Apostille Services in Fort Myers, Florida
An apostille is a certificate the Florida Department of State attaches to a document so a foreign government will accept it. It is not a notarisation, though a notarisation is often the first step. Getting the order of operations wrong is what causes rejections.
Fastest way
(941) 405-3180Mon–Sat 8am–8pm · Sun 9am–6pm · After-hours by appointment. For anything urgent, call — the phone is answered between appointments and email is the slower path.
Or tell us what you need and we’ll call you back
Same-day reply during working hours. No obligation, and we will tell you on that call if a notary is not the right answer.
What an apostille is, precisely
Under the 1961 Hague Convention, member countries agreed to accept a single standard certificate — the apostille — in place of a chain of embassy legalisations. Florida issues apostilles through the Department of State in Tallahassee.
If the destination country is a Hague member, you need an apostille. If it is not, you need authentication plus consular legalisation, which is a longer and different process. Confirming which of those two you are in is the first thing we do, because doing the wrong one wastes weeks.
The sequencing that trips people up
A vital record — a Florida birth, death or marriage certificate — must be a certified copy issued by the county or the state. A photocopy cannot be apostilled, and neither can a certified copy that you have had notarised, because notarising it invalidates it for this purpose.
A private document — a power of attorney, a corporate resolution, an affidavit, a parental consent letter — goes the other way: it must be notarised first, and it is our notarisation that the state then authenticates.
Diplomas and transcripts usually need a registrar signature notarised before the state will touch them. Getting a school to do that step is often the slowest part of the whole job.
- Vital records: certified copy only, never notarised
- Private documents: notarise first, then apostille
- Diplomas: registrar signature notarised, then apostille
- FBI background checks: federal apostille via the US Department of State, not Florida
What we handle
We notarise what needs notarising, verify the document is in a form Tallahassee will accept, prepare the cover letter and fee, and courier the package. We track it and tell you when it is back.
For dual citizenship, overseas property, foreign marriage, international adoption and overseas study applications, we will also tell you plainly when a document you have been given will not work — before you pay state fees on it.
How it works
Four steps, no surprises
- 01
Tell us the destination country
Hague member or not decides the entire process. This is question one, not a detail.
- 02
We check the document is apostille-ready
The most common failure is a document that can never be apostilled in the form you have it.
- 03
Notarisation where required
Private documents get notarised by us at this stage.
- 04
Filed with the Florida Department of State
We prepare, pay and courier the submission to Tallahassee and track it back.
Questions
About apostille services
How long does a Florida apostille take?
State processing typically runs one to two weeks plus courier time in each direction, though it moves with Tallahassee’s backlog. Expedited handling is possible for some document types. If you have a hard deadline — a visa interview, a wedding date abroad — tell us the date on the first call and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable.
Can you apostille a photocopy of my birth certificate?
No, and this is the single most common wasted trip. You need a certified copy issued by the vital records office. Do not have it notarised either — that makes it worse, not better.
My document is going to Canada or China. Same process?
Both are now Hague Convention members, so both take an apostille. That is a relatively recent change for both countries and a lot of older advice online is out of date. Tell us the country and we will confirm the current position rather than guessing.
Do I need a translation?
Often, but the receiving country sets that requirement, not Florida. Where a certified translation is needed, it is usually the translator’s affidavit that gets notarised and apostilled alongside the original.
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Read moreNeed apostille services in Fort Myers?
Call (941) 405-3180 and tell us what the document is. We will tell you what Florida requires and what it will cost before we leave.
Mon–Sat 8am–8pm · Sun 9am–6pm · After-hours by appointment