FAQ

An apostille is a standardized certificate created by the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. It confirms that the seal and signature on your document are genuine, which lets a foreign government accept it without any further verification.

For a California document, the apostille is issued by the California Secretary of State. It certifies who signed the document — not that the contents are true.

If your destination is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, you get an apostille and you are done.

If it is not, the document is authenticated and then must be legalized by that country’s embassy or consulate in the United States. That is a second stage, with fees and timelines set by the mission rather than by us. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, and Vietnam are the destinations our clients hit this with most often.

Nothing on the certificate says it expires, and the Convention sets no validity period.

In practice the receiving authority decides. Three, six, or twelve months are common limits, and background checks and single status affidavits are the ones most often rejected for age. Ask what they require and work backwards from that date.

No. The apostille speaks only to the authenticity of the seal and signature.

Many countries also require a certified translation. Ask the receiving authority whether they want the translation done before or after the apostille — some want the apostille itself translated, others do not. Getting that order wrong means paying twice. We provide certified and sworn translation in more than 90 languages.

No. The Secretary of State verifies a real signature against records on file, which means the document has to carry one.

There are two valid forms: a certified copy issued by the county, court, or agency that holds the record, or a document notarized in front of a California notary, where the notary’s signature is what gets authenticated. Scans, photocopies, and phone photographs are rejected.

No. We are not a government agency and not a law firm. We are an independent apostille and notary service based in Orange County.

What you are paying for is document review before anything is filed, notarization where needed, physical delivery to the authenticating office, and the return leg — the parts that are slow or easy to get wrong on your own. You are free to file directly yourself.

This is the question that decides everything else, and the answer is always the same: look at the seal, not the subject matter.

California Secretary of State — birth, marriage, and death certificates issued in California; California court records; anything notarized by a California notary; California business filings; California DMV records.

U.S. Department of State, Washington — FBI background checks, USCIS naturalization and citizenship certificates, Consular Reports of Birth Abroad, IRS and Social Security letters, DD-214s, USPTO records.

Another state — anything issued outside California, no matter where you live now.

We handle all three. But sending a document down the wrong route gets it returned unprocessed, so we check before anything moves.

Yes. A New York birth certificate is apostilled by New York, a Texas diploma by Texas — living in Orange County does not change that.

We run out-of-state orders as a dedicated service so you do not have to work out an unfamiliar state office’s forms, fees, and mailing rules yourself. Tell us which state issued the document and we handle it from there.

Yes, and it is one of the most common requests we get. The FBI Identity History Summary is a federal document, so California cannot authenticate it — it goes to the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C.

We process it through our federal service, so you still only deal with us. Two practical points: it must carry the FBI seal and signature block, and receiving authorities abroad usually reject summaries more than three to six months old.

The FBI Identity History Summary is a national record and a federal document, authenticated in Washington. The California DOJ Live Scan clearance covers California only and is a state record, authenticated in Sacramento.

Most countries asking for a “U.S. police clearance” want the federal FBI summary. Confirm which one before you pay for Live Scan — we see people order the wrong one regularly.

Federal. Your birth record is a Consular Report of Birth Abroad, Form FS-240, issued by the U.S. Department of State. It functions as your birth certificate but is a federal document, so it never goes to California.

Older FS-545 or DS-1350 forms usually need replacing with a current FS-240 before they can be authenticated.

Yes, and it is one of the most frequent documents we handle.

It must be a certified copy with the registrar’s signature and seal, issued by the county recorder or the California Department of Public Health. The decorative certificate the hospital gave you, an abstract, or a photocopy will all be rejected.

If you do not have a certified copy, we can request one for you and apostille it in the same order.

A single status affidavit — also called a certificate of no marriage, a certificate of freedom to marry, or soltería — is a sworn statement that you are not currently married.

Most countries require one before allowing a foreign national to marry there. The United States does not issue such a certificate centrally, so it is created as a notarized affidavit and then apostilled.

Wording requirements vary by country and some consulates insist on their own template. Tell us the destination and we will draft it to match, notarize it, and apostille it — usually in one visit.

A power of attorney is apostilled through the notary. You sign it in front of a California notary, and the Secretary of State then authenticates the notary’s signature.

