How a Florida birth certificate is used in Mexico
Where you file decides everything. To register a Florida-born child as Mexican at the Consulate General of Mexico in Miami, the consulate asks for a certified copy and only wants an apostille when the certificate was issued in a third country; it doesn't ask for a translation of English documents. File the same birth directly with a Registro Civil in Mexico (inserción de acta extranjera) and the rules flip: apostille plus a Spanish translation by a perito traductor authorized by that state's Tribunal Superior de Justicia. Some consulates also want the long form that lists both parents.
Translation for Mexico
Our general rule is a translation certified by the translator, notarized by a different notary and apostilled in Florida. Mexico is the big exception: notarios, courts and Registros Civiles usually require a perito traductor authorized by a state Tribunal Superior de Justicia instead, done in Mexico after the apostille. Mexican consulates in the U.S. generally don't ask for a translation of English documents, and SEP revalidation accepts a simple translation.
What your Florida birth certificate must look like
The Florida Department of State apostilles the signature of the State Registrar, so you need a certified copy issued by the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics or a county health department — not a hospital certificate, a photocopy or a scan. Copies certified before 2014 carry an older signature and are not accepted; order a fresh certified copy through VitalChek or your county health department before you send it. The certified copy itself (about $9–$14 from the issuing office) is the only cost on top of our $220.
Step by step: birth certificate apostille for Mexico
- Order online — pick "Birth certificate" and "Mexico" on the order form; $220 per document, $380 for two, $160 each for three or more.
- Send a photo — reply to the confirmation email with a picture of the document. We check the certification before anything ships, so a defect is caught before it costs you a round trip.
- Drop it at FedEx — after approval, FedEx emails you a prepaid QR code; show it at any FedEx Office or Ship Center, no printer or label needed.
- Filed in person in Tallahassee — we walk the document into the Florida Department of State and ship the apostilled original back by FedEx within 5–7 business days of receipt — to your U.S. address, or to Mexico with international return shipping (+$100).
One Florida apostille is all the U.S. side needs for Mexico. Whatever the office there asks for after that — a translation, a filing deadline — is covered above.