Apostille Services

What is a Apostille?

 

An Apostille is a certificate that authenticates the origin of a public document such as:

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 -birth, marriage, death certificate,

-a Judgment

-an extract of a register or,

-a notarial attestation

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Apostilles can only be issued for documents issued in one country party to the Apostille Convention and that are to be used in another country which is also a party to the Convention.

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An apostille is issued by your Secretary of State's office or Notary commissioning agency. The single apostille is the only certification needed. Once prepared and verified, the apostille is attached to and sent along with the notarized documents. Notaries cannot issue apostilles themselves. This all happens after the notarization and requires no action on your part.

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Authentication certificates are used for destination nations that are not part of the Hague Convention. Instead of a single apostille, the document needs several authentication certificates, including those from your commissioning agency, the U.S. Department of State, the consul of the destination country and potentially another government official in the destination country.

The requirements and processing time for authentication certificates will vary from country to country.

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Documents that may require authentication for use abroad include: affidavits, agreements, articles of incorporation, company bylaws, deeds of assignment, diplomas, home study, income verification, powers of attorney, transcripts, trademarks, warrants, extraditions, certificates of good standing and other general business documents. Also, parents wanting to adopt a child living in another country must have their adoption dossiers properly authenticated.

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