[❗After placing an order, you will receive an email with instructions on providing your original document to us for apostille or authentication, usually within 24 hours. If you haven’t received the instruction email after 24 hours, please check your spam or junk folder. For assistance, contact us at info@usnotarycenter.com. For orders placed on weekends or holidays, you will receive instruction emails on the next business day.]
 
The U.S. Department of State: Authentication/Apostille Service
 
1. To apply for apostille or authentication, clients have the responsibilities to provide us with the original documents.

2. Documents issued by federal government agencies with satisfied officers' signatures and stamps can be directly apostilled by the U.S. Department of State.
 
State-level documents that have been authenticated by the 50 States' Secretary of State can be authenticated by the U.S. Department of State.
 
The federal court documents may be apostilled/authenticated by the US Department, US Department of Justice, or the Federal court; we'll submit to the appropriate office to ensure you get the right certification based on your document and country of use. 
 
3. Due to privacy reasons, we don't request documents on the client's behalf. Clients have the responsibility to provide us with the original documents so we're able to provide an apostille/authentication service.
 
In the notes section, please specify your document type, the issuing state and agency, and the country of use (or the relevant foreign embassies/consulates in the US). This information will help us provide you with accurate mailing instructions after you place your order.
 
You may put the document info in the notes section like this:
 
1. FBI background check, 2. from USDOJ, 3. to be used in Spain (or the Spanish Embassy).
1. Form 6166, 2. from IRS, 3. to be used in Greece.
1. Certificate to Foreign Government, 2. from FDA, 3. to be used in Chile.
 
4. The U.S. Department of State certification is divided into two types: Apostille and Authentication. Your document's country of use will decide the certificate type.
 
Apostille is known as the Hague certification and can be used in the Hague Apostille countries. If your destination country is listed here, the certification type should be “Apostille”. No further authentication is needed.
 
If the country is not listed, the certification type should be “Authentication”. Further authentication may be needed if your destination country is not a member of the Hague Apostille Convention. Besides the authentication from the U.S. Department of State, the document should also be sent to the embassy of the destination country which is located in Washington D.C. for legalization.
 
5. The Center also provides authentication, apostille, and embassy legalization services for various personal and business documents. 
 
🕒Processing time: 3-5 weeks (estimated) (Most applications cannot be expedited, please be patient and arrange in advance.) 
 
* It may take approximately 5 months for the U.S. Department of State to process a CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad) Apostille request.
* It may take approximately 3-6 months for the U.S. Department of State to process a CLN (Certificate of Loss of Nationality) Apostille request.
 
⚠️ Check the current processing time here.