Florida documents bound for Lebanon
Lebanese families in Florida keep close legal ties to Lebanon: they register births and marriages with Lebanese civil records, manage family apartments and land, collect rent and pensions, and settle inheritances. Most of that runs through powers of attorney and certified U.S. records. Lebanon is not a party to the Apostille Convention, so Florida documents need authentication and legalization by the Lebanese Embassy, which covers Florida.
What happens after our Florida step
After we return your document with its Florida authentication certificate, it goes to the U.S. Department of State for authentication, which Lebanon's embassy requires for documents such as powers of attorney and life certificates. Next, the Embassy of Lebanon in Washington, D.C., whose jurisdiction includes Florida, legalizes it. Ask the office in Lebanon whether the document also needs to be certified by Lebanon'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.
Who receives it in Lebanon
Florida falls under the Embassy of Lebanon in Washington, D.C., according to its published jurisdiction list; there is also an Honorary Consulate of Lebanon in Tampa. The embassy legalizes documents and registers births, marriages, divorces and deaths of Lebanese citizens. In Lebanon, documents go to the personal status registry, religious and civil courts, the land registry, notaries, banks and pension funds.
Lebanon's embassy translates Lebanese documents into English but doesn't publish a rule for translating U.S. documents into Arabic. Lebanese courts, registries and notaries generally work in Arabic and may require a translation, often made in Lebanon. Ask the receiving office. If it accepts a Florida translation, the translator certifies it, a different notary notarizes it, and it is authenticated in Florida with the original.
The embassy's published pages don't set a document-age rule for most documents. Lebanese registries and courts may want recent certified copies, so order fresh Florida records and ask the receiving office how recent they must be.
What it costs
$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 Lebanon 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).