Florida Apostille for Brazil.

Let's be straight with you: most Florida documents headed to Brazil land in one of three places. A cartório de registro civil (civil registry office), a cartório de notas (notarial office), or a Brazilian consulate here in the U.S. Which one you're dealing with decides what you need, and sometimes whether you need an apostille at all.

• Transcribing a Florida birth or marriage into the Brazilian register (traslado). Brazil's National Council of Justice sets the rules in Resolução CNJ 155/2012. The record goes into Book E of the 1º Ofício de Registro Civil in the district where you live in Brazil. If you have no address in Brazil, it goes to the 1º Ofício in the Distrito Federal (Brasília). When the Florida record was never registered at a Brazilian consulate, the certificate has to be authenticated and translated by a Brazilian sworn translator before the registry will transcribe it.
• Why the apostille counts. Under Resolução CNJ 228/2016, apostilles from Convention countries have been accepted everywhere in Brazil since August 14, 2016, in place of consular legalization. So the Florida apostille is the authentication step for transcription.
• Marriage transcription also asks for the Brazilian spouse's birth certificate (or a prior marriage certificate showing it was dissolved), proof of domicile, and a request signed by a spouse or an attorney-in-fact.
• Registering at the consulate instead. Many families register a Florida-born child's birth at the Brazilian consulate that serves their area. That path follows the consulate's own document list, so read it before you pay to apostille anything.
• CPF. The federal CPF-from-abroad service lists an ID plus a birth or marriage certificate, and the service itself is free. Brazilians abroad can apply by email to the Receita Federal. Foreigners living abroad apply in person at the consular office for their area. The page doesn't mention an apostille, so don't order one for a CPF unless someone asks for it in writing.

Brazil is unusually strict here. Law 14.195/2021 says no translation has public faith in Brazil unless a tradutor e intérprete público made it. That's a public translator registered with the Junta Comercial (state commercial board) where they live or mostly work. A translation certified by a U.S. translator, however good, doesn't have that status. Cartórios and courts can refuse it.

The same law says the translation doesn't replace the original. The original-language document has to go with it. In practice, the cartório receives your apostilled Florida original and the Portuguese translation together, so never let the original out of the packet.

Do it in this order:

1. Get the certified Florida document (fresh copy where needed).
2. Have it apostilled in Tallahassee.
3. Send the apostilled original, or a scan if the translator accepts one, to a Brazilian public translator.
4. Ask the translator to translate the apostille page together with the document, and confirm with the cartório whether it wants that page translated. Asking once is cheaper than paying for a second translation.

If you already have a Brazilian lawyer or a cartório lined up, ask them which public translator they work with. They see the same translators' work every week.

The Brazilian side gets most of the attention, but most delays start in Florida, with a document that can't be apostilled as it is. Here's what we see for Brazil and how to get each one right the first time.

• Birth certificates (transcription, marriage in Brazil, a child's registration): must be a certified copy from the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics or a county health department, signed by the State Registrar. We don't accept vital records certified before 2014, because the signature on file must be the current State Registrar's. Order a fresh copy through VitalChek or the Bureau of Vital Statistics. See birth certificate apostille.
• Marriage certificates: signed by the State Registrar or a Clerk of the County Court. For transcription, the Brazilian spouse's details on the certificate should match their Brazilian documents letter for letter. See marriage certificate for Brazil.
• Divorce judgments (proving a prior marriage ended): a copy certified by the Clerk of Court, either an original wet-ink certification or the clerk's official e-certification. A plain printout from the court website won't work. See court records.
• Powers of attorney for a cartório de notas (property sale, inheritance, bank matters): the Florida notarial certificate must be complete, in English, with venue, date, signer's name, ID method, and the notary's signature and seal. If you're outside Florida or outside the U.S., our online notarization lets you sign over a secure video session. It costs $40 for the first document ($10 notarization fee + $30 technology platform fee) and $20 for each additional document, and you never ship a paper original.
• Diplomas and transcripts for study or degree recognition in Brazil: public schools and universities must have the registrar sign before a notary when the document is issued. See diploma apostille.

Pricing is all-inclusive: $220 for one document, $380 for two, $160 each for three or more. If you're in Brazil, we ship the finished apostilles there for a flat $100 per order.

Run through this list first. Five minutes here usually saves a second order.