Personal Document Authentication and Apostille Services

Apostille1.com offers a complete document authentication and consular legalization service. We will take care of the entire process and return to you documents that are ready for use in the designated country.

Send us your notarized documents and indicate the destination country each document will be used or documents that have been certified by the Secretary of State of the state where the document was executed (notarized) and we will take care of the rest.

Examples of personal documents include but are not limited to:

• Affidavit of Single Status
• Power of attorney for real estate transaction
• Non criminal record such as local police check or FBI background check
• Adoption papers
• Copies of documents such as passport, driver’s license, etc.
• Vital records such as birth certificate or marriage certificate

What advantages are there to have Apostille1.com to handle your documents?

• Ease of Use. Using our services to handle your documents that need authentication or apostille saves you the hassle of sending documents directly to the State Department.  All fees are centralized and you will not need to send payment to multiple parties, often necessary when certifying documents from multiple states or consulates.
• Expertise. With over 15 years experience with handling document authentications, all orders will be correctly and promptly processed. You can quickly check the status of your document authentications with a quick phone call, or you can e-mail us for status updates and we will promptly respond.
• Less Hassle.  Apostille1.com is the delivers your documents in-person to the U.S. Department of State and any embassy/consulate they need to go to. This strategy allows for an extremely fast processing time for your documents.
• Experience.  Apostille1.com will look over all of the documents you submit to ensure that they will meet any and all requirements necessary to submit for authentication. If there are any problems with your documents, we will notify you and work with you to correct any and all problems or issues. If you send your documents yourself, embassies and the U.S. Department of State will simply send back the documents without authentication or explanation.
• Competitive and Reasonable Rates. Our economical service fee covers handling your documents to the Secretary of State, the U.S. State Department, and any embassies or consulates required.

What is Document Authentication and why do you need it?

Any document issues in a country that is needed to be used in another must be authenticated. This authentication is used to verify the legality of documents before they can be recognized in a foreign country. This process includes verifying, validating and affixing a seal to the required documents.

One of the frustrating issues with document authentication is the number and type of authentications you might require often vary depending on the type of documents and whether the foreign country has signed the Hague Apostille Convention.

The number and type of authentication certificates you will need to obtain depend on the nature of the document and whether or not the foreign country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, a multilateral treaty that covers the requirements for countries to accept legal documents.

1. If your document is intended for use in a country that has signed the Hague Apostille Convention, generally you only require an apostille certificate. For a list of counties who have joined The Hague Convention, please visit this link.
2. If the country where the document is needed is not part of the Hague Apostille Convention, there is a long, time-consuming process called the chain authentication method that must be used to authenticate a document. This is where we have to track down the individual officials that issued the document in the first place which finally ends with a seal from a foreign embassy of the U.S. Department of State.

The U.S. State Department requires the following for authentication:

1. Seals and signatures must be original.
2. All certifications must have dates in chronological order.
3. Documents that have foreign text must be accompanied by a separate sheet with translation.
4. Copies, if allowed, must be accompanied by a statement attesting to their validity and accuracy.
5. All foreign governments require that documents be authenticated by the U.S. Department of State to be considered legal. Requirements for authentication:
   1. Signed before a notary public;
   2. Certified by the clerk of court of the county in which the notary is commissioned;
   3. Certified by the Secretary of State of the state in which the document is executed.

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