Quick answer
To bring a spouse to Qatar on your residence permit, you'll be asked for an attested marriage certificate. Florida issues an authentication certificate for Qatar, not an apostille — $220, 5–7 business days.
- Issued by
- The Clerk of Court in the Florida county where the marriage license was issued, or the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics (marriages from June 6, 1927 on)…
- Florida state fee
- $10 — included in $220
- Route
- Florida authentication → U.S. Department of State → Qatar embassy
- Online notarization
- Not applicable — needs a certified copy
- Consulate serving Florida
- Embassy of the State of Qatar, Washington, D.C.
- Translation
- We found no single published Qatari rule on translating English documents.
How a Florida marriage certificate is used in Qatar
To bring a spouse to Qatar on your residence permit, you'll be asked for an attested marriage certificate. Many employers start the family visa only after it arrives, so it is often the document that sets the family's arrival date. Order a certified copy from the Clerk of the County Court that issued your license or from the State Registrar, not the ceremony certificate. Start early: the Florida step takes 5–7 business days with us, and the U.S. and Qatari steps follow.
Getting a marriage certificate Florida will authenticate
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.
What happens after the Florida certificate — Qatar
After we return your document with its Florida authentication certificate, it goes to the U.S. Department of State for authentication, then to the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Washington, D.C. for attestation. The last step is official approval by Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Qatar; the Ministry also runs a Complete Attestation Outside Qatar service that forwards a foreign document to the Qatari mission in the issuing country and back. 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.
Who receives it in Qatar — and translation
Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs gives the final approval to foreign documents for use in Qatar. The documents are then used by the Ministry of Interior for residence permits, the Ministry of Labour and employers for work permits, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education for degree recognition, the Ministry of Public Health for healthcare licensing, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for companies, and the courts. In the U.S., attestation is done by the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Washington, D.C.
We found no single published Qatari rule on translating English documents. Qatari employers often process English documents as they are, while courts and some ministries ask for an Arabic translation. Ask the receiving office before you translate. If it accepts a Florida translation, the translator certifies it, a different notary notarizes it, and it's authenticated in Florida along with the original.
We found no published Qatari rule on document age. Employers and the Ministry of Interior may want recent vital records and police checks, so ask your sponsor how recent each document must be.
Consular office serving Florida: Embassy of the State of Qatar, Washington, D.C.
Four steps, one week
Order online
Pick the document and destination country on the order form and pay by card. After we review your documents, FedEx emails you a prepaid label.
Send your document
Drop the envelope at any FedEx location.
We file in person
We review it, then walk it to the Florida Department of State in Tallahassee for the authentication certificate.
Returned to you
Back in 5–7 business days — anywhere in the U.S., or abroad for a flat $100.
Why marriage certificates get rejected
- Certified before 2014
- Church or ceremony certificate instead of the civil record
- Notarized photocopy of the certificate
- Marriage recorded in another state
What it costs for Qatar
$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 Qatar 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).