Apostille & Authentications

**Our private apostille legalization agent offers this service independent from and not as a notary public.**

Apostille & Authentications

An Apostille or an Authentication certifies the authenticity of the signature, seal and position of the official who has executed, issued or certified a copy of a public document. An Apostille or an Authentication enables a public document issued in one country to be recognized as valid in another country.

An Apostille is a certification form set out in The Hague Convention abolishing the requirement of legalization for foreign public documents (1961).

Check to see if the country your document is going to is participating in the Hague Convention.

Apostille vs. Authentication

An apostille and an authentication are two styles of certificates that can be attached to your public records to validate that they are from Texas.

Both styles of certificates validate the origin of your public record that you want to use in another country.

1. Apostille

An apostille certifies a document so countries in the 1961 Hague Convention will recognize it.

2. Authentication

Authentication certificates are for documents you use in countries not in the 1961 Hague Convention Treaty.

Public records can be recordable documents or non-recordable documents.

Recordable documents are issued by a statewide agency/officer and are not permitted to be certified by a notary public.

Alternatively, non-recordable documents are not issued by statewide agencies/officers and can be notarized in English by a Texas Notary Public to be considered a public record.

Documents issued by a county official, city or local registrar are considered recordable documents.

Examples Include:

Certified copies include:
- Marriage licenses
- Divorce decrees
- Probated wills
- Judgments
- Birth/death certificates, etc.
Vehicle title histories
Business Documents

Non-recordable documents is any other document that can be notarized by a Notary Public.

Examples include:

School records/transcripts
Adoption proceeding documents
Contracts
Bill of Sale
Etc.

State of Texas

Issues with a Universal Apostille, which can be used in place of either Authentication or Apostille

The universal Apostille can be accepted in all countries, but must be further authenticated by the Office of Authentications

at the US State Department for countries that are not a party to the Apostille Convention, prior to submission at the country of destination.

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Hague and Non-Hague Countries

In 1961 various countries entered into the Hague Convention to share documents, such as birth certificates, court orders, or any other document issued by a public authority so that they can be recognized in foreign countries that are members of the 1961 Hague Convention Treaty..

If the COUNTRY OF DESTINATION is NOT a Member of the 1961 Hague Convention, Embassy Legalization must be obtained. We refer to this as a “Non-Hague Countries”.

If the COUNTRY OF DESTINATION IS a Hague Country, it will need to be notarized by the Secretary of the in which the document originated. We refer to this as a “Hague Country”.

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Síganos

Apostille & Authentications