How to Get an Apostille for a Document

An apostille is the stamp that lets a document issued in one country be accepted as genuine in another. If a foreign bank, court, university, or government office has asked you to get one, the request usually lands with no explanation of where to go or what to bring. This guide walks through the whole process: what an apostille proves, when you need it instead of a full legalization, which office issues it, and the exact order of steps for the most common documents.

What an Apostille Actually Certifies

An apostille does not verify that the contents of your document are true. It certifies that the signature, seal, or stamp on the document is authentic, and that the official who signed it had the authority to do so. When a notary signs a power of attorney, an apostille confirms that person is a commissioned notary in good standing. When a state registrar issues a birth certificate, an apostille confirms the registrar's seal is real.

The apostille comes from the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, usually shortened to the Hague Apostille Convention. Before that treaty, a document headed abroad had to pass through a long chain of certifications ending at the destination country's embassy. The Convention replaced that chain with a single certificate. More than 120 countries now accept it, including most of Europe, much of Latin America, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and India.

The certificate follows a fixed layout set by the treaty. It has ten numbered fields, the heading "Apostille" in French, and a reference to the 1961 Convention. Because every member country uses the same format, an apostille issued in Texas is readable by an official in Portugal without any further steps.

Apostille or Authentication: Check the Destination First

The single most important thing to confirm before you start is whether the destination country belongs to the Hague Convention. This decides the entire path.

• Member country: you need an apostille. One certificate from the correct authority finishes the job.
• Non-member country: you need authentication, sometimes called legalization. The document goes from the state to the US Department of State, then to that country's embassy or consulate for a final stamp.

China (outside Hong Kong and Macau), the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Canada historically sat outside the Convention, though membership changes over time, so verify current status rather than relying on an old list. The US Department of State publishes the treaty's member roster, and the requesting party abroad can usually tell you which one they expect. Getting this wrong is the most expensive mistake in the process, because an apostille sent to a non-member country will be rejected and you start over.

Who Issues an Apostille in the US

There is no single national apostille office. The issuing authority depends on who created or notarized the document.

State-Level Documents

If a document was issued by a state agency or notarized within a state, the Secretary of State of that state issues the apostille. This covers the large majority of requests:

• Birth, marriage, and death certificates
• Notarized powers of attorney and affidavits
• Corporate records such as articles of incorporation and certificates of good standing
• Diplomas and transcripts, once notarized or certified by a school official
• Court records certified by the clerk of court

The document must originate from or be notarized in that same state. A power of attorney notarized in Florida gets its apostille from the Florida Secretary of State, not from the state where you now live.

Federal Documents

A narrower set of documents can only be apostilled by the US Department of State, Office of Authentications in Washington, DC:

• FBI criminal background checks (identity history summaries)
• Documents signed by a federal official or agency
• Naturalization certificates and other papers issued by federal courts or departments
• Documents already certified by the US Department of Justice or another federal body

Federal processing runs on its own timeline and cannot be done at a state office, so identify early whether your document is state or federal.

Step by Step: How to Get an Apostille

The following order works for the most common private document, such as a power of attorney or an affidavit that you sign yourself.

Step 1: Confirm the requirement. Ask the foreign requester exactly which document they need apostilled, whether they want the original or a certified copy, and whether a translation is required. Confirm the destination country is a Convention member.

Step 2: Get the document notarized correctly. Private documents have to be signed in front of a notary, because the apostille attaches to the notary's commission. Do not sign ahead of time. If you are unsure how a notary certifies a signature, our guide on how to notarize a document walks through acknowledgments and jurats and when each applies. Skipping or botching this step is the reason most apostille requests bounce.

Step 3: Check for a county clerk step. A handful of states require the notary's commission to be certified by the county clerk before the Secretary of State will act. New York is the best-known example: many documents pass through the County Clerk first. Your state's Secretary of State website lists whether this middle step applies.

Step 4: Submit to the Secretary of State. Send or bring the notarized document, a completed request form, the fee, and a cover note stating the destination country. Many states accept mail-in requests; some offer walk-in counter service that returns the apostille the same day.

Step 5: Pay the fee. Apostille fees are modest and vary by state, often running from a few dollars to around twenty dollars per document. Federal apostilles from the Department of State currently cost eight dollars each. Expedited service and courier return usually cost extra.

