Despite your pompous and indignant reply, many of your points are true. But there are still several reasons why your response is misplaced and why we should generally reply to one another with a more courteous tone. First, despite the seeming irrationality of it, apostilles or certifications still represent the global mark of acceptance (and even authenticity) for foreign issued documents, even though they only certify the signature. Two, though it may be easier to get an original birth certificate or marriage certificate, a foreign issued original is technically no more legal in Hong Kong than a copy. All that said, perhaps none of this discussion really matters....most likely an original would be accepted as proof of relationship, and probably copies would be fine, too. The point of this thread is offer options and suggestions for the original posters consideration. But I agree with the last commenter that an apostille is likely more complicated than need be for this issue.