Secretary of State: Authentication / Apostille
1. Before purchasing the Secretary of State's authentication service, please be sure that your documents have been notarized by the notary public in the state where the documents are from. Except for documents or certified copies issued by the authorities or courts (such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, court decisions, etc.), most of the other documents (such as power of attorney, declaration, etc.) need to be notarized first.
2. In a few states in the United States (such as Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Tennessee), the documents need to be certified by County Clerk after the notary public notarization, prior to the authentication of the Secretary of State.
3. If the documents from the state which is under the jurisdiction of Embassy in DC need consular certification (three-level certification), the documents are required to obtain authentication of the Department of State first.
4. The Secretary of State’s authentication does not provide expedited service in most states. The processing time of our center is 10-15 working days. Please arrange in advance according to your time.
5. Be sure to include your country of use in the remarks. The Secretary of State certification is divided into two types: Certificate of Authentication and Apostille. Apostille is known as the Hague certification and can be used in the Hague Treaty countries. China is not a treaty country of the Hague certification, so the certification type should be “Certificate of Authentication”; for example, Spain, Hong Kong, and Macao are among the treaty countries and the certification type should be “Apostille”. More information on the Hague certification and its member states can be found here.
Secretary of State Authentication/Apostille
【Paypal】
Payable to: info@usnotarycenter.com
【Cashier's Check】
Money Order, Cashier's Check.
Payable to: American Notary Service Center Inc.
【E-mail Invoice】
The center will send an Invoice (request) to your email address, which can be directly clicked to complete the payment.If the certification is unsuccessful, the Center provides a full refund, but no refund is available for the following two cases:
1. If the application is rejected or returned by the Secretary of State or the Department of State because of the inaccurate or inappropriate notarization in the first step, and no refund is provided.
2. There is no refund for the delivery fee.
The Center will do its utmost to ensure that it is carefully reviewed when processing documents to avoid unnecessary rejections and returns. Therefore, we recommend you find an experienced notary public with extensive notary experience and be familiar with and abide by the state's notarization laws and regulations. Because of inappropriate notarization or
documentation may result in subsequent authentication requests being rejected, and you will have to start over costing your time and money.