Since October 15, 1981, the United States has been part of the 1961 Hague Convention abolishing the Requirement
    of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. The Convention provides for the simplified certification of public
    (including notarized) documents to be used in countries that have joined the convention. Documents destined for use
    in participating countries and their territories should be certified by one of the officials in the jurisdiction in which the
    document has been executed. Said official must have been designated as competent to issue certifications by
    "Apostille" as provided for by the 1961 Hague Convention. The text of the Convention may be found in TIAS 10072;
    33 U.S. Treaty Series (UST) 883; 527 U.N. Treaty Series (UNTS) 189, and Martindale-Hubble International Law
    Digest.

    With this certification by the Hague Convention Apostille, the document is entitled to recognition in the country of
    intended use, and no certification by the Authentications Office or legalization by the embassy or consulate of the
    foreign country where the document is to be used is required. The Authentications Office only certify to documents
    from other federal agencies and officials from foreign governments with the Apostille.
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    In international law, legalization is the process of certifying a document, so that it will be recognized by the legal system of a foreign country. The
    procedure for legalizing a foreign document varies from country to country: the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalization for
    Foreign Public Documents has supplanted this procedure with the use of the Apostille in countries that are signatories to that convention.

    Apostille is a French word which means a certification. It is commonly used in English to refer to the legalization of a  document for international use
    under the terms of the 1961 Hague Convention, Abolishing the Requirement for Legalization by a consular officer of Foreign Public Documents. With
    this certification by the Hague Convention Apostille, the document is entitled to recognition in the country of intended use, and no legalization by the
    embassy or consulate of the foreign country where the document is to be used is required.

     In other words, when a document is to be used in a foreign country, it may be necessary to authenticate the notarization or certification. Foreign
    countries often require documents to be authenticated before the documents will be accepted in the foreign jurisdiction. An “authentication” certifies the
    signature and the position of the official who has executed, issued or certified a copy of a document. For example, if you want your US marriage
    certificate to be an actual legal document in Russia, you need an Apostille for that marriage certificate. The sole function of the Apostille is to certify the
    authenticity of the signature on the document; the capacity in which the person signing the document acted; and the identity of any stamp or seal
    affixed to the document.

    The legalization process is usually complicated and in many cases the lack of time or expertise causes you delays and valuable time is lost. We provide
    legalization services for US documents that will be used abroad. Countries, that have not signed the Hague Convention, use Authentication or
    Certification, obtained by the principle of an Apostille (Prices and requirements vary. Go to "Contact us" page to inquire about Apostilles).
Apostille for documents, issued and/or notarized in the following states (free return shipping within USA):
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio,
Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Wyoming
1 Apostille: $100.00

Apostille for documents, issued or notarized in the following states (free return shipping within USA):
Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire,
North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin
1 Apostille: $120.00

Apostille for documents, issued or notarized in the following states (free return shipping within USA):
California, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington
1 Apostille: $140.00
Attention: please, read this!

In order to obtain Apostilles for your documents, original documents are required. You will have to mail them to our office. The process of Apostille obtaining
can not be done over email or with scanned or faxed copies of your documents.
If it is a certified copy of a document, ie. a birth certificate, you do not need any additional authentication. The document is already certified by the issuing
agency, i.e. Department of Health, etc. If you require Apostille for a document that wasn't issued by government, you need to notarize it, and send it to us.
Apostilles for translation require notarization and certification. Regular fees apply.

PLEASE, apply for Apostilles ahead of time! It may take up to a month to receive an Apostille for your document!

Documents issued/notarized in the following countries:
Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, China (Hong Kong), China (Macao), Colombia, Cook Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, FYR of Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland,
Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico,
Monaco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niue, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia,
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia and Montenegro, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Suriname, Swaziland,
Sweden, Switzerland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA, Venezuela,
receive Apostille.

Documents, issued in countries that are not in the list, receive Certification or Embassy Legalization.

Each country/state has its own requirements for document processing.
Please, contact us and we will email you back with complete instructions on your particular case.