Florida apostille requirements, document by document

Before the document-specific rules, there are four things every Florida apostille request needs. Miss one and the request comes back unprocessed.

1. A Florida signature. The document must be signed by a Florida public official (a State Registrar, Clerk of Court, school registrar before a Florida notary, FDLE, the Division of Corporations) or notarized by a notary with an active Florida commission. Documents issued or notarized in another state go to that state.
2. An original or certified copy. The state requires an original certified copy or certificate of status for public documents. Photocopies are not accepted. For notarized documents, the original notary signature, stamp and seal must be on the page.
3. The request form and fee. The official Apostille and Notarial Certificate Request Form, plus $10 per document — or $20 for documents certified by a Florida Clerk of Court — by check or money order payable to the Florida Department of State. No cash or credit cards.
4. A way back. A self-addressed stamped envelope or prepaid air bill with your name and address as both sender and recipient.

These come straight from the state's apostille page and its list of accepted types of documents. The step-by-step filing process is in how to get a Florida apostille; this page focuses on getting the document itself right.

Birth and death certificates must be certified copies issued by the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics or a county health department, signed by the State Registrar. The state confirms the State Registrar's signature before it issues the apostille.

Marriage and dissolution-of-marriage certificates must be signed by the State Registrar or by a Clerk of the County Court. If the clerk certified it, the state fee is $20 instead of $10.

Our rule: we don't file vital records certified before 2014. The signature on the certificate has to be one the state can confirm, and older certificates are where we see problems. A fresh certified copy from VitalChek (the state's official online ordering vendor) or the Bureau of Vital Statistics avoids the issue — and many receiving countries want a recently issued certificate anyway.

What doesn't work: hospital keepsake certificates, photocopies, and copies "certified" by a notary. Florida notaries can't certify copies of vital records. Details, including short-form vs. long-form birth certificates, are in our vital records guide.

Powers of attorney, affidavits, single-status affidavits, travel consent letters, contracts and corporate resolutions are apostilled on the strength of the notary's signature. The requirements:

• The notary held an active Florida commission on the date of the notarization. The state checks the commission number, expiration date and name against its notary database.
• A full notarial certificate in English — not just a stamp and signature. It must show the venue (State of Florida, County of ___), the type of act, physical presence or online notarization, the date, the signer's name, how the signer was identified, the notary's signature, typed or printed name, and seal with commission number and expiration date.
• The original notary signature and seal — never a copy of a notarized document.

The statutory certificate wordings, and the defects that get notarized documents returned, are in our notarized documents guide. If you need a notarization, our online notarization service handles it remotely.

Florida public schools and universities: the transcript, or a copy of the diploma, must be signed by the school registrar or another issuing official in front of a notary, with a full notarial certificate. In other words, it's notarized at the school when it's issued. You can't take a public school transcript to a notary yourself — Florida notaries can't certify copies of public school records.

Florida private schools and universities: the state accepts a printed transcript with a notarized statement, signed by the student or the custodian of the records, that it is a true copy. A full notarial certificate is required.

In practice, the cleanest path for either is to ask the registrar's office for a transcript or diploma copy "notarized for apostille" with a correct Florida notarial certificate. See diplomas and transcripts for apostille and our diploma apostille page.

Divorce decrees (final judgments of dissolution of marriage), name change orders, adoption judgments, probate letters and other court documents must be certified by the Clerk of Court in the county where the case was filed — either with an original wet-ink certification or with the clerk's official online e-certification. A printout from the clerk's public records website without that certification is not enough, and a notary can't certify a copy of a court filing.

The state fee for clerk-certified documents is $20: a $10 apostille plus a $10 certificate of incumbency. See the court records guide and court records apostille.

For a Florida company's records, the state requires an original certified copy or certificate of status issued by the Florida Division of Corporations — not a printout from Sunbiz. You can submit one you already have, or ask for the certified copy or certificate of status and the apostille in the same request. If you do both at once, use two separate checks or money orders: one for the certified copy or certificate and one for the $10 apostille.

Board resolutions, incumbency certificates prepared by the company, and other internal documents are private documents. They need a company officer's signature before a Florida notary with a representative-capacity acknowledgment. See articles of incorporation and certificate of status.

The state accepts Florida criminal background checks from FDLE and from local law enforcement agencies. Our rule: the check must be notarized at the time it's issued. A plain printout of an FDLE instant search can't be apostilled — FDLE states those results are not certified. Request the certified search through FDLE's Florida criminal history record check page, where results can be notarized and mailed to you.

A county sheriff's office clearance letter works the same way: ask the sheriff's office for the letter signed before a notary, with a full notarial certificate. Details are in FDLE and sheriff letters for apostille, FDLE background check apostille and sheriff clearance letter.

Florida vehicle titles must be certified by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Its fee is separate from the apostille fee.

Copies of private, non-public documents — a passport copy, driver's license copy, bank statement or employment letter — can be apostilled when a Florida notary attests the copy with a statutory attested-copy certificate, or when the person who signed the document signs a statement before a notary. This doesn't work for vital records, court filings, or other public records available as certified copies from an official source. See passport copy, bank statement and employment letter.

Translations: the state doesn't translate documents, and the translator can't be the same person who notarizes the translation. See certified translation apostille.

Go through this list before you mail or walk in your request — or before you send documents to us.

Every order we take gets reviewed against these requirements before we file it in person at the Florida Department of State. $220 per document, $380 for two, $160 each for three or more — state fee, form and FedEx both ways inside the U.S. included — in 5–7 business days. Order online, or call (850) 900-3443 if you're not sure your document qualifies. Costs are broken down on our Florida apostille cost page.