Apostille

This process is going to be interesting. I need an apostille stamp on my birth certificate and marriage certificate (which is pretty easy and straightforward) and a stamp on R's birth certificate, which I predict will be problematic. These stamps are issued by the state that issued the document, so I have to have a parental unit mail my birth certificate, and I have to mail my marriage certificate, to IA secretary of state's office. R, however, was born on a military base in Europe, so I'm not sure at all where his apostille stamp is supposed to come from. Also, I need this done super fast, because it'll apparently take about 3 weeks from when the Netherlands gets the documents until I get my visa, and I need to move there in 4. Awesome.

I can't imagine how people dealt with this before the internet, since I had no idea what an apostille was when I was told I needed it. 10 minutes with google, and I knew what it was, why it was important, and how to get it. Other than actually picking up my visa (this is going to be expensive, since I don't live near anywhere I can pick it up) this will be my last task stateside. There's a bunch of stuff I'll have to do when I get there, but I have a list for that already.