Two things matter. Do not sign it in advance — the notary has to witness the signature. And check whether the destination country requires specific wording: Mexico, India, Spain, and the Philippines all commonly do, and several consulates supply their own template. A power of attorney rejected abroad has to be redone from scratch.

Yes — teaching English abroad is the single most common reason people ask us for this, followed by graduate study and foreign licensing.

The document is notarized, either by having the registrar’s signature notarized or by notarizing a copy, and the notary’s signature is what gets apostilled. Some universities only release sealed transcripts directly to a third party, so check before you open the envelope.

You need a copy certified by the clerk of the superior court that issued the judgment — not your own copy of the filing.

California adds a step for court documents that catches people out: the county clerk must first verify the judicial signature before the Secretary of State will apostille it. We handle that sequencing as part of the order.

Some countries want the full judgment rather than the summary form, so check before ordering copies.

Yes. If you do not have the certified copy yet, we obtain it from the county or court and apostille it in the same order — you never have to visit a records office.

We will need the names, dates, and county involved. Some records are restricted to the person named or immediate family, and we will tell you upfront if that applies to yours.

Yes, and bulk corporate orders are routine. State-filed records such as articles of incorporation and certificates of status come certified from the Secretary of State. Internal documents — bylaws, board resolutions, distribution agreements, commercial invoices — are notarized first.

Send us the list and the destination country and we will sequence the whole batch.

There is no limit. Families relocating and companies filing abroad routinely send batches.

Each document is authenticated separately, so pricing is per document. If different documents are going to different countries, say so — the routing differs, and mixing Hague and non-Hague destinations in one batch is a common source of confusion.

Our country requirements lookup lists every destination with its current status, the date the Convention entered into force, and a link to the official HCCH status table.

This matters more than people expect. Several major destinations joined recently — Saudi Arabia in December 2022, China in November 2023, Canada in January 2024 — and many published lists have not caught up. Following a stale list means paying an embassy for a legalization that is no longer required.

No. The Apostille Convention entered into force for Canada on 11 January 2024. The old multi-step process through the Canadian consulate is no longer required.

A California document going to Canada now needs only an apostille from the California Secretary of State. Plenty of guidance still online says otherwise — it has been out of date since January 2024.

No. The Convention entered into force for mainland China on 7 November 2023, and it already applied to Hong Kong and Macau.

Documents for China now need only an apostille. If a local office in China is still asking for consular legalization, show them the apostille and the accession date — occasionally an individual office has not updated its checklist.

The Gulf states come up most often — the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait all still require attestation through their consulates, as do Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, and Iraq.

Elsewhere, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Thailand currently take the legalization route. Vietnam and Thailand both have accession dates scheduled, so check the country lookup before planning around them.

We hold dedicated pages for the destinations we handle most: UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Mexico has been a party to the Apostille Convention since 1995, so an apostille is all you need — no consulate step.

The complication is usually wording rather than process. Mexican notaries and registries often require a power of attorney (carta poder) to follow a particular form, and dual citizenship applications have their own document list. We offer a dedicated Mexican dual citizenship consultation for exactly this.

South Korea, the Philippines, and India are all parties to the Apostille Convention, so a California apostille is sufficient in each.

What varies is what the receiving authority wants alongside it. Indian property transactions and Philippine special powers of attorney frequently require specific wording and sometimes a consulate-supplied template, and Korea often wants a certified Korean translation. Tell us the purpose and we will flag anything extra.

California apostille service starts at $75 per document, which includes the state fee, document review, and handling.

Priced separately: embassy legalization for non-Hague destinations, because the consulate sets those fees; certified translation; record retrieval if we are obtaining the certified copy for you; and notarization at $25 per signature.

Use the cost estimator on the site, or call and we will price the whole order in one go.

For California documents that are already in certifiable form, same-day and next-day turnaround is available.

Three things extend that: obtaining the certified copy first if you do not have one, federal documents which must go to Washington, and embassy legalization which runs on the consulate’s schedule rather than ours.

Tell us your actual deadline when you order and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable.

Same-day means the document is authenticated that business day rather than sitting in a queue. It depends on two things: the document already being in certifiable form, and arriving early enough in the day.

