest conglomerate of steps I will probably ever execute in my life.

I have never re-read directions so many times or triple-checked, no, quadruple-checked my work as I did for obtaining my Visa for Argentina.  

I will say that this could have been worse - I am grateful for how short the lines were and for every employee who helped me with a smile! That was the most surprising because I was preparing for a DMV/Jury Duty-esque  environment. 

Take a big breath. Brace yourselves.  Ready?  

1.  Obtain a Passport (done and done back in 2009!)

Scan in every single page of your passport and e-mail to the Church.

Make two black and white copies of your photo/signature page of your passport

2. Obtain a Police Letter of Good Conduct 

A notary must be present. There is no notary on site at my city's PD, so I had to have a notary meet me, which costs extra. 

Location:  my police department 

I have a clean report!  Who would've thought?

3.  Obtain 2 copies of Certified Birth Certificates

Location:  East Los Angeles 

(In order to request a birth certificate, I read online that I needed to get a notarized certificate of identity.  Turns out I only needed that if I was doing this by mail! Oh well, better to have done more than necessary, right?) 

4.  Send the Police Letter and Birth Certificates to the Secretary of State to request apostilles for each document. Write a cover letter explaining your need for these documents for a Visa for Argentina.

What is an apostille?  It is an authentication of a document that another country approves. Basically I have to prove to Argentina that I am a real citizen of the US/California and that I am not a criminal.  Who knew it would take 100 miles of driving and over $100 to get signatures and papers with seals to prove it?! 

I discovered I needed an extra step.  Instead of mailing my documents to Sacramento's Secretary of State office, I wanted to do everything in person in the DTLA office so I could get everything done in the same day and decrease any chance of anyone misplacing these valuable papers.  In order to do this, my notarized Police Letter needed to be authenticated by the county clerk!  I was worried I needed to go back to the LA County Registrar in East LA where I obtained my birth certificates (which were printed with the county clerk's signature), but after more research online and calling the DTLA office I discovered I needed to go to an office in Norwalk.  ? 

New step:  Take the Police Letter of Good Conduct to have the notarized signature authenticated by the county clerk. 

Location: Norwalk

(Isn't a notary already authenticated?? Oh geez...)

5.  Take 4 color professional photos, cut 1.5 x 1.5 inches 

You must wear missionary attire.

Do not smile, do not wear glasses.  Right ear must be showing {awkward chuckle}.  Move hair if necessary.

paperclip photos to passport 

Location:  First the Post Office.  They were too expensive and could not zoom out to compensate for the smaller size. They suggested AAA.  They were extremely helpful and gave me 6 photos for half the price! (They let me keep the test run)

And no I am not posting them here. 

Oh - almost forgot - because AAA also could only make 2 x 2 inches, I had to go home and cut them myself. I discovered that there was not enough head room, so I scanned, uploaded, and slightly shrunk my photo to fit the dimensions.  I wonder how someone would be able to complete these steps if they didn't have photoshop?  

This is all the driving I did in one day with my Mom.   I had already received my birth certificates a few days prior with my Dad in East LA. 

 1.  Norwalk for county clerk signature. 2. Downtown to the Ronald Regan building to request apostilles. 3. The temple's distribution services to get what I needed before going through the temple {and that my friends, is a post for another day. In short, we are going to be ordering online from now on, or trekking out to Upland if necessary.} 

I sent the following items in a big envelope to Salt Lake:

My actual passport (I was nervous about that)

My awkward photographs

2 black and white copies of my passport

2 Birth certificates with attached apostilles 

1 Police Letter of Good Conduct - notarized and county clerked and apostilled

I must admit, as educational as this was, I never want to be this stressed about paperwork again. 

If anything is wrong or lost, I will be. . . more than a little peeved. 

Update:  ahaha.  I just called Salt Lake and my photos did not pass the test because they were not clear enough!  The lady in the office also told me that the requirements changed - my photos can be a traditional passport photo, meaning I can face forward and it can remain 2x2 inches!  Oh goodness!

I just have to laugh at all of this : )  I am glad that I have the resources and time to do everything. 

Argentina, I hope you're happy with this wild goose chase I am running for you!