Florida Apostille for Dominican Republic.

The Apostille Convention has applied to the Dominican Republic since August 30, 2009 (HCCH status table), so a Florida apostille is the complete authentication for Florida documents going there. What changes from case to case is which Dominican office receives the document and what it expects. These three come up most.

Dirección General de Migración (DGM): residency

DGM's temporary work-residency checklist is a useful benchmark for what Dominican immigration expects from foreign documents (DGM RT-3 requirements):

• A long-form birth record (acta de nacimiento inextensa) showing complete details of both parents, apostilled or legalized.
• A marriage certificate, a declaration of single status (declaración de soltería) or proof of cohabitation, apostilled or legalized. A foreign marriage is accepted as an apostilled copy.
• A criminal-record certificate from the country where you lived for the last five years, apostilled or legalized. The checklist names the specific issuing authority it wants, so read that line carefully before ordering anything.

Junta Central Electoral (JCE): civil registry

The JCE runs the Dominican civil registry through its Oficialías del Estado Civil. When a Dominican citizen's birth or marriage happens in Florida, the apostilled Florida certificate is what gets recorded on the Dominican side, either through a Dominican consulate or in the DR. The JCE or the consulate gives you the current checklist.

MIREX: the reverse direction

The Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (MIREX) handles authentications for Dominican documents. You don't need MIREX for a Florida document with a Florida apostille.

Dominican offices usually want the Spanish translation to carry its own apostille, not just the original. The route that works for most filings:

1. Get the Florida apostille on the English-language original.
2. Have the original and its apostille translated into Spanish by a professional translator, who signs a certification of accuracy.
3. The translator signs that certification before a Florida notary — not the translator's own notary stamp; the Florida Department of State says the translator can't be the notary.
4. We apostille the notarized translation as its own document (bundle pricing applies: $380 for the original plus the translation).

Some Dominican offices may instead want the translation made in the Dominican Republic; if yours does, send the apostilled original there and have it translated. Ask the receiving office which version it wants before you pay for a translation. See how translations get apostilled.

We file every order in person at the Florida Department of State in Tallahassee: 5–7 business days door to door. All-inclusive pricing is $220 per document, $380 for two, and $160 each for three or more. We can ship the finished documents to the Dominican Republic for a flat $100 per order.

• "Acta inextensa" = a Florida birth certificate with full parent details. Order a certified copy from the Bureau of Vital Statistics or a county health department, signed by the State Registrar, that shows both parents' information. Copies certified before 2014 aren't accepted for apostille; order a fresh one through VitalChek.
• "Declaración de soltería" = a Florida single-status affidavit. A notarized affidavit with a complete Florida notarial certificate can be apostilled. Confirm with the receiving office that it accepts this format. See single-status affidavit apostille.
• Divorces. Send the final judgment certified by the Clerk of Court, with original wet-ink certification or the clerk's official e-certification.
• Criminal records. An FDLE background check or a sheriff's clearance letter must be notarized at issuance. It's a state-level record, though. If your DGM checklist names a different issuing authority, an apostilled FDLE check won't replace it, and that other certificate isn't something we handle.
• Powers of attorney for property in Punta Cana, Santo Domingo or elsewhere. A complete Florida notarial certificate is required. Online notarization costs $40 for the first document ($10 notarization fee + $30 technology platform fee) and $20 for each additional one.

Work through this before you send us anything.