What is an Apostille document, why do I need it and where do I get it?
What is an Apostille Stamp?
An Apostille is the accepted form of Attestation required to acknowledge the validity of the foreign documents. The Apostille stamp approves the authority of the signer, in which he or she acted, not the content of the document.
What does the word “Apostille” mean?
Apostille is pronounced as a·pos·tille \ə-päs-’til\
The term “Apostille” is a French word, which means “to certify”, was first suggested by the signatory countries to the Apostille Treaty Hague Treaty 1961 to describe the accepted international form of authentication to legalize foreign public documents. The word is also pronounced ” Apostila” in Spanish.
U.S. responsible authorities for issuing an apostille Stamp
The US government has assigned TWO different authorities to issue the Apostille attestation of documents destined for foreign use depending on the document type:-
Secretary of State office
The Local Secretary of State offices in all 50 states in the designated authority to issue the apostille attestation on public state documents such as:
- Court documents.
- Notarized documents by local Notary Public Like Power of Attorney, Affidavit
- Vital Records like Birth, Death, Marriage, and Divorce Certificate.
- Corporate documents like Agreements, Certificate of Formation.
US department of State in Washington DC
It is the designated authority to issue the Apostille Stamp on documents issued by the federal Agencies in the United States such as:
- The Federal Drug and Food Administration (FDA).
- The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
- The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
- The Homeland Security Agency.
- Social Security Agency
Hague Convention Participating Countries
Since 1961, many countries have ratified the Apostille treaty to abolish document legalization procedure of foreign public documents. That link has a list of Apostille Hague countries that accept the Apostille form as an evidence of the document’s authenticity.
Source: http://www.onedayapostille.com/what-is-an-apostille/
• 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 of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. Documents which have been notarized by a notary public, and certain other documents, and then certified with a conformant apostille are accepted for legal use in all the nations that have signed the Hague Convention. (courtesy of Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostille). The processing fee is $100.00 plus 10% tax and may take up to 4 months to process.
