An Apostille is a special certificate, issued by the Secretary of State, certifying that a document is legitimate and authentic.

Countries that are members of the Hague Apostille Convention will normally require all original documents to be apostilled in order to be valid abroad.

In the United States, each individual state issues its own apostilles completed by the Secretary of State of that individual state. A state will only be able to complete the apostille if the document was issued from that specific state. Therefore, a birth certificate from California, for instance, must be apostilled by the Secretary of State of California.

If the document is issued by a federal agency, it must be submitted to the United States Federal Department of State in Washington, D.C.. Common federal documents are FBI criminal background checks, federal court documents, consular documentation, immigration documentation.

If the original document is in English, you should consider obtaining a certified and notarized translation and an apostille of the translation. This will ensure that officials abroad are able to accept and understand the documents. You are able to request a certified, notarize and apostilled translation with Florida Translate. Florida Translate will be able to complete the notarized translation and apostille into more than 30 languages and with a quicker turn around than the standard mailed-in process.   

Common documents that require apostilles

Document Translations

Most countries will require that all documentation is translated to the local language. For this process, you will require a certified translation that is notarized and apostilled by the Department of State. You can get request a certified and notarized translation with Florida Translate here.

How to obtain an Apostille in Florida:

You can apostille your documents through an apostille agency or you can do it yourself. You are able to submit your apostille request here. Mailed in requests with the state take 4-5 weeks to process. We recommend that you do the process with an apostille agency to expedite this process. Florida Translate can assist in obtaining the apostilles within 72 business hours. You can contact an apostille expert here.

Once you have sent the documents for apostille:

If you completed the process with Florida Translate, everything should be completed within 72 business hours.

For requests submitted to the state directly, you will need to wait 4-5 weeks to receive the documents back. You can see the current processing times for the state here.

If you do not receive your documents and they have already processed the apostilles for the date you sent, you can contact the Department of State to confirm the status of the documents.

If you need your documents before 4 weeks, we highly recommend obtain the apostille process here. The other alternative would be to physically visit the Department of State offices in Tallahassee. 

When your apostille arrives, you will have what you need to continue with your process at the embassy, consulate or country. Remember that you should submit the documents in the language of your country of origin. If you do not have your documents translated, you can get a certified translation here.