What is a Florida apostille, and what is it for?

Picture a civil registry clerk in Rome looking at a Florida birth certificate. She has never seen a Florida State Registrar's signature and has no way to check it. The same goes for a notary's stamp from Palm Beach County or a clerk's seal from Hillsborough County.

The apostille solves that problem. Under the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, each member country designates a "competent authority" that vouches for its own officials' signatures with one standardized certificate. Other member countries agree to accept that certificate instead of demanding a chain of embassy legalizations. You can read the treaty itself on the HCCH website.

For documents from Florida, the competent authority is the Florida Secretary of State. So the purpose of a Florida apostille is simple: it makes a Florida public document — or a document notarized in Florida — usable in another Hague member country without further certification.

This is the part people most often get wrong. Under the Convention, an apostille certifies three things:

• the authenticity of the signature on the document,
• the capacity in which the person signed (State Registrar, Clerk of Court, notary public), and
• where there is one, the identity of the seal or stamp.

It does not certify that what the document says is true, accurate or legally valid. If an affidavit contains a false statement, the apostille doesn't fix it. If a power of attorney is drafted in a way the foreign country won't accept, the apostille doesn't fix that either. The Florida Department of State doesn't read your document for content — it checks the signature against its records.

That's also why a notarized document is apostilled on the strength of the notary, not the signer. The apostille confirms the notary was commissioned in Florida; the notary confirmed who you are. If you're unclear on how those two fit together, see apostille vs. notarization.

Only the Florida Secretary of State's office, through the Division of Corporations. Florida apostilles are issued in one place: 2415 N. Monroe Street, Suite 810, Tallahassee. There's no branch office in Miami or Orlando, and county clerks, notaries, courts and consulates can't issue one. Florida is also listed as a competent authority in the HCCH's directory of competent authorities.

Private services, including ours, don't issue apostilles. We prepare the request and file it at the state's office. Anyone offering a "Florida apostille" that didn't come from that office in Tallahassee isn't offering a real one.

Florida can only certify Florida signatures. A birth certificate from New York or a document notarized in Georgia has to go to that state's competent authority.

A Florida apostille is a one-page certificate attached to your document. The Convention requires it to carry the title "Apostille" with the French subtitle "(Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)", and it follows the Convention's standard layout of numbered fields:

• the country that issued the document (United States of America),
• the name of the person who signed your document,
• the capacity in which they signed,
• the seal or stamp the document bears,
• where and when the certificate was issued, and by whom,
• the certificate number, and
• the seal and signature of the issuing authority.

Florida adds its own security features. Certificates are printed on security paper that can't be photocopied cleanly — a copy shows the word "VOID" throughout. Each certificate carries a unique identification number on the back, in the lower left corner. Those details come from the state's apostille FAQ.

Keep the certificate attached to the document. If the two are separated, the foreign authority can't tell they belong together.

An apostille is accepted only in countries that are parties to the Apostille Convention. The current list is on the official HCCH status table, and our Hague Convention countries guide explains how to read it. Membership changes over time, so check it for your destination right before you file.

For countries that aren't members, the Florida Department of State issues a different certificate: a notarial certification, also called an authentication. Same office, same $10 or $20 state fee, same request form. The difference is what happens next. A non-Hague country also expects a U.S. Department of State authentication and then legalization by its embassy or consulate. We handle the Florida step — same price and turnaround as an apostille — but we don't handle or arrange the two steps after it. See non-Hague authentication and our non-Hague authentication guide.

The state accepts Florida state agency documents, birth and death certificates, marriage and divorce certificates, circuit court and Clerk of Court documents, school transcripts, vehicle titles, documents notarized by a Florida notary, FDLE and local law enforcement background checks, and Division of Corporations certified copies and certificates of status. The reasons people need them tend to repeat:

The foreign authority decides which documents it wants. Always work from their checklist. The full directory is at documents we apostille, and the rules for each type are in the requirements guide.

If you receive a Florida apostille and want to confirm it's genuine, start with the physical checks: security paper, the unique ID number on the back in the lower left corner, and no "VOID" pattern (which would mean you're looking at a copy). The Florida Department of State will also verify a certificate for you — send a copy of the certificate with a written request to its Apostille/Certification Section. The process is described in the state's FAQ.

You can file directly with the state — the full process is in how to get a Florida apostille — or have us do it. We file every order in person in Tallahassee for $220 per document, $380 for two, or $160 each for three or more, including the state fee, form and FedEx both ways inside the U.S., in 5–7 business days. Order online, or see processing times and costs first.