Diploma or Transcript Authentication for Nigeria

Florida degrees go to Nigeria when graduates return for jobs, apply for further study, register with professional regulators, or, for young Nigerian graduates of foreign universities, deal with the National Youth Service Corps. Nigerian employers and regulators increasingly verify foreign credentials, and a legalized diploma or transcript answers that. In Florida, a public school or university document must be notarized by the registrar at issuance before it can be authenticated.

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.

After we return your document with its Florida authentication certificate, the usual next step is authentication by the U.S. Department of State, followed by legalization by Nigeria's consular office: the Consulate General of Nigeria in Atlanta serves Florida, and the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington, D.C. also has a consular section. Confirm the current requirements with the Nigerian office before you send anything. We don't handle, arrange or refer anyone for the federal or Nigerian steps.

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

Florida is served by the Consulate General of Nigeria in Atlanta, whose published jurisdiction includes Florida; the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington, D.C. also has a consular section. In Nigeria, Florida documents go to the Nigeria Immigration Service, state probate registries and courts for estates, state lands registries for property, the Corporate Affairs Commission and investment authorities for companies, and employers, universities and professional regulators.

English is Nigeria's official language, so Florida documents in English normally need no translation. If a Florida document is in another language, for example a Spanish-language record or a foreign certificate attached to a Florida affidavit, have it translated into English, certified by the translator, notarized by a different notary and authenticated in Florida along with the original.

We found no published Nigerian rule on document age for these documents. Ask the receiving office, especially for police records and bank statements, which are usually expected to be recent.

Consular office serving Florida: Consulate General of Nigeria in Atlanta (its jurisdiction includes Florida).

$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 Nigeria 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).