Apostille for a Florida sheriff's office clearance letter

A clearance letter is a local records check issued by a county sheriff's office. It reports what that agency's own records show about you, typically whether there are local arrest or incident records under your name. Depending on the county, the office may call it a local background check, a letter of clearance or a records check letter.

It is a different document from the statewide criminal history check issued by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The FDLE check covers Florida as a whole; a sheriff's letter covers one agency's records. Some receiving authorities want one, some want the other, some want both. For the statewide check, see our FDLE background check apostille page.

The Florida Department of State lists both FDLE and local law enforcement criminal background checks among the documents it will apostille.

• Residency and long-stay visas, where the consulate asks for a police certificate from your place of residence.
• Work permits and teaching jobs, where the employer or ministry asks for a local certificate in addition to a state-level check.
• Marriage abroad and citizenship applications, where some registries ask for a certificate of good conduct.
• International adoption files, where agencies may want checks from every jurisdiction the applicants lived in.

Read the requirement carefully. If the wording says "state" or "national" level, a sheriff's letter alone will not satisfy it.

The Florida Department of State does not apostille a sheriff's records clerk's signature on its own. Our rule is simple: the clearance letter must be notarized at the time the sheriff's office issues it. The records employee signs the letter before a Florida notary, and the notary completes a full notarial certificate.

When you request the letter, say plainly that it is for use abroad and will be apostilled, and ask for the notarized version. A plain printout, an emailed PDF, or a letter you take to a notary afterwards cannot be apostilled. You cannot sign it yourself, and a notary cannot certify a copy of it.

Each sheriff's office sets its own process, fees and identification rules, so contact the records section of the county where you live or lived. Two examples we have checked:

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office

PBSO's Central Records Division lists "Local Background Checks" and "Police Letters of Clearance" among its services. Its main office is at 2195 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, FL 33406, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, excluding holidays, with branch locations in Royal Palm Beach, Belle Glade, Lake Worth and Greenacres. Central Records is cashless (credit/debit card or check), takes records requests online, and can be reached at (561) 688-3140. Ask them for a notarized letter when you request it.

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

HCSO takes records requests through an online Records Request Center and its Records Section. We have not found a published clearance-letter procedure, so ask the Records Section directly whether it issues a clearance letter for use abroad and whether it can be notarized at issue.

If a sheriff's office will not notarize its letter, the statewide FDLE check may be the better document for your purpose. FDLE explains its process on its criminal history records page.

Check the letter when it arrives, before you ship it:

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.

• Not notarized. The most common problem by far.
• Notarized later by a notary who did not witness the records employee's signature.
• Incomplete notarial certificate, for example no venue or no presence box checked.
• A copy or scan instead of the original letter.
• Too old for the receiving authority, even though the apostille is valid.

Police certificate requirements vary by program and change often. Confirm with the consulate that serves Florida whether a local letter, the FDLE check, or both are needed.

• Spain and Italy: residency and visa files.
• Mexico, Colombia and Peru: residency and work permits.
• Philippines and India: work, marriage and family files.

If the country where you will use the clearance 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.