(50 States & DC) Secretary of State: Authentication / Apostille Service
1. Before purchasing the Secretary of State's authentication service, please be sure that your documents have been properly notarized by the notary public in the state where the documents are from. However, Vital Records and Court Documents (such as birth/death/marriage certificates, divorce documents, court decisions, etc.) cannot be notarized. You should provide certified copies of those documents. Certified Copies of Vital Records can be ordered here, and court documents can be requested from the issuing court.
2. In a few states in the United States (such as Alabama, Hawaii, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, and Tennessee), the documents need to be certified by County Clerk after the notarization, prior to requesting the authentication from the Secretary of State's Office.
3. There are no expedited services available in most states. The processing time of our center is 10-15 working days* . Please arrange in advance according to your schedule.
4. Be sure to include your country of use in the notes section. The Secretary of State certification is divided into two types: Authentication and Apostille.
- 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”. In this case, further authentication may be needed if your destination country is not a member of the Hague Apostille Convention. Besides obtaining the authentication from the Secretary of State in your state, the document should also be sent to the U.S. Department of State and the embassy of the destination country, which are both located in Washington D.C., for further authentication.
🕒 Processing Time: Vary by state. Check it out here.
⚠️ Check the current processing time here.
(50 States) Secretary of State Apostille / Authentication Service
You'll receive an order confirmation email immediately right after you place an order. Another more detailed instruction email from our customer service team will be sent to you within 12-24 hours after your purchase to let you know the next steps (responses during weekends and holidays may be slightly slower). Cases are processed in the order we receive them.