Apostille by State: Fees, Offices and Turnaround for All 50 States

Every U.S. state runs its own apostille office, sets its own fee and writes its own rules, and the differences are bigger than most people expect. The same birth certificate that costs $1 to apostille in Michigan costs $40 in Connecticut. Florida will stamp your document while you wait at the counter in Tallahassee; New Jersey’s standard service takes 12 to 20 business days. Utah does not even have a Secretary of State, and Georgia’s apostilles come from a court authority most people have never heard of. This page puts every state’s apostille fee, issuing office and turnaround in one verified table, with links to our detailed state guides and the apostille services we provide in all 50 states.

How state apostilles work, in one minute

An apostille is a certificate that authenticates the signature on a public document so that more than 120 countries in the Hague Convention accept it without any embassy legalization. The critical rule: the apostille must come from the jurisdiction that issued the document. A California birth certificate goes through Sacramento, a Texas marriage record through Austin, and a federal document like an FBI background check through the U.S. Department of State in Washington. Where you live now, even if it is abroad, makes no difference.

That one rule creates fifty different procedures, fee schedules and rejection traps. We process documents in every state daily, which is exactly why this table exists: it is the reference our own team works from, published. Fees and addresses below were verified in June 2026 against each state’s official government sources, and we re-check them quarterly because states change fees more often than you would think. Utah raised its fee to $19 in July 2025; Kansas went to $10 in March 2026.

Apostille fees and offices for all 50 states

States with a linked name have a full local guide covering documents, process, vital records and FAQs. The fee shown is the official state charge per document; it is included in our pricing when we handle your order.

Verified June 2026 from official state government sources. State fees change; we re-check quarterly. Some states add expedite fees, per-signature charges or card surcharges not shown in this summary; our quote always reflects the real total before you pay.

Detailed state apostille guides

These nineteen states account for the large majority of the documents we process. Each guide covers the issuing office, fees, walk-in rules, vital records sources, common rejection traps and state-specific FAQs.

The patterns worth knowing before you start

Four states do not use a Secretary of State

Mail your documents to the ‘Utah Secretary of State’ and they go nowhere, because the office does not exist; Utah apostilles come from the Lieutenant Governor in Salt Lake City, and Hawaii and Alaska work the same way. Georgia is stranger still: apostilles come from the Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority in Atlanta. New Jersey routes everything through the Treasury’s Division of Revenue in Trenton. Misaddressed mail is one of the most common ways people lose two or three weeks.

New England runs on town clerks

In Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine, vital records live with the city or town where the event happened, not just a central state office. A certified copy from either source can usually be apostilled, but the signing clerk must be current in the state’s records. New Hampshire adds a sharp edge: photocopying a vital record there is illegal, so the apostille can only go on an original certified copy.

Recency rules quietly kill old documents

Connecticut will not apostille a document notarized more than 10 years ago. Texas requires recordable documents issued within 5 years. North Carolina rejects anything certified before April 2000. Hawaii now requires vital records issued before 2025 to be re-ordered. If your certified copy has been in a drawer for a decade, plan on ordering a fresh one, which we can arrange for you in any state.

Walk-in states versus appointment states

California, Florida, New York, Maryland, Kentucky, West Virginia and D.C. will process documents while you wait at the counter. Virginia requires an appointment booked the Friday before, caps families at one appointment per day, and sends couriers to a drop box. Connecticut abolished counter service entirely in 2025 and now works online only. The practical lesson: ‘I will just drive there’ works in some states and wastes a day in others.

Payment methods are their own trap

Several offices refuse cash by mail, some take only checks or money orders, Oklahoma adds a 4 percent card surcharge, Texas adds 2.7 percent on cards, and the Los Angeles counter in California takes no cash at all. New Hampshire wants checks made out to the State of New Hampshire, Rhode Island to the RI Department of State, and a check made out to the wrong payee gets the whole envelope returned. It is a small detail that ruins more mail-in attempts than any other.

Fees range from $1 to $40, and they move

Michigan charges $1 per document, Tennessee and Illinois $2, while Connecticut charges $40 and South Dakota and Oklahoma $25. Several states discount adoption documents, and Indiana apostilles birth certificates, transcripts and diplomas free. Because fees changed in Utah, Kansas and Hawaii within the last year alone, treat any fee list without a verification date with suspicion, including ours: the date is printed under the table.

