Apostilles

Florida and Federal Apostilles

Apostille Definition

Public documents that are notarized or certified in the United States and sent to another country typically require authentication prior to acceptance by the receiving country. This is accomplished by certifying the authenticity of the signature on the document, the capacity in which the person signing the document acted, and, where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which the document bears. The document can be in any language, but the notarial certificate (e.g., jurat, acknowledgment, attested copy certificate) or certified copy declaration must be in English.

The apostille process can only be used if both the country in which the public document originated and the country in which it is to be presented (destination country) are parties to the Apostille Convention (an international agreement conferred at the Hague). Those countries are listed at the bottom of the page and are updated as additional countries sign onto the Convention. For documents being sent to non-Apostille countries, the U.S. Authentication process must be used as an alternative.

For documents being sent to countries not listed in the list of apostille countries at the bottom of the page, the U.S. Authentication process must be used as an alternative. Click on the Authentications tab above.

Examples of Apostille Certificates

FLORIDA Example

FEDERAL Example

Typical Uses for Apostilles

Providing documents in support of personal or corporate business transactions overseas.

Submitting professional or academic credentials to recipients overseas for employment or foreign school admission.

Providing certified copies of vital records (birth certificate, certificate of death, marriage license) overseas.

Presenting documents required to establish permanent residency in a different country.

Transmitting of medical records or criminal background checks (federal, state, or local) overseas.

Presenting translated documents overseas.

Satisfy legal document requirements when adjudicating a decedent’s assets for dispursement outside the owners country.

Document Criteria for Apostille

Each U.S. state, as well as the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., issues apostilles. The entity that issues the apostille is based on the origin of the document being authenticated—state documents at the state level and federal documents at the federal level.

For documents originating in a state or territory of the United States, the document is sent to the state’s Department of State. For an apostille to be issued, the document must be signed (notarized) by a state notary public or signed by an elected or appointed official of the state. These include:

Originals of documents notarized by a state notary public.
(Power of attorney, self-proving wills, bank forms, transcripts from public schools or universities that have had the signature of the school registrar or issuing official notarized at the time of issuance, letters, corporate documents, translation affidavits, local or state criminal background checks, vehicle titles certified by the Department of Motor Vehicles, etc.)

Copies of originals attested to by a state notary public (if allowed in that state’s statutes).
(College diploma, transcript from a private academic institution, a U.S. passport, trust documents, some company documents, driver’s license, financial documents, wills, etc.).

Original certified copies of documents on record at state and local government agencies.
(Clerk of Circuit Court, certificates from the Division of Corporations, state-issued professional licenses, certificates from the state’s Bureau of Vital Statistics Office [signed by the State Registrar], FBI Background Search Results, etc.)

For documents originating at the federal level, the documents are sent to the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. Some examples include:

Certified FBI Background Check Results

Filed 1040 Forms

Certificate to Foreign Government

USFDA Certificate of a Pharmaceutical Product (CPP)

Armed Service Records

Documents Issued by the Clerks and Deputy Clerks of the Federal Courts

Any Document Issued by an Agency of the Federal Government

The Process

Call or email us to discuss your specific needs: types of documents, document origination, translation requirements, destination country, expediency needs, etc.
Obtain agency documents from most states’ VitalChek.
If your documents were signed and notarized in FL, you will be asked to send scanned images of the notarized page(s) to us before sending your originals. This is due to the large number of incorrectly notarized documents we were receiving. The Department of State will not issue apostille/authentication certificates for documents whose notarizations are not compliant with FL statutes.
If everything looks good, we will give you a Good Faith Estimate. Your estimate will be based on the number of documents, destination country, and type of authentication required, translation requirements, expediency needs, return shipping desires, etc.
If the estimate is acceptable, please use our Authentication Order Form attached to your quote. You can fill out the form on your computer with Adobe Reader or Acrobat. Make sure you include names and addresses, the number and type of document(s), the destination country(ies), and payment specifics. If you have questions, call or email us.
Ship your documents along with the order form to us or bring them to the office in Melbourne, Florida. You can pay by cash (in-person only), check, or credit/debit card. An itemized invoice will be provided to you via our accounting software.
You will be updated when your apostille/authentication certificate has been issued, when we receive them back in our office, or when they are shipped back to you directly from the issuing agency, whichever is applicable.
You will be emailed a tracking number to monitor your return shipment.

