Clearing The Air

The notes explaining what supporting documents I needed for my visa instead of helping me only confused me more!  Apostilled?  What is that and how do I get one?  Well I had other hurdles to jump first.   The list of needed documents, 1-4 were going to be simple to get, but number 5 was the hang up!  To remind or inform you as to what #5 was here it is:

Original of the certificate issued by the proper authority be it government, a public, or private enterprise; or by a foreign company, in which it is stated that the applicant receives a pension.  This certificate must be duly legalized by the Colombian Consul or APOSTILLED, whichever applies.

The note regarding this requirement:

All Documents issued in languages other than Spanish MUST be submitted duly TRANSLATED INTO SPANISH, and both versions should be notarized by a Notary Public.  They must also be certified with an APOSTILLE by the Office of the Secretary of State from the State where they were issued.

I spend literally hours online trying to figure out where to begin.  I decided I would focus on only getting the Social Security income verified because I know Cigna is not issuing a letter verifying my income locally and I am not traveling to another state just to get a document notarized - then APOSTILLED.  Here is my game plan.

1 - Get a letter from Social Security verifying my income. *this should be easy enough
2 - Get it translated into Spanish. *I do not know how official the translation has to be
3 - Have the bank notarize the letters because the Notary Public can verify the money was also deposited. *hope this is as easy as I hope
4 - Call the Secretary of State's office to see how to get them APOSTILLED. *this I feel will be the trickiest part

So this adventure begins!