Quick answer
Florida degrees go to Cuba less often than family records, but they come up for foreigners applying to live in Cuba or for professionals proving qualifications to a Cuban institution. Florida issues an authentication certificate for Cuba, not an apostille — $220, 5–7 business days.
- Issued by
- Your Florida school's registrar or another issuing official, signing before a Florida notary.
- Florida state fee
- $10 — included in $220
- Route
- Florida authentication → U.S. Department of State → Cuba embassy
- Online notarization
- Not applicable — needs a certified copy
- Consulate serving Florida
- Consular Office of Cuba in the United States (Embassy of Cuba, Washington, D.C.)
- Translation
- Cuba's consular instructions say foreign documents must be translated into Spanish by a sworn, legalized translator…
How a Florida diploma or transcript is used in Cuba
Florida degrees go to Cuba less often than family records, but they come up for foreigners applying to live in Cuba or for professionals proving qualifications to a Cuban institution. A Florida public university diploma or transcript must be notarized at issuance by the registrar, with a complete notarial certificate, before Tallahassee will authenticate it. Ask the Cuban institution what it actually needs first: a degree copy, a transcript, or both, and whether it wants the translation legalized at the consulate.
Getting a diploma or transcript Florida will authenticate
Public schools and universities: a diploma copy or transcript signed by the registrar or an issuing official before a Florida notary, with a complete notarial certificate (a jurat or a representative acknowledgment). Private schools: a printed transcript with a notarized statement that it is a true copy; we ask for the school's custodian to sign it. A framed original with printed signatures, or a transcript in a sealed envelope, can't be apostilled.
Ask the registrar's office for the record “notarized for apostille” and released to you unsealed; many Florida registrars have a dedicated request with its own form, fee and processing time. An outside notary can't make a public school record apostille-ready, because Florida notaries may not attest copies of public school records. The school's fees are not included in our $220.
State fee for this document: $10 — included in our price. Full details on the diploma or transcript page.
What happens after the Florida certificate — Cuba
After we return your document with its Florida authentication certificate, it goes to the U.S. Department of State for federal authentication, and then to the Consular Office of Cuba in the United States at the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, D.C., for Cuban consular legalization. Some uses in Cuba (for example, documents for a marriage performed in Cuba) also call for legalization by Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX). We don't handle, arrange or refer anyone for the federal, consular or Cuban steps.
We don't handle or arrange the U.S. Department of State or embassy steps. See how non-Hague authentication works.
Who receives it in Cuba — and translation
Most Florida documents for Cuba pass through the Consular Office of Cuba in the United States, part of the Embassy of Cuba in Washington, D.C., which registers births, marriages and deaths of Cuban citizens and legalizes foreign documents. In Cuba, the records end up with the Registro del Estado Civil, Cuban notaries, the immigration authorities (for residence applications) and, for marriages of foreigners, the International Legal Consultancy and law firms (bufetes) that perform them.
Cuba's consular instructions say foreign documents must be translated into Spanish by a sworn, legalized translator, and both the original and the translation must be legalized by the competent authorities and then by the Cuban consulate. The alternative it lists: legalize only the original, then have the translation done and legalized at the Cuban consulate. If you translate in Florida, the translation should be certified by the translator, notarized by a different notary, and authenticated in Florida along with the original. Divorce decrees need a full translation; summaries are not accepted.
The consulate's published requirements set hard limits for some uses: a criminal record certificate for a foreigner's residence application must be no more than three months old, medical results no more than six months, and a single-status certificate for marriage in Cuba must be issued within six months. For everything else, order a fresh certified copy and ask the receiving office how recent it must be.
Consular office serving Florida: Consular Office of Cuba in the United States (Embassy of Cuba, Washington, D.C.).
Four steps, one week
Order online
Pick the document and destination country on the order form and pay by card. After we review your documents, FedEx emails you a prepaid label.
Send your document
Drop the envelope at any FedEx location.
We file in person
We review it, then walk it to the Florida Department of State in Tallahassee for the authentication certificate.
Returned to you
Back in 5–7 business days — anywhere in the U.S., or abroad for a flat $100.
Why diploma or transcripts get rejected
- Notary stamp with no certificate wording, or a certificate missing the county or presence box
- Transcript still inside a sealed envelope
- Copy notarized by an outside notary instead of signed by the registrar
- School or notary located in another state
What it costs for Cuba
$220 per document, $380 for two and $160 each for three or more — the state fee, request form, in-person filing in Tallahassee and FedEx shipping inside the U.S. are included. Shipping the finished authentication to Cuba is a flat $100 per order.
Not included: whatever the issuing office charges for the certified copy or certificate, and notarization (online notarization is $40 for the first document — $10 notarization fee + $30 technology platform fee — and $20 for each additional one).