Fees and Turnaround Time Expectations

We offer two service types depending on your expediency requirements. Return shipping to U.S. addresses is the default, but if you’d like us to ship directly to an address overseas, make sure you let us know and include the address on the order form.

eff: 24Feb2026	FL Apostille Service Fee Example (Fees vary for each U.S. state)
	STANDARD SERVICE	EXPEDITE SERVICE
FL Apostilles (Notarized Docs originating in FL) 1 2	Approx Turnaround 8 - 12 days $119.00 $162.00	Approx Turnaround 4 - 6 days $174.00 $236.00
FL Apostilles (Clerk of Court Doc) 1	Approx Turnaround 8 - 12 days $132.00	Approx Turnaround 4 - 6 days $187.00
US Apostilles (Docs originate at Federal Agency) 1 2	Approx Turnaround 25 - 35 days $129.00 $183.00	Approx Turnaround 7 - 10 days $225.00 $334.00

SERVICE TYPES: Standard Service is the most cost-effective, but takes the longest. We use the agency’s “walk-up” service for Expedite Service.

TURNAROUND TIMES (business days): These are approximate based on shipping method, whether mailed in or presented at the counter (walk-up), and the agency’s workload and staffing level.

FEES: Fees are dependent on the service type since we use the agency’s “walk-up window” option for Expedite Service. The more documents to be authenticated, the lower the per-document cost. Prices include return shipping to U.S. addresses by default.

Apostille Countries

Albania | Algeria (eff: 9Jul2026)
Andorra | Anguilla (UK)
Antigua and Barbuda | Argentina
Armenia | Aruba (NL)
Australia | Austria | Azerbaijan
Bahamas | Bahrain
Bangladesh (eff: 30Mar2025)
Barbados | Belarus
Belgium | Belize | Bermuda (UK)
Bolivia
Bonaire (NL) | Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana, Republic of
Brazil
British Antarctic Territory (UK)
British Virgin Islands (UK)
Brunei Darussalam | Bulgaria
Burundi, Republic of
Caicos Islands | Canada
Canary Islands (ES) | Cape Verde
Cayman Islands (UK) | Chile
China (Mainland)
Colombia | Cook Islands | Costa Rica
Croatia | Curaçao (NL)
Cyprus | Czech Republic
Denmark | Dominica

Dominican Republic
Ecuador | El Salvador | Estonia
Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
Falkland Islands (UK)
Fiji | Finland | France
French Guiana (FR)
French Polynesia (FR)
Georgia | Germany
Gibraltar (UK) | Greece | Grenada
Guadeloupe (FR) | Guatemala
Guernsey, Bailiwick of (UK)
Guyana
Honduras | Hong Kong (CN)
Hungary
Iceland | India | Indonesia
Ireland | Isle of Man (UK)
Israel | Italy
Jamaica | Japan | Jersey (UK)
Kazakhstan | Korea, Rep of (South)
Kosovo | Kyrgyzstan
Latvia | Lesotho | Liberia
Liechtenstein | Lithuania | Luxembourg
Macao (CN)
Macedonia, Rep of North

Malawi | Malta | Marshall Islands
Martinique (FR) | Mauritius
Mayotte (FR) | Mexico
Moldova, Republic of | Monaco
Mongolia | Montenegro
Montserrat (UK) | Morocco
Namibia | Netherlands (Kingdom of)
Netherland Antilles (NL)
New Caledonia (FR)
New Zealand | Nicaragua
Niue | Norway
Oman
Palau | Panama | Pakistan
Paraguay | Peru
Philippines | Poland | Portugal
Puerto Rico (see FAQs)
Reunion (FR) | Romania
Russian Federation | Rwanda
Saba (NL) | Saint Barthelemy (FR)
Saint Helena (UK)
Saint Kitts and Nevis | Saint Lucia
Saint-Martin (FR)
Saint Pierre and Miquelon (FR)
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Samoa | San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal | Serbia
Seychelles | Singapore
Sint Eustatius (NL)
Sint Maarten (NL) | Slovakia
Slovenia | South Africa | Spain
Suriname | Swaziland (now Eswatini)
Sweden | Switzerland
Tajikistan (in relation to U.S.)
Tonga | Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia | Turkey
Turks and Caicos Islands (UK)
Ukraine
UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
United States of America
Uruguay | Uzbekistan (in relation to U.S.)
Vanuatu (New Hebrides) | Venezuela
Vietnam (eff: 11Sep2026)
Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR)
(former) Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia