Apostille , Apostille ! $$$

Beginner's Questions
64

A couple things of note here:

  1. Pac Notary Signing is a notary service located in Oregon - serving Oregon, supposedly. Quick scan didn’t reveal if they are nationwide or not - so beware

  2. Something else on the website - they state: " A apostille is a type of notarization services that is used to certify the authenticity of documents for international use."

No, that’s not what an apostille is -so again, beware

Caveat: No experience with this company or this notary. Just from a cursory review of the website.

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Yea. Linda to the recuse!

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Great advice. I’ve been spending a lot of time learning this segment of the business while waiting on an increase in loan signing opportunities. I have prior experience with apostille service, but I want to make sure that I take in as much knowledge and diversify my business, just as you stated.

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I have some experience conducting Apostille Services in California. So here’s my feedback for those interested.

While the OP likely has good intentions, this thread is giving me vibes like the “LSA 10K/month hype”.

In my experience, it’s not highly complicated, but it’s also not “Easy”, “done by email”, with “no driving” or “great profits, over $200”.

I do agree with “Look out newbies, learn the laws”:
You do not have to pay for classes, but you do need to fully educate yourself before jumping in. If you are also acting as a notary for the document, know that your Secretary of State will be scrutinizing your certificate before they attach the Apostille. Here’s a helpful info from the California SOS website: https://www.sos.ca.gov/notary/apostille-faqs , also see their link (#12.) to “The ABCs of Apostilles” (PDF) brochure, which is from the Hague Conference and pertains to all states.

“Most can be done from email”, not sure what is referring to?
An Apostille is attached to a physical document that has been signed by a state public official or an original notarized and/or certified document. A photocopy is not acceptable (at least not in California). To request an Apostille, you must submit a request form along with the payment to the SOS for their processing fees. In California their fees are $20 per Apostille requested and if using lobby drop box/pick up, an additional special handling fee of $6 for each different public official’s signature to be authenticated.

Regarding “No driving in most cases”:
If you are fortunate enough to live a reasonable distance from your Secretary of State office, you will want to drive, to drop it off in person and again to pick it up when it’s completed. The benefit of this is expedited processing times and reduced (or no) shipping costs.
Also, if your clients are local to you and need the document notarized, you have an opportunity to act as the mobile notary.

If you are not in driving distance to your SOS office, then you might not have to “drive”, but instead you will incur shipping costs and much longer processing times.
To expedite processing times, you can ship the documents to a notary/courier who is local to the SOS, to hand drop off/pick up the documents for a fee.

Unfortunately once you factor in the costs (processing, courier, shipping and/or travel) most notaries are not seeing anything close to $200+ (net) for Apostille Services.

I’m not writing this to discourage anyone, but want to help notaries understand a little about what’s involved to offer this service.

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68

Good day,

The $10k LSS month hype was very real and it is still being posted on sites;
as many seasoned notaries suggest: as a notary, you must choose your own notary path and ambition; I’m not misleading anyone; I’m simply stating another option for notaries to explore**** ( rather than waiting all day for LSA work), the reason for the post is not for people to assume 10k/month from apostilles like LSS advertising; rather diversify your services for your customers. I’m doing very well with apostilles and I’m not leaving my office, so yes ***for me it’s profitable and easy, but I’ve done all my research and homework to put myself in this position. (as I stated in the initial article…)

Waiting to get selected from LSS---- no
Waiting to get paid from LSS -----no
Being chosen as LSA and then swapped for another one----no
Certification - no
E/0 insurance - no
waiting for the housing market to rebound - no
making $200 net profit - yes; of course, I won’t explain how on this internet; I’m running a business and perfected my system that works for me

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@LindaH-FL some additional information on this business entity . . . PAC Signing Notary

:swan:

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That’s GREAT. l like those NOooo.

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I would like to know more!

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This is so great to hear, I have been thinking to get certified as an apostillé since notary signings have decreased in California for me. I will definitely move forward with this. Thank you :blush:

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You do not get certified as an apostille - assisting people in getting an apostille from the SoS or other competent authority is what you do - you do not become an apostille.

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And all this time I thought there were 12 apostilles. Luke 6:13 and Mark 6:30. Maybe I mis-read it.

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How do i start??? This sounds like an amazing opportunity

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Where did you learn/train?

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“Where do you learn/train”

Your Sec of State office - check that office for “apostilles” and take it from there…it’s not that difficult if you know what THEY require to process your request. Having a FedEx account helps if you’re unable to personally deliver the request to the SoS office. I, personally used the post Office priority mail with signature verification so I know who signed for it in Tallahassee.

Hope this helps.

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78

Thanks :blush: I will definitely look into this!

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Thank you for letting me know, I thought I had to do the same process as I did to become a loan signing agent.

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Nope - all you really need to know is:

  1. Your state notary laws cold;
  2. Your state requirements for processing an apostille;
  3. The country requesting the apostille and whether they’re a member of the Hague Convention or not (will determine apostille or certification).
  4. How much to charge - not forgetting to include your services to the client along with courier fees out and back.

Best of luck. I’ve done one in 16 years here - that’s just by chance - and it was just recently. I’m waiting for the docs to come back from the SoS.

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That’s awesome, I have actually had like 5-6 requests for this just this year & I had to turn them down. How much can you charge? Thanks again :blush:

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If you do the notarizing you can charge your state-allowed fee for the notarization, then your fees are based on what your market can bear. - your time, your mileage, your courier fees, etc etc. You’re not printing - it’s general notary work, and the client already has the document - but it’s GNW with an added service you’re giving clients when their document has to go out of the country

Just make sure you research the procedure your state requires to get this accomplished so there are no hiccups.

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