Apostille for an employment verification letter

An employment verification letter is a private document on company letterhead, signed by someone with authority to speak for the employer, usually HR, a manager or an officer. It typically confirms your position, start date, whether the job is full-time, your salary, and, for remote-work visas, that you are allowed to work from abroad.

The Florida Department of State does not authenticate company signatures. It authenticates the signature of the Florida notary who notarized the signer. So the letter must be signed in front of a Florida notary, who attaches a complete notarial certificate.

• Work visas, where the foreign authority checks your experience or current employment.
• Remote-work and digital nomad visas, where you must prove you work for a company outside the destination country and earn a set income.
• Residency applications and renewals based on income from employment.
• Professional recognition, where a licensing body abroad wants proof of years of experience.

Requirements differ by program. Read the consulate's checklist for the wording the letter must contain before HR signs anything; a second signature means a second notarization.

Two Florida certificates fit an employment letter. Either works for the apostille, as long as it is complete.

Acknowledgment in a representative capacity

The signer acknowledges signing the letter on behalf of the company. The certificate names the signer, the capacity (for example, "HR Director") and the company. This is the most natural fit for a letter signed by an officer or HR representative.

Jurat (oath or affirmation)

The signer swears or affirms that the contents are true. Some receiving authorities prefer a sworn letter. If yours asks for a "sworn" or "affidavit-style" letter, use a jurat.

Whichever is used, the certificate needs the venue (State of Florida, County of ___), the physical presence or online notarization box, the date, the signer's name, how the signer was identified, and the notary's signature, printed name and seal with commission number and expiration date.

This is the most common snag. A Florida resident works for a company headquartered in another state, HR signs the letter there, and their local notary notarizes it. That letter can only be apostilled by the state where the notary is commissioned, not by Florida.

Our online notarization add-on fixes this. The HR signer joins a secure video session with a Florida-commissioned online notary from wherever they are, completes identity verification, and signs electronically. The notarization is a Florida notarization. We print it with a Florida attested-copy certificate and file it for the apostille, so HR does not ship any paper. The add-on is $40 for the first document ($10 notarization fee plus a $30 technology platform fee) and $20 for each additional document.

Remember that the person who signs must be the person on the video call, and they need a government photo ID.

Before the signing:

Price: $220 for one document, $380 for two, and $160 each for three or more. That covers the Florida Department of State fee, the request form, and FedEx both ways inside the U.S. Shipping the finished documents to an address outside the U.S. is a flat $100 per order. Turnaround is 5–7 business days, and we file every order in person in Tallahassee.

• Notarized in another state, usually at the employer's headquarters.
• Acknowledgment wording without the capacity, so the certificate does not say whom the signer represents.
• Missing presence box or ID line on the certificate.
• A digitally signed PDF printed out with no notarization at all.
• Signer's signature on the letter does not match the name in the certificate.

• Spain: remote-work visa applicants often need a letter confirming employment and authorization to work remotely.
• Italy and Germany: work and residence permits that look at employment and income.
• Mexico, Colombia and Brazil: residency based on income, including remote workers.
• Israel and South Africa: work permits and professional files.

The consulate that serves Florida is the authority on what the letter must say. When in doubt, ask them before HR signs.

If the country where you will use the employment letter is a party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention, the Florida Department of State attaches an apostille and you are done on the U.S. side. You can check any country on the official HCCH status table.

If the country is not a party (the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt are examples), Florida issues a certificate of authentication instead. We handle that Florida step at the same price and in the same 5–7 business days. Let's be straight with you about what comes after: non-Hague countries then require a U.S. Department of State authentication and legalization by that country's embassy or consulate. We do not handle or arrange those two steps, and we do not refer you to anyone for them. Your receiving authority or the embassy's checklist sets that sequence. Details are on our non-Hague authentication page.