Same-day apostille for Massachusetts and New Hampshire documents

What our same-day apostille includes

Same-day rush costs $385.95 with the Massachusetts or New Hampshire state fee included. It covers the eligibility check before you pay, filing in person at the state office, the apostille itself and a guaranteed 24-hour turnaround. It is built for deadlines you cannot move: a flight, a closing, a consulate appointment or a contract that will not wait.

• A free eligibility check. We confirm the document, the state and the destination before you pay, so you do not pay the rush fee for a document that is not ready to file.
• The state fee. $6 a document in Massachusetts and $10 in New Hampshire, as published in 2026, already inside the price.
• Filing in person. We take your document to the state counter ourselves instead of mailing it into the standard queue.
• Tracking. You can follow the order in our online tracker and reach us by phone during office hours.
• Your choice of return. Pick it up in Tewksbury or have it sent by the courier you choose. Courier upgrades are optional add-ons.

What the 24 hours cover

The clock starts when your eligible document is in our hands in Tewksbury, ready to file, by that day's cutoff on a business day. It stops when the apostilled document is ready for pickup or handed to your courier. Transit back to you comes on top, so choose the return method with your deadline in mind. If you searched for a next-day or one-day apostille, this is that service.

When the guarantee does not apply

• Documents issued or notarized outside Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
• FBI checks and other federal records, which only the U.S. Department of State can apostille.
• Documents that are not ready to file, such as a photocopy, a missing or incomplete notarization, or a notary from the wrong state.
• Destinations outside the Hague Convention, which need legalization instead.
• Weekends, state holidays and days a state office is closed.
• Documents that reach us after the day's cutoff, which start on the next business day.

Our terms of agreement cover cancellations and refunds.

Four conditions for a same-day rush

A document qualifies for same-day rush when four things are true: it was issued or notarized in Massachusetts or New Hampshire, it is ready to file, it is going to a Hague Convention country, and it reaches us by the day's cutoff on a business day. Where you live does not matter. Where the document comes from does.

1. The right state. The official who signed it, or the notary who notarized it, is from Massachusetts or New Hampshire. A New Hampshire resident with a birth certificate from Ohio does not qualify, and an Ohio resident with a Massachusetts birth certificate does.
2. Ready to file. A certified copy from the issuing office, never a photocopy or a hospital keepsake. A notarization by a notary of the same state, complete in every line. In New Hampshire, an original, notarized copy of any vital record.
3. A Hague destination. The Apostille Convention was in force in 129 countries on 28 September 2026, according to the HCCH status table, including China since 7 November 2023 and Canada since 11 January 2024. Thailand joins only on 28 February 2027. Check our Hague apostille country list if you are unsure.
4. On time. The document reaches Tewksbury by the day's cutoff, on a business day, while the state office is open.

Massachusetts documents: the Boston counter

Massachusetts apostilles come from the Commissions Section of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, in Room 1719 at One Ashburton Place, Boston, for $6 a document. The counter finishes up to three documents the same day. Four or more are ready after 3:00 PM the next business day, and anything left after 4:00 PM waits until the next business day.

The three-document limit is printed in bold on the state's own request form: more than three hand-delivered documents must be left overnight and picked up the next business day, with no exceptions. It shapes every multi-document rush, so if you have four or more Massachusetts documents on a deadline, call us before you send them, and we will tell you how the filing will run before you pay.

What Boston will certify

The office certifies original signatures from a short list: the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and Massachusetts notaries public, justices of the peace, city and town clerks or their assistants, court clerks or their assistants and the Registrar of Vital Records. A certified birth, marriage or death certificate, a court record certified by its clerk, a certificate from the Corporations Division and a document signed before a Massachusetts notary all qualify.

What Boston refuses

• Federal documents and documents from other states. They go to the U.S. Department of State or to the state they came from.
• Notarized copies of government-issued documents, whether federal, Massachusetts or out-of-state. The form's own examples are a notarized photocopy of a Delaware certificate of good standing and of an FBI background check. A notarized passport copy falls under the same rule, as our passport copy apostille guide explains.
• Photocopied signatures, however clear they look.
• Notary blocks with gaps. The notary must sign exactly as commissioned, with a complete certificate, a clear commission expiration date and a legible seal.

For a country outside the Hague Convention, Boston issues a Certificate of Appointment instead of an apostille, and the embassy step follows. That route cannot be done the same day.

Fall River and Springfield

The Secretary of the Commonwealth also processes certifications at two regional offices: 218 South Main Street, Suite 206, Fall River, and 436 Dwight Street, Room 102, Springfield, both open 8:15 AM to 4:30 PM on weekdays. The state says document limits and turnaround vary there, so call ahead if you plan to go yourself. Our guaranteed 24-hour turnaround applies to documents that come to us in Tewksbury.

Need a notarization first?

If a power of attorney, an affidavit or a single status statement still needs a notarized signature, our notary service in Tewksbury can handle it as an add-on, and the document then goes to Boston as a Massachusetts notarization. This works for documents you sign, not for copies of government-issued documents. Our Massachusetts apostille guide covers everything else about the Boston office.

Rush birth certificate in Massachusetts or New Hampshire

The fastest way to get a Massachusetts birth certificate is in person. As published in September 2026, the Registry of Vital Records and Statistics at 150 Mount Vernon Street in Dorchester charges $20 a copy at the counter and processes most requests immediately. The clerk of the city or town where the birth was recorded also issues certified copies, and either one can go on our same-day rush.

VitalChek also takes online and phone orders, at $54 for the first copy and $42 for each additional copy. The Registry holds births from 1936 to the present. Records from 1931 through 1935 have moved to the Massachusetts State Archives, and older records may be held by the town. Bring the name, date and place of birth and photo ID. Some records are restricted: a record of a birth to unwed parents is released only to the child, the parents, a legal guardian or a