Complex legalization in Latvia
Assessment
For our part, we made several attempts to get a copy of the certificate and have an apostille stamp affixed in Latvia through Latvian translation agencies or directly from Latvian vital records registry offices. However, we decided to play it safe and turned to our Moscow partners who had their tried and tested contacts in Latvia. The final price for the service was quite high, but the customer did not mind: She was willing to pay no matter how much it cost, as her family was desperate to move to Germany for permanent residence, and she needed a copy of her birth certificate urgently.
Process
The situation was aggravating, as the borders were shut down because of the pandemic. It would have been much cheaper and easier to go to Latvia and receive the copy in person, but the pandemic gained the upper hand. The process took quite a lot of time - around a month and a half, as we had to prepare a power of attorney giving a legal authority to a resident of Latvia (our Latvia-based representative) to act for our customer and to send it to Latvia where the designated agent had to request a copy, have it authenticated with an apostille stamp and send it back. Another problem was that shortly before her visit to our company, the customer had gone through major surgery and was allowed to leave the hospital only at her own risk to see the notary public.
Outcome
Everything ended well; the document was received, the customer moved to Germany. Soon after, we received a very nice positive review.