If we still need to notarize it, that can usually happen in the same visit. If we need to order a certified copy from a county first, that stage sets the timeline instead.

Each document is authenticated individually, so the base rate is per document. For larger batches — corporate filings, family relocations, a full dual citizenship document set — call or email and we will quote the batch.

You can start and pay for an order online, or pay in person at any of our Orange County offices. For corporate accounts and recurring work, contact us and we will set up terms.

We have three Orange County locations — Anaheim/Orange, Irvine, and San Juan Capistrano — and accept mail-in orders from anywhere in the country.

See the locations page for current addresses and hours. If none of them is convenient, our mobile notary can come to you.

Booking ahead is best, particularly if you need notarization or are working to a deadline — it guarantees a notary is on site when you arrive.

Call the office you plan to visit. If you only need to drop documents off, that is usually straightforward without an appointment.

Yes. Mail-in orders are a large part of what we do, from across California and from other states.

Use trackable shipping, include the destination country and a contact number, and tell us if there is a deadline. We track the return leg as well. See the mail-in requests page for the current address and checklist.

Yes. Our notaries travel to homes, offices, hospitals, and care facilities throughout Orange County and the surrounding areas.

This is often the practical answer when a signer cannot travel — an elderly parent signing a power of attorney, or a hospital signing that cannot wait. Call to arrange it and mention if there is any time pressure.

Yes. Where you live does not determine the route — where the document was issued does.

We take mail-in orders nationwide, and we handle out-of-state documents as a dedicated service. If you are outside the United States and need a U.S. document authenticated, that works too; tell us the destination so we can advise on return shipping.

$25 per signature. Bring valid unexpired photo identification, and do not sign the document beforehand — the notary has to witness the signature.

Notarizing with us first removes the most common cause of apostille rejection, which is defective or outdated notarial wording.

Bring valid, unexpired government-issued photo identification — a driver licence, state ID, or passport. Bring the document unsigned.

If the document is going abroad, tell us the destination country. Wording requirements vary, and it is far cheaper to get it right before the notarial certificate is completed than after.

Yes. We provide certified and sworn translations in more than 90 languages, accepted by consulates, courts, and foreign registries.

Ask the receiving authority whether the translation should be produced before or after the apostille — that sequencing question is the one that costs people money.

No. California notaries are prohibited from translating documents or certifying the accuracy of a translation, and a notary who advertises as a notario público is misrepresenting their authority — the Spanish term implies a legal qualification that a U.S. notary does not hold.

Translation is a separate service, which we provide through certified translators.

Call us. Online ordering is fine for normal timelines, but a real deadline needs a conversation.

Whether it is achievable usually turns on one question: do you already have the certified or notarized document? If yes, California same-day service is often possible. If we need to retrieve a record from a county first, or it is a federal document, that stage sets the floor.

The document set depends on how you qualify — through a parent, through birth, or through residency — and consulates differ in what they accept.

Our 60-minute Mexican dual citizenship consultation, in person or virtual, reviews what you already have, identifies the gaps, and tells you which documents need apostilles and which need certified translation, before you spend anything.

Send us whatever the receiving authority told you. In our experience rejections almost never concern the apostille itself — they concern the document underneath it.

The usual causes are an underlying document that is too old, a power of attorney that does not use the wording that country requires, a missing certified translation, or the wrong document type entirely. All are fixable, and knowing which one you are dealing with saves a second wasted cycle.

Yes. Attorneys, employers, relocation agents, and family members handle drop-off and collection for others all the time.

The exception is notarization: the person signing must appear in person with photo identification. If they cannot travel, our mobile notary can go to them.

Yes. We work with immigration and estate attorneys, corporate legal departments, HR and global mobility teams, and relocation agents.

For recurring volume, contact us about a standing arrangement — it is easier to agree the process and turnaround once than to re-explain it on every file.

Yes. Our civil marriage service issues California marriage licences and performs ceremonies the same day, which pairs naturally with apostille work for couples marrying before relocating abroad.

If you need the marriage certificate apostilled afterwards for a spousal visa or foreign registry, we handle both ends.