Mississippi draws one of the clearest lines in the country on what a notary may touch: a notary who does not work for the issuing agency cannot certify a copy of any official government document, not a birth certificate, not a death certificate, not a license or passport. The notarized photocopy that passes in some states is simply invalid here, and only the certified original from Vital Records or the issuing office qualifies for the $5 apostille in Jackson.
Washington D.C. runs two apostille systems side by side, and choosing the wrong one wastes weeks. Documents notarized by a D.C. notary or issued by a D.C. agency go to ONCA, the Office of Notary Commissions and Authentications, with same-day walk-in service every weekday morning. Federal documents, FBI background checks above all, go to the U.S. Department of State a few blocks away, a different office with different rules that ONCA cannot touch.
Wyoming's apostille office does not take cards. Not at the counter, not online, not over the phone: payment is cash, check or money order, with wire instructions available on request for clients abroad, and at $20 per document the fee is among the steeper ones in the country. In-person service runs by appointment only, and mail takes about five business days. Wyoming's huge LLC registry adds a corporate angle: thousands of companies formed in the state by owners who have never set foot in it need apostilled formation documents for foreign banks and registries.
West Virginia rewards bundling like no other state: the first document costs $10 and every additional document certified by the same official costs $5, so a family ordering five birth certificates signed by one registrar pays $30 instead of $50. The counter in Charleston serves walk-ins in minutes, mail turns around in about two business days, and the finished apostille carries the state seal stamped in red ink, a flourish foreign clerks remember. We have processed West Virginia apostille orders since 2012 for Morgantown's university community, Eastern Panhandle commuters with federal careers and West Virginia families managing documents for marriages,
Vermont is the only state where your apostille comes from the State Archives. The Vermont State Archives and Records Administration in Middlesex, the office that keeps the state's historical records, also authenticates its modern ones, using form VSARA-35 and accepting payment only by check or money order, never cards and never cash by mail. Business entity documents take a different door entirely, through the Business Services Division.
South Dakota's apostille office accepts no walk-ins at all, and its $50 expedite fee buys something unexpected: not faster processing, but the right to an appointment, because mailed requests already turn around in about two business days. That makes South Dakota a state where paying extra is almost never worth it and mailing correctly is everything. At $25 per document the base fee is among the highest in the country, so a rejected submission stings twice. We have processed South Dakota apostille orders
North Dakota prices apostilles like a search engine: $10 for the authentication plus $5 for every unique notary signature the office has to look up. Two documents notarized by two different notaries cost $30, not $20, and the arithmetic surprises almost everyone who reads only the headline fee. School records carry their own quirk, needing a notarized acknowledgment page signed by the principal listing the attached copies. We have processed North Dakota apostille orders
Nebraska's apostille office will reject an envelope for paying too much. Overpayments and underpayments alike can send the whole package back unprocessed, a precision rule that turns a math slip into a two-week delay. Get the arithmetic right and Nebraska is one of the most pleasant states in the country: walk-ins in Lincoln are handled immediately and completed the same day, and mail turns around in three to five business days. We have processed Nebraska apostille orders since 2012 for Omaha's insurance and agribusiness employers,
Montana gives away the one service most states charge specialists for: a free pre-check. Email your documents to the Secretary of State's office in Helena and staff will tell you whether they qualify before you mail anything, a courtesy that pairs with the state's universal certificate, one format that serves as apostille or authentication depending on the destination. The catch hides in the calendar: Montana recommends certified vital and court records issued within the last five years, because older ones get questioned abroad even when Helena will stamp them. We have processed Montana apostille orders since 2012 for ranching and energy families with business abroad
Idaho's apostille office runs on a schedule that catches drop-in visitors: appointments only, booked for mornings or mid-afternoons with a hard two-hour closure in the middle of the day. Show up at noon and the counter is dark. The office also does something almost no other state does, publishing its request form and instructions in Spanish, a nod to the families whose documents flow between Idaho and Latin America. We have processed Idaho apostille orders since 2012 for Boise's growing tech employers, agricultural exporters and Idaho families managing marriages, missions and dual citizenship
Hawaii quietly reset its own paperwork in 2025, and the change invalidates documents people have kept safe for decades: birth, death and marriage certificates issued before January 1, 2025 must be re-ordered from the Department of Health before they can be apostilled, no matter how pristine the old copy looks. Add a second step for notarized documents, certification of the notary's signature at the Circuit Court before the Lieutenant Governor's office will touch them, and a strict 7-to-10-day timeline with no expedite at any price,
Alaska shares two rules with New Hampshire that surprise almost everyone: there is no Secretary of State, apostilles come from the Lieutenant Governor's office in Juneau, and photocopying a vital record is illegal under state law, so only the original certified copy from Vital Records qualifies. Distance adds its own tax: for an Anchorage family, Juneau is a flight away, and for the thousands of Alaskans working internationally in fishing, oil and aviation, the state office might as well be on another continent. We have processed Alaska apostille orders since 2012 entirely by mail and courier, using the office's same-day mail processing
