After receiving the letter of acceptance from Erasmus Mundus, I suddenly became busy with visa arrangements and so on. By the time I started preparing the paperwork, it was already June, and I was hoping to arrive in Portugal in mid-September. Naturally, I was worried about whether everything would be ready on time.
At the same time as preparing for my visa application, I had to go through the legalization of my university diploma and transcript, which later I would have to submit to the Universidade de Evora on my arrival in Portugal. In the United States, there seems to be no problem in submitting this type of document as it is. However, in Portugal, it seems that it takes more work than just submitting the document even if the documents were officially obtained from the university. In the case of the United States and Japan, the certification by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Apostille corresponds to this procedure of “legalizing” documents, and it is an effective certification for submission to foreign countries that are part of the Hague Convention, including EU member states.
That said, instead of going to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to complete the procedures, the Secretary of State would take care of this procedure in California. I would need to go to the office of the Secretary of State in Los Angeles or San Francisco to submit the documents. Because of the pandemic, instead of having them do it on the spot, I would drop off the documents at their office lobby. They would send back the documents in the mail at a later date.
It is not possible to submit a certificate from my undergraduate as it is, but first, have it notarized by the Notary and then take the document to the Secretary of State for authentication. That’s right, quite time-consuming work.
In my case, I was fortunate enough to have my university diploma and transcript both notarized free of charge at the university office. After that was done, I went to the office in Los Angeles to submit it with a check to cover the fees. If I remember correctly, I could send it to the office in San Francisco by mail. However, in LA, there is a mailbox on the first floor of the building where the office is located, so I was told to put it in there. Usually, the procedure is something that can be completed in about 30 minutes by going directly to the office, but due to the pandemic, it has become slightly more inconvenient when in a time crunch.
In the end, all of these steps were completed before departure, and I was able to bring the documents to Portugal safely. After arriving, I submitted the documents to the academic center of the University of Evora. There, a copy was taken, and the document was returned on the spot.
Cost of Legalization of documents
1. Notarization of Diploma - free at college
2. Apostille fee - $20 each on diploma and transcript + money order fee 1.30 =41.30
3. Transportation fee to Downtown LA office (Ronald Raegan Building)
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