Doing it yourself? Here is the honest checklist

This table gives you everything you need to file directly with a state office, and for a single simple document with no deadline, that can be the right call. Before you choose that route, walk through five questions. First, is your document the correct instrument: a certified copy with a live signature, not a photocopy, a laminate or a hospital keepsake? Second, does the issuing state have a recency rule that disqualifies your copy? Third, does the office take walk-ins, appointments or mail only, and what is the real turnaround once shipping both ways is counted? Fourth, does the destination country need a certified translation, and who will attach it? Fifth, if anything bounces, can your timeline absorb a two-to-four-week restart?

If all five answers are comfortable, the state office will take care of you, and the fee is modest. If any answer makes you hesitate, that hesitation is the cost of doing it twice. Our free document review exists exactly for this fork in the road: send a photo of the document, tell us the destination country, and we will tell you what it needs before you spend anything, with no obligation to order.

Documents we apostille in every state

Whatever the state, the document categories are the same, and each links to a full guide: birth certificates for dual citizenship and residency, marriage certificates for overseas registration and spousal visas, death certificates for foreign estates, diplomas and transcripts for studying and working abroad, Social Security letters for foreign pensions, utility bills for proof of address, plus powers of attorney and corporate filings. Federal records like the FBI background check follow their own route through Washington, and we run state and federal documents in parallel when a visa file needs both.

What you actually pay

Our pricing is flat and includes the state fee from the table above: $149.95 per document on Economy service or $199.95 on Express, in any state. Certified translation in 100+ languages, document retrieval and embassy legalization for non-Hague countries are quoted before you commit. Full details live on our pricing and process page, and verified client reviews show how that plays out in practice. Not sure what your document needs? Start with a free document review and pay nothing until you know it qualifies.

State apostille FAQs

Which office issues apostilles in my state?

In most states it is the Secretary of State, but there are important exceptions. Utah, Hawaii and Alaska issue apostilles through the Lieutenant Governor’s office. Georgia uses the Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority in Atlanta. New Jersey routes apostilles through the Treasury’s Division of Revenue, and Michigan uses the Office of the Great Seal. The table on this page lists the correct authority for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

How much does a state apostille fee cost?

Official state fees range from $1 in Michigan to $40 in Connecticut, with most states charging between $3 and $20 per document. Several states add expedite fees, card surcharges or per-signature handling charges. When we process your order, the state fee is already included in our flat pricing of $149.95 Economy or $199.95 Express, so the table is reference information, not an extra bill.

Why does my document have to go to a specific state?

An apostille authenticates the signature of the official who issued or notarized your document, and each state can only verify its own officials. A Texas birth certificate must be apostilled in Austin even if you live in Boston or Berlin. Where you live never matters; where the document was issued always does.

Which states are fastest for apostilles?

States with true same-day counter service include California, Florida, New Hampshire, Maryland, New York, Kentucky, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. The slowest published timelines are New Jersey at 12 to 20 business days standard, mailed requests in Texas at up to 25 business days, and Arizona mail at 10 to 20 business days. We route every order the fastest practical way for its state.

What if my document is federal, like an FBI background check?

Federal documents never go to a state office. FBI background checks, USDA certificates and other federal records are apostilled by the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. We process both routes and often run them in parallel for clients who need a state document and an FBI report together.

Do all states accept the same documents for apostille?

No, and this is where most do-it-yourself attempts fail. Connecticut requires notarization within the last 10 years. Texas requires recordable documents issued within 5 years. North Carolina requires certification dated after April 1, 2000. Delaware refuses remotely notarized documents. California rejects copies marked ‘informational only.’ Our free document review checks your document against the issuing state’s current rules before anything ships.

Can I get an electronic apostille?

A few states, including Kentucky, Washington and Colorado, offer electronic apostilles for certain documents. Acceptance depends entirely on the receiving country and authority, so we confirm with the destination before recommending the electronic route. When in doubt, the paper certificate remains the universally accepted standard.

Can you apostille documents from several states in one order?

Yes, and it is one of the main reasons clients use a service instead of doing it themselves. A typical dual-citizenship file might need a birth certificate from California, a marriage record from Nevada and an FBI report from Washington, D.C. That is three different offices, three fee schedules and three sets of rules. We split the order, file each document with its correct authority in parallel and return everything together in one tracked package.

Do I need a certified translation along with the apostille?

Frequently, yes. Many destination countries require a certified translation of both the document and the apostille certificate into their official language, and some specify translator credentials. We provide certified translation in more than 100 languages and attach it to the apostilled document so the package arrives ready to file, whichever state it started in.

How do I start an order with Apostille Depot?

Apply online in minutes and ship us the document, or send a photo first for a free review. We verify the document against its state’s requirements, file it with the correct authority, track it through certification and return it by tracked carrier anywhere in the world. One flat price, state fee included.

More answers on our full FAQ page.