Spain /Portugal is accepting new passports request. School is returning, here in Florida I’ve noticed a lot of requests for Apostille Service, which is the highest paying service for notaries (compared to LSA work), and most can be done from email. Easy!!!
Look out newbies, learn the laws and make great profits!!!
No driving in most cases
No fighting a random button that gives your assignment to others after you selected it
No waiting 15 weeks to randomly hope you are being paid…
Over $200 for most services…
I can sort of see not driving; I suppose you could just fedex the document to the Secretary of State or whoever does it in your state. I’ve never done any apostille work, but I imagined that for a $xxx fee the customer would have expected me to physically walk the document to the Secretary of State’s office (which would mean driving). I don’t know how it is in Florida, but here in Vermont, the Secretary of State isn’t set up to do electronic apostilles, so “most can be done from email” doesn’t apply. Also, around here, original documents that were created in Vermont as electronic documents are few and far between. So the paper document will have to be physically delivered to the Secretary of State’s office, whether by a company like FedEx, or by the apostille service.
I know another notary here in FL who used to do these - she’d FedEx the docs to SoS and provide a return FedEx label to get docs back - that FedEx fee was included in her invoice…and paid up front
If I were to facilitate them that’s how I’d do it - our SoS is almost two hours away - and I’d probably end up just dropping the docs off, not waiting for them. Not sure how our SoS office works but I doubt they drop everything to wait on people. Notaries in Southern Florida are 5-6 hours away from the SoS office, so using FedEx for this service is a no brainer IMO
I’m trying to help the new notaries to be versatile with their services, the LSA marketing was so strong in 2020 that people actually believed in the 10k month success stories…
Fast forward to 2022 …the hype seems to gone…
Properly marketing Apostille service is the #1 profit margin service to offer as a notary without all the rules and variables of a LSA.
There are some well-established businesses that focus on this service alone, in major cities, people pay very well for this service and they rely on the notary’s expertise…
Newbies; do not get discouraged, stay focused find your niche, and excel. This week I had 5 apostilles… 5x$200+ this week alone, I know the process, partnered with the right people, and executed the apostille for my clients. Max input time 30mins (your location does play a part in this service)
Diversify your services and you will stay profitable …simple…oh and I’m not waiting a month for an LSS check … paid upfront…
ewing_joe, that’s so good I made a permanent copy of it on my computer hard drive. So now we have some CA county clerks who reject documents if a custom-written acknowledgement leaves out the genders that don’t apply, and an office of the SOS that rejects documents that don’t somehow show which gender applies.
I love my Vermont certificates, which don’t have any gender at all.
ewing_joe’s experience seeing many apostille requests being rejected for notarial errors, and the responsible notaries being written up for possible disciplinary action, is a lesson for us no matter which state we are from.
I can’t imagine how the Vermont SOS could even come up with a set of rules to decide if a notarial certificate from a Vermont notary is right or wrong, because notaries who work in the court system or who are law enforcement employees don’t have to follow the rules that other notaries do.
My name is the notary public on the apostille, just received 3 from SOS today…Clients paid over $200+ without errors.
contacting clients to pick up…
So much information has been safeguarded or paywalled through the older notaries that it makes it so difficult for new notaries to thrive or even attempt apostilles; I’m teaching new notaries the ropes (locally not on this internet) to follow the law exactly and not put up paywalls or courses. so many notaries did the course, read .when real-world clients come you need to know how to handle the situation in accordance with your state laws…
OK, everyone, I guess I went a step too far with my offbeat humor.
Apostilles (conflated with “Apostle” like the followers of Jesus). One of Jesus’ followers (the apostle Judas) betrayed Him (went bad - get it?)
Oh, never mind. I’ll stick to my considered opinions or just stay off this site altogether. Too hard to make up notary humor.
Is is very lucrative, however you must know your state laws, the apostille offices requirements and I highly suggest you notarize the documents so you know its done right.
Custodial acknowledgment forms help too if you can go to the SOS office.
Only the SOS can actually do the apostille; however you must know all the requirements of the SOS, you’re simply the courier of the documents; but most clients need notarizations. I wouldn’t say a course is needed ; however if you are close to the SOS ask them or call them about the process. Timing is the most crucial part of Apostille ; people are paying for worry -free service and timely documents. I visited the SOS in here in Florida and asked everything learned a lot about the process.
Great answer. No, no formal training required…just research on your part … get SOS requirements and look up your state laws. There maybe information in your notary handbook or your State notary requirements
I thought it was funny:)