Apostille Services in Florida and other US states
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Foreign embassies or consulates, like the Brazilian Consulate, often require an apostille or notarial certificate for vital record certificates. The 1961 Hague Convention established the apostille as a form of authentication for its member states.
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What is an Apostille for?
The apostille certifies the authenticity of the issuing official’s signature. Countries that are nonmembers of the 1961 Hague Convention are issued notarial certificates, which also authenticates the issuing official’s signature. The Florida Secretary of State is the only designated Competent Authority to issue apostilles in the State of Florida.
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Eligible documents
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Four types of documents are mentioned in the convention:
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court documents
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administrative documents (e.g. civil status documents)
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notarial acts (e.g Power of Attorney, Proof of Life, Authorization for Minor to travel, etc.)
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official certificates which are placed on documents signed by persons in their private capacity, such as official certificates recording the registration of a document or the fact that it was in existence on a certain date and official and notarial authentications of signatures.
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Legalization
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A state that has not signed the Convention must specify how foreign legal documents can be certified for its use. Two countries may have a special convention on the recognition of each other's public documents, but in practice this is infrequent. Otherwise, the document must be certified by the foreign ministry of the country in which the document originated, and then by the foreign ministry of the government of the state in which the document will be used; one of the certifications will often be performed at an embassy or consulate. In practice, this means the document must be certified twice before it can have a legal effect in the receiving country. For example, as Canada is not a signatory, Canadian documents for use abroad must be certified by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa or by a Canadian consular official abroad, and subsequently by the relevant government office or consulate of the receiving state.
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SCG Law & Language can help you to have
your document notarized and apostilled with the
Florida Department of StateÂ
Do you need a document issued in English to be used outside the US?
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Get in touch with us, and we will make sure you have your document notarized and apostilled in less than 20 business days (including postage). If you need it faster, ask us about expedited services.
How it works:
1) Notary and Apostille services
=> Upload your document. We will check what type of notarization it will require whether it can be apostilled, and we will send you a quote.
=> Book an appointment for the notarization. Go to Mobile Notary Services and choose Client Address (your address) or Business Address (our business address).
=> After the notarization is completed, we will take the document and send it to be Apostilled.
2) Apostille only
=> Send us your original document or certified copy by mail. We can also pick up your document at your address, with a small travel fee (over a 5-mile distance).
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=> Upload your document to receive a quote by clicking the button below.
I was in desperate need understanding the process of apostille and finding a notary who spoke Portuguese and Sonia helped me through the whole process. Not only did she explain everything to me (even though I still wasn’t a client) she understood how quickly I needed the document and expedite the whole thing.
I recommend her 100%