Certificado de Solteria - how to get such document without returning?

Yes,  Notaries are different in Colombia.   One will say no and then another will say yes.  In the last 6 years I have had this happen a few times.   Just visit other Notaries.  I lived in Bmanga for 2 years and I had the best luck with the Notary in Floridablanca a few blocks west of the central park.    In Medellin and Bquilla I found Notaries that weren't as strict also..   

Example; Needed my signature notarized for a property I sold in the States.  I went to 2 Notaries that said I needed to have the sales contract translated into Spanish.  I told them they were only notarizing my signature on the document, and they said No.   I went to another Notary and 10 minutes later the documents were on the way to FEDEX.

Good luck..

Hi there,

Which notary is that? I am looking for a flexible notary en Medellin for a wedding.

Thanks

444.46.59  or   310.359.40.64  Talk to Martha..  She is a Notary and has a highly recommended Visa service also.. Remember that in Colombia the laws change on a very regular basis,  so she knows what can be done..  You can tell her that Mark in Barranquilla told you to call..

They're just like the notaries here in Brazil, they don't know their asses from their elbows. Check with the US Embassy, here they issue Single Certificates all the time. You should also be able to get one in the USA from the State Department, but it will probably be easier at the Embassy since they may even do it in Spanish and save you the hassles of translating it.

Cheers,
James        Expat-blog Experts Team

Gracias!!!

Yes, this document actually does not exist in most countries.  Most people have been able to get around that one by finding the right notary.

@Markcol

My name is Richard Phillips, i am getting all my documents ready to be able to get married in Bucaramanga Colombia what is the exact information on the Notary that you used, this is so important to me and my fiance. Can you email me the information on the Notary, email address is [link moderated]. thank you and look forward to hearing from you. Richard Phillips

P.S i live in the United States and we are trying to set date for our wedding.

@Markcol  you say she is good with visa's as well?

would you have her email or business contact as I can not call her I do not speak Spanish and I need help and advice getting a pensioners visa

Thanks

Brett

Different notaries interpret the laws differently.  In my marriage process, one notary even told us that the foreigner had to have a visa and a cedula before they would allow the application.  We found another who followed the law (at first) and invited our application then, after we had collected / apostilled / translated and had all of our documents in order, would not allow the application, and instead told my then-fiancee to come back in a month, to see if she still wanted to get married .... the reason, "to try to stop fraud." .  Eventually we printed out the resolution on the legal requirements and my then-fiancee started to visit different notaries with the resolution in hand, telling each that she was searching for a notary who would follow the law and its requirements and not add any additional, extra-legal requirements.  Eventually she found one and we were married there.   Consider using our strategy, print out the resolution and bring it with you  (many notaries won't care, but some will sit up straight when you bring the resulution with the legal requirements highlighted), good luck.

Certificate de Solteria:    I'm a US citizen, married in a notary in Bogota, and during our search for a notary, my wife had to explain several times that in the US, there is no central registry or database of marriages.  She explained, for example, that a person could be married in one state but could then obtain a certificate of no record of marriage from any other state or US territory or possession.  It always fell on deaf ears. 

Well, to answer the OP's question directly, you can usually order such a certificate online, check your state's registry of vital statistics.  Order a copy of a marriage certificate under your name for the period of time  you desire  (each state's procedure is probably unique), and they should produce for you a "certificate of no record of marriage" for the given time span of years that you purchased from them. 

Your document will then need to be apostilled by your secretary of state  (you will need a friend or hired agent to receive your certificate, scan it, then ship the original to your state's secretary of state for the apostille. ). Or, if your friend/agent lives close enough, they can probably visit the secretary of state's office in person and the registry of vital statistics office too.   

     The apostille then has to be scanned, too.

     The reason for the scans is so that you can receive them quickly by email from your agent and then send them immediately to your official translator to have everything translated.

The idea is that your translator may or may not need your originals, and may be able to start the work immediately with just the scans.

     Separate from the scans, your friend/agent has to send you the originals by international mail.  Why?  Because the cancilleria may request the originals from you at any time with a short deadline, and also because many translators will not release their translation work to you until you have first shown them the originals (translators' version of self-protection / anti-fraud measure).  Therefore it may be best to find an official translator who lives close to you, or you will have to use a Colombian domestic shipping service such as "Servientrega"  to ship documents to and from your translator.

     Of course, there are probably translators living in the USA who are certified by Colombian authority to translate documents for submission to the Cancilleria, and if you find one, that would change your plan a bit, the documents in that case would go to your agent, then to the apostille office, back to your agent, then to your translator, etc.   

     I hope this info was helpful.

@rf2023 My main question is, HOW did you find a wife in Colombia in the first place? And how old was she when you met her, and how many kids did she have? Did you already confirm that she doesn't have any Colombian boyfriends on the side?

I just got married in Venezuela planning on moving to Bogota with my wife next year.

there they also wanted a carta de soltería and was confused because in the states

there is no such thing, I did bring my Apostilled divorce papers and was told that i

just needed to swear and sign that I'm single. So basically it depends on the notary

i know it's a different country but basically follow the same requirements

They're just like the notaries here in Brazil, they don't know their asses from their elbows. Check with the US Embassy, here they issue Single Certificates all the time. You should also be able to get one in the USA from the State Department, but it will probably be easier at the Embassy since they may even do it in Spanish and save you the hassles of translating it.

Cheers,
James    Expat-blog Experts Team
-@James

Hi James, there is no such thing as an embassy certification or state certificate of single status.

Even the embassy websites clarify (paraphrase) "The embassy only certifies the signature on the affidavit, not the truthfulness of the contents of the affidavit."

States can only offer a "certificate of no record of marriage", which can never prove someone is single, as there is no national registry of marriage/divorces in the USA.  For example, you could have a record of marriage in one state, but receive a "certificate of no record of marriage" from any other state.  You could get a "certificate of no record" from every state and territory of the US, but then, what if you were married in another country?

None of the notaries we visited understood that the proof they are requiring does not really exist.   But they insist anyway.   After all is said and done, the only legal document that matters is the statement of the person himself/herself.  The affidavit.  The word of the applicant.

Perhaps that is they the DECRETO/RESOLUCIONES of Colombia  (the law) only require the foreigner to provide an affidavit of single status.   It is the notaries who operate outside of Colombian law when asking for anything more than the affidavit  (the 'Declaracion Jurada") of the foreigner-applicant.