Step 6: Receive and check the certificate. The apostille arrives attached to your document, either stapled or as an added page with a matching seal. Confirm the country name, your name, and the document type are spelled correctly before you send anything abroad.

How the Process Changes by Document Type

Not every document follows the same path, and treating them all alike causes rejections.

Vital Records

Birth, marriage, and death certificates should be certified copies from the vital records office, not photocopies and not notarized. The state apostilles the registrar's seal directly. A notarized photocopy of a birth certificate will be refused, because the state authenticates its own official's signature, not a notary who copied a document.

Powers of Attorney and Affidavits

These are private documents that carry no official seal on their own, so they must be notarized first. If you are signing a power of attorney that an agent will use abroad, the format of the signature still matters; our guide on how to sign documents as a power of attorney covers the wording that keeps the document from being rejected once it reaches a foreign bank or registry.

Corporate and Business Documents

Certificates of good standing and certified copies of formation documents come straight from the Secretary of State's business division and can be apostilled by the same office. Internal records such as board resolutions or bylaws are private documents and need a notarized signature from an officer first.

Federal Documents

FBI background checks and other federal papers go directly to the US Department of State. No state office and no notary is involved. Many people request an FBI check specifically for overseas work or residency, so plan for the longer federal timeline.

State-by-State Differences Worth Knowing

The apostille certificate is uniform, but the road to getting one is not. A few state quirks trip people up often enough to flag.

• New York routes many notarized documents through the County Clerk before the Department of State will issue the apostille. Budget an extra step and an extra trip.
• California issues apostilles through the Secretary of State offices in Sacramento and Los Angeles, and it accepts both mail and in-person requests. County recorder documents may need a separate county certification first.
• Texas handles apostilles centrally through the Secretary of State in Austin and offers mail and expedited options, with no county clerk step for most notarized documents.
• Florida is a common source state for powers of attorney used abroad, and the Department of State in Tallahassee processes both apostilles and authentications from the same office.

Always read the issuing office's current instructions rather than a summary, since fees, addresses, and accepted payment methods change from year to year.

A Note on Remote Online Notarization

More states now allow remote online notarization, where you sign in front of a notary over a live video call. This is convenient, but not every state will apostille a document that was notarized remotely by a notary from a different state, and some foreign authorities still expect a wet-ink notarization. If your document was signed through an online notary platform, confirm with the Secretary of State that the resulting notarial act qualifies for an apostille before you rely on it for an overseas filing.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Most failed apostille requests trace back to a small number of errors.

• Signing a private document before seeing the notary. The notary must witness the signature. A pre-signed document cannot be properly notarized, and the apostille falls apart.
• Notarizing a vital record. Birth and marriage certificates are apostilled from the certified copy. Adding a notary breaks the chain the state expects.
• Sending to the wrong office. State documents go to the Secretary of State; federal documents go to the Department of State. Swapping them wastes weeks.
• Ignoring a required translation. If the destination country wants the document in its own language, arrange a certified translation early. It is often notarized and apostilled alongside the original.
• Assuming an apostille works everywhere. For a non-member country, you need the longer authentication-and-legalization route through the embassy.

A related habit that saves time: keep your authenticated documents organized once they come back, since apostilles are often needed in batches for the same move abroad. Our overview of how to write a notarized letter is a useful companion when a foreign office asks for a signed statement rather than a formal certificate.

After You Receive the Apostille

Once the certificate is attached, the document is ready to travel. Do not remove staples, separate pages, or alter the packet in any way, because tampering can void the apostille. If you need the same document apostilled for two different countries, you generally need two separate certificates. Make copies for your own records before mailing the original overseas, since replacing a lost apostilled document means repeating the entire process.

Timelines are the part people underestimate. A same-day state counter is possible in some places, but a mailed request during a busy season can take weeks, and federal apostilles currently run a couple of months. If you have a filing deadline abroad, start as early as you can and factor in international mail on top of the processing window.

Generate Your Legal Documents with Contractable

An apostille authenticates a document, but you still need a clean, correctly drafted document first. Powers of attorney, affidavits, and other private papers headed abroad have to be complete and properly worded before a notary will touch them. Contractable generates these documents in minutes, with the right structure and signature blocks, so the notarization and apostille steps go smoothly instead of bouncing back for a missing clause.