Schengen & Apostilles: What Do You Know?

My husband accepted a position based in Prague. What does that mean? The Urban Nomads will be moving tents this summer. Unlike twenty years ago when I did it alone, there are some changes in our strategy as a family and some interesting new terms that will affect our move in ways different from how I did it back then.

Do you know what Schengen is? How about an apostille? Does it help if I say we need an "apostille" to get into "Schengen"? How about the fact that you need to know what both of these are before moving to Europe?

As  a soon-to-be wife of an EU citizen,  some years ago, when I first went to Greece with my husband, my Greek father-in-law chastised us for not knowing what "Schengen" was, as if our minds had been cleaned barren by the mere fact that we were from the United States. "Ignorant peasants" is something I have no doubt went through his mind, despite the fact that we are both culturally savvy, well-educated and seasoned world travelers.  "Don't you know Schengen?"  became an inside joke to my husband and I and has given us many moments of shared joy and giggles. I will bet that  99.9% of Americans have no idea what Schengen is and bet that many EU citizens have but a vague notion of its existence.

In fact, in 1985 an agreement was signed by some EU Members in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg that basically called for free travel within twenty-five countries in Europe. In all honesty, I knew that there was a free-travel provision in and between EU countries since the '90s but had NO idea they were now known as the "Schengen" countries! I guess I am "so yesterday" as my son calls me.  There is now a Schengen visa and it's something we are going to need to live in one of the twenty-five countries, Czech Republic being one.

An apostille is much like a notarized document, but it costs more and has way more logistical steps that must be completed. By definition, the "apostille" came about under the terms of the Hague COnvention in the 1960s and was specifically intended to create one international method of documenting paperwork. The Apostille ensures that documents issued by one signatory country will be valid in any of the other signatory countries. Well, as often is the case, the intention has been lost in execution.  First of all, each country has a different apostille certification process and necessitates separate paperwork. The immigration process cannot begin until we have the apostilles of our birth and marriage certificates. In order to get those, we need to go back to the originating states to get the proper documentation to then request the Apostilles. Each separate request and certificate costs money. In our case, we are needing birth and marriage certificates from the State of Florida and are requesting Apostilles prepared for the Czech Republic and for Greece.

(If it worked correctly, we should be fine with one apostille for each document, irregardless of the country it was destined for. But that's only according to the Hague Agreement-- not the state of Florida!)

So, if you're planning to go to Estonia, Latvia, Malta, Lithuania, Slovakia or Slovenia and were not clear that these were now EU and Schengen countries, think again, for you too will need your apostilles before you step foot in Schengen.