Marriage Certificate Authentication for Haiti

Florida marriage certificates go to Haiti when a spouse needs to prove marital status before a Haitian notary, add a spouse to a property title or estate, or update civil-status records. A couple selling family land in Haiti, for instance, may be asked to show the marriage so both spouses' consent can be established. Order a certified copy from the Clerk of the County Court that issued the license or from the State Registrar, and ask the receiving office in Haiti whether it also wants a French translation.

A certified copy signed by the State Registrar or a Clerk of the County Court, certified in 2014 or later. The state fee is $10 for a State Registrar signature and $20 for a clerk-certified copy ($10 apostille + $10 certificate of incumbency); either one is included in our price. Church certificates, ceremony keepsakes, photocopies and notarized copies are not accepted.

Order from the Clerk of Court in the county that issued the license: it is the only source for marriages before June 6, 1927, and the faster one for a recent wedding, since marriages take about 60 days to reach state records. Or order from the Bureau of Vital Statistics through VitalChek (vitalchek.com), by mail or in person. Clerk, Bureau and VitalChek fees are not included in our $220.

State fee for this document: $10 — included in our price. Full details on the marriage certificate page.

After we return your document with its Florida authentication certificate, it goes to the U.S. Department of State for authentication; Haiti's embassy says its consular service will only legalize documents already authenticated by the U.S. Department of State. The last U.S. step is legalization by Haiti's Embassy in Washington, D.C. or one of its Consulates General, including those in Miami and Orlando. Ask the office in Haiti receiving your document whether it also needs a stamp from Haiti's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We don't handle, arrange or refer anyone for these steps.

We don't handle or arrange the U.S. Department of State or embassy steps. See how non-Hague authentication works.

In Florida, Haiti is represented by its Consulates General in Miami and Orlando; the Embassy of Haiti in Washington, D.C. also legalizes U.S. documents. In Haiti, Florida documents typically go to civil-status officers (officiers de l'état civil), Haitian notaries (notaires) who handle property sales and estates, the courts, and schools or employers.

Haiti's official languages are French and Haitian Creole. Many Haitian offices work with documents in French, so ask the notary, court or registry receiving your English document whether it needs a French translation. If you translate in Florida, the translator certifies the translation and signs before a different notary, and the translation is authenticated in Florida along with the original, so it carries its own certificate.

We could not find a published Haitian rule on document age. Haitian notaries and registries may still ask for recent certified copies, so order fresh Florida records rather than reusing old ones, and ask the receiving office how recent they must be.

Consular office serving Florida: Consulate General of Haiti in Miami (Haiti also has a Consulate General in Orlando).

$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 Haiti 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).