How exactly do I become Florida Apostille certified? I’ve had a few couples from South America ask me how to certify their foreign passport, child’s birth certificate, etc.
You don’t. Only competent authorities can issue an apostille for a particular document. The Hague Conference on Private International Law is the international organization that controls apostilles. They have a web page that lists the competent authorities for the United States. According to that page, the competent authority for Florida is the Florida Secretary of State.
So if you want to actually do the apostilles, you have to go to work for the Florida Secretary of State’s office and be appointed to whichever position has that as their day-to-day job. All the discussion you see in this thread is about notaries who, for a fee, serve as messengers, expediters, or whatever you want to call it. If I read the posts correctly, none of the people contributing to this thread ever did an apostille.
There is no certification required for anyone to go to the Florida Secretary of State’s office and present a document to be apostilled. It could be a notary. It could be a secretary. It could be the person who signed the document. It could be a person who received the document. If you’ve got the document in your hand, it’s the right kind of document, and are able to pay the required fee, you can get an apostille.
3 Likes
good day,
I will update you once a day is set; stay focused. Don’t be discouraged by the gatekeepers or people who seem to want to make everything difficult or say it’s not worth your time. As a notary who serves the public; please utilize your options within your state laws to serve your customers appropriately.
You must know your state laws and SOS guidelines. I’ve been to the SOS several times and know what to expect, I did my homework because on the Internet and forums the information is very hard to find.
This topic was put in the correct category For Beginners for a reason.
2 Likes
One point here…not sure about the passport, you MAY be able to do a certified copy of their passport - but the birth certificate is a definite no no- that must be obtained from the office that handles those - a FL notary cannot certify any vital statistic or a copy of any record where a certified copy can be issued by the issuing office.
To handle apostilles you have to know what they are and how they are used. Ashton explained it very well - he’s right, you don’t become “Apostille Certified” -the notary just needs to know whether an apostille or a certification is required (which is dependent on country requesting) and how and where to send that paperwork for processing. IOW you need to be well versed in your state laws.
3 Likes
Ok I think understand now. So the notaries who mentioned “had the apostilles work” didn’t actually notarize it, but instead served as the middle man, liaison, or courier between the Security of State and the client?
What confused me is I read a few comments of people mentioning “this week they had 5 apostilles… 5x$200+ this week alone”…and that …“Anyone can obtain an Apostille but it helps cut down on rejections if you are personally doing the notarizations…” So I assumed those Notaries physically Certified the documents.
Thank you for the clarification.
The only problem is that Florida’s SOS is located in the capital, which is about 6-7 hours away from South Florida, so it will be tough for me to commit nor make any promises to facilitate Apostille work for the client. I will need to thoroughly study our SOS’s policies and laws…
1 Like
Thank you for the update. May I ask, what made you go to the SOS several times? Did you use to live in that area? I’m in South Florida.
1 Like
Thank you Linda. But how exactly would i be able to certify a copy of their Foreign passport? What forms would I need to print/notarize?
I always refer customers to the County courthouse for requests like this.
I find it helpful to avoid vague words like “certified”. In the context of FJEANFO’s post, I’m not sure what that means.
The general idea of an apostille or legalization is that we can’t expect people in foreign countries to know who, in our country, is authorized to sign, as a government officer, public documents. So there is a system to validate these signatures.
As an example, for a Vermont birth certificate issued by the Vermont Health Department that must be sent overseas, it could be brought to the Vermont Secretary of State’s office. They would have in their files a sample signature from whoever in the health department is allowed to issue birth certificates, and they could issue an apostille, which they attach to the birth certificate. Then, foreign officials should recognize it as a real Vermont birth certificate.
Another example would be a document that has been acknowledged before a Vermont notary. Because it’s notarized, it’s considered a “public document”. Somebody who has possession of the document takes it to the VT SOS and the responsible employee looks up the notary’s signature in their files. If it matches, the employee attaches an apostille to the document and gives it back to whoever brought it in.
“Public document” is a term of art that’s used when talking about documents that have been signed, for one reason or another, by public officials. It has nothing to do with whether it’s available to the general public or not.
A third example is a regular person writes a letter and goes to the VT SOS for an apostille. Since it isn’t signed, in any way, by a government official, it isn’t eligible for an apostille. Another reason it isn’t eligible is that the regular person’s signature isn’t on file with the VT SOS so the responsible employee doesn’t know if the person at the counter really is named whatever it says on the document, and it isn’t this employee’s job to check on that.
4 Likes
You really need to bookmark, print and READ the Florida statutes so you know how to do this - as a Florida notary it is incumbent upon you to know your laws and procedures, know them like the back of your hand and know them cold. You WILL be asked to do things that are either questionable or downright illegal, and you need to not only know when to say “No” but how to find the pertinent law to back up your refusal. For your question, specifically, F.S. 117.05(12)(a)
2 Likes
I live in California, I hope this can help me get more business since things are slowing down:(
No, I wanted to know firsthand how it works because the Miami clientele wants apostilles fast, and you must be very careful with setting expectations for them. I have an apostille form that the client must sign; that clearly details the date I expect to have the apostille in their hand and also protects my company from liabilities caused by the shipping agent ( like ups. USPS etc),( documents do get lost sometimes. rare, but does happen! ) Please do not do this just for $$$ you must be very good with communication with your clients and know exactly what you’re doing.
3 Likes
Duly noted. And thanks for the tip!
Very helpful! Thank you kindly.
Very well explained. Thank you for the clarification.
Hello Patricia, I would be interested in joining your Zoom group to learn more about Apostilles. I have completed three so far that went smoothly but always interested in learning more.
Thank you, RobinPaNotary@gmail.com
Well i was looking into this thread and have a question about fbi criminal background check apostille services whom i approach for some help. anyone used them before??
hello,
Only the SOS in DCA ( apostille is being sent via mail-in to Virginia) can apostille this, it takes 6-10-weeks to process or more to receive, and it is a mail-in option only now due to short staff and convid!
1 Like
I looked at the website. The website fails to make clear what service they are providing, or why you would need it.
I have had an FBI background check to be allowed to volunteer for the Civil Air Patrol. I filled out an application, which indicated among other things that I gave CAP permission to obtain an FBI background check. I went to the local police department and they prepared a fingerprint card. I put the fingerprint card and application, envelope, and dues check in an envelope and sent it to CAP. They obtained the background check.
An individual can also get the check done and have the report sent back to themselves.
The website indicates a person might want the background check for a job in the US. Since the document is produced in the US, and is being used in the US, it does not need an apostille. Apostilles are only for documents going to certain foreign countries.
Therefore, since the main service promoted by this site is at best useless, and perhaps impossible, I regard it as a dishonest site and would have nothing to do with it.
3 Likes
A couple things of note here:
-
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
-
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.
3 Likes
Yea. Linda to the recuse!