Do you find papers dull? Not so fast. With just one small stamp, called an apostille, your old, dusty papers can become important people around the world. Click for more hints about this page!

Imagine that you’ve just been offered the job of your dreams in Spain. You’re already thinking about siestas and tapas when HR emails you and asks for your diploma and birth certificate, both of which need to be legalized. All of a sudden, that trunk full of papers in your closet becomes very important. You can use the apostille, which is more than just a pretty seal, to prove that your papers are real in more than 100 countries.

The process starts at the office of your state, where your paper is checked and given that magical stamp. What will happen next? That wrinkly degree is known all over the world. businesses, embassies, and government offices in other countries? They start to treat your papers like they’re important.

Move on to a more sweet scene: you’re making plans to get married in Italy. It turns out that your marriage license from the US doesn’t mean much there without—you got it—an apostille. With it? All of a sudden, your wedding isn’t stuck in paperwork hell.

It’s not just work and parties, either. Every year, thousands of students who want to study abroad learn the same thing: if they don’t have an apostille, they can’t attend. International schools won’t even look at your record if it doesn’t have that stamp on it, even if it says you’re at the top of your class.

It’s funny that the apostille doesn’t even check what’s written; it only makes sure the name is real. In the same way that governments say, “We’re not reading this, but trust us, a big name signed it,”

It may seem like a lot to pay for a single page, but think about all the doors it opens. It’s like shaking a snow globe and then watching everything fall into place correctly when you use an apostilles.

Someone laughs at your stamp collection? Just smile and say, “Let’s see you move abroad without one.”