Chinese Consolate Authentication

So the third step in the paper chase process is "Authentication", which basically means any official document that was first notarized, and then state certified, must then be authenticated by the Chinese Consulate.  There are 6 Chinese Consulates in the US, and depending on state where the document originated and certified, determines which of the 6 Chinese Consulates to send the documents..  The People's Republic of China currently maintains one Embassy in Washington D.C., five Consulates-General in the following U.S. cities: New York, NY; Chicago, IL; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Houston, TX. We sent our documents to CA, TX, and NY. 

Each consulate varies in some of their requirements, so when working with three different ones, you can imagine how important it is to make sure all the steps are accurate.  For example, some of the consulates require the document to be less than 6 months old, others require only USPS-postage while others require only hand-delivered or courier-delivered paperwork to process the Authentication.  Two out of the three consulates that we worked with required us to hire a courier to receive and send the documents.  This process was  pretty simple, just included a simple fee and some information. For example, some of the requirements set by the courier required an application or a letter from our adoption agency. We are now the proud owners of a stamp and seal from Chinese Consulates in CA, NY, and TX.