Understanding Apostilles

What is an apostille?  Why is it required?  How do you get an apostille done?  Here's a simple explanation you may find helpful:

Think of an apostille as an "international notarization".  Many notarizations are valid only within the country where the notarization is performed.  A document notarized in the U.S. may be valid only within the U.S.  A document notarized in Mexico may be valid only within Mexico.  And so on...

But let's say a document must be notarized in the U.S., then sent to an official in Mexico.  Because the document is crossing international boundaries, the Mexican authority might not accept the U.S. notarization as valid.  An additional step may be required to authenticate that the notarization is legitimate.  The solution is usually an apostille, and here's how it's done:

First, the document is notarized by a notary public.  Second, the notary's signature is verified by the Clerk-Recorder's office in the county where the notary is commissioned.  Third, the Secretary of State's office performs the apostille.

The document is now ready for delivery to Mexico, or to any other country that accepts apostilles from the U.S.  (For an alphabetical list of all participating nations, visit http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=states.listing.)

A few other things you should know:  The apostille process can be somewhat expensive and time-consuming, and must be followed precisely.  In addition to notary fees, the Clerk-Recorder charges $5 for each verification, and the Secretary of State charges $20 for each apostille, plus a $6 handling fee.  After being notarized, the documents are hand-delivered to the Clerk-Recorder, where the verifications can typically be done within about fifteen to thirty minutes.  They are then either mailed to the Secretary of State (with a turnaround time of approximately two weeks), or hand-delivered to the Secretary of State, in which case the apostille is done while you wait, usually within around one to two hours.  You can do all this yourself, or, if you wish, the notary can handle the entire process for you at an additional charge.

See below for more information regarding authentications, apostilles, and certifications.  Or feel free to contact me for assistance.

Authentication Information for Apostille or Certification
(information courtesy of the California Secretary of State)

The California Secretary of State provides authentication of public official signatures on documents to be used outside the United States of America.  The country of destination determines whether the authentication is an Apostille or Certification.

• The California Secretary of State can only authenticate documents issued in the State of California by the following public officials and their deputies:

• Some examples of documents submitted for authentications are:

• Documents submitted to the Secretary of State for authentication must be currently certified by the appropriate public official or must be notarized by a California Notary Public.
  
  Customers requiring authentication of any school records (e.g., college transcripts) must obtain a notarized copy of the record from the high school, university, etc., before submitting the documents for authentication.
  
  Any document executed by County Health Officers and County Local Registrars can be authenticated only if the document is first certified by the county clerk/recorder.
   

  Note:

  The Secretary of State’s four regional offices (Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco) can only authenticate a California notary public’s signature if the county clerk/recorder (on the notary public’s stamp) first authenticates the signature.  The customer must take the notarized document to the county clerk/recorder for certification and then submit the certified document to one of the four regional offices for authentication.  Having a document certified at the county level is only required for authentication at our regional offices.  The Secretary of State's Sacramento office can authenticate documents notarized by a California notary public without being certified at the county level.

• To avoid delays that may result from out-of-date documents, a document certified by a county official (e.g., county clerk) should have a certification date within the last five years or a new certified copy should be obtained from the appropriate county official.

• The customer must identify the country of destination when the documents are submitted to the Secretary of State.  If documents are submitted by mail to the Sacramento office, a letter identifying the country of destination must accompany the documents. To facilitate the processing of documents submitted by mail, please include a self-addressed envelope.

• Documents can be hand delivered to any office location for over-the-counter processing between the hours of 8:00 am and 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday (excluding holidays) or mailed to the Sacramento office.  Regional offices do not process mailed-in documents. Office locations are as follows:
   

  	Sacramento Office
  		Street Address:		Mailing Address:
  			Notary Public Section 1500 11th Street, 2nd Floor Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 653-3595		Notary Public Section Post Office Box 942877 Sacramento, CA 94277-0001

   

  	Regional Offices
  		Fresno:		Los Angeles:
  			1315 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 203 Fresno, CA 93721 (559) 445-6900		300 South Spring Street, Room 12513 Los Angeles, CA 90013 (213) 897-3062
  		San Diego:		San Francisco:
  			1350 Front Street, Suite 2060 San Diego, CA 92101 (619) 525-4113		455 Golden Gate Avenue, Suite 14500 San Francisco, CA 94102-7007 (415) 557-8000

• When submitting documents to any of our offices for over-the-counter processing, no appointment is necessary.  Customers are served on a first-come, first-served basis.

• Documents submitted for over-the-counter processing are normally processed within an hour.  The average processing time for documents submitted by mail is approximately two weeks.

• There is a $20.00 processing fee (per signature authenticated) and a $6.00 special handling fee (per public official for documents submitted over the counter).  Payments for documents submitted:
   

  -		by mail to Sacramento can be made by check or money order.
  -		over-the-counter in Sacramento can be made by check, money order, cash, or credit card (Visa or MasterCard).
  -		over-the-counter in any of the four regional offices can be made by check, money order, or credit card (Visa or MasterCard). Regional offices are not able to accept cash.

  
  Checks or money orders should be made payable to the Secretary of State.

General Information

• In 1961 many nations joined together to create a simplified method of "legalizing" documents for universal recognition.  Members of the conference, referred to as the Hague Convention, adopted a document referred to as an Apostille that would be recognized by all member nations.
  
  Documents sent to member nations, completed with an Apostille at the state level, may be submitted directly to the member nation without further action.
  
  Documents sent to non-member nations requiring a Certification of the signature of the state’s public official at the state level, then must be transmitted to the Authentication Office of the Department of State in Washington, D.C. for the Authentication of the State Official’s signature.