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, acknowlegment, 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 in the right sidebar on this page and are updated as additional countries sign onto the Convention.

For documents being sent to countries not listed in the right sidebar, the US Authentication process must be used as an alternative. Click on the Authentication tab, above.

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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
• Transmitting of medical records or criminal background checks (federal, state or local) overseas
• Presenting translated documents overseas

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Document Criteria for Apostille

Each US state as well as the US Department of State in Washington DC issues Apostilles. The entity which 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, Secretary 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 a 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 US passport, trust documents, some company documents, driver 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], etc.)

For documents originating at the federal level, the documents are sent to the US Department of State in Washington DC. 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

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Services Provided

Process

• Call or email us to discuss your specific needs: types of documents, document origination, translation requirements, destination country, expediency needs, etc.
• If your documents were 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, etc.
• If the Estimate is acceptable, please use our Authentication Order Form attached to your qoute. 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 by the office in Melbourne FLORIDA. You can pay by cash (in-person only), check or credit/debit card. An itemized receipt will be provided to you.
• 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.

Service Types

We offer two service types depending on your expediency requirements. Return shipping to U.S. addreesses 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: 03Aug2023	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 10 - 14 days $107.00 $149.00	Approx Turnaround 3 - 4 days $165.00 $226.00
FL Apostilles (Clerk of Court Doc) 1	Approx Turnaround 10 - 14 days $120.00	Approx Turnaround 3 - 4 days $178.00
US Apostilles (Docs originate at Federal Agency) 1 2	Approx Turnaround 35 - 51 days $117.00 $170.00	Approx Turnaround 35 - 51 days $NA $NA

SERVICE TYPES: Standard Service is the most cost effective, but takes the longest. We use the agency's "Walk Up" service for Expedite.

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 US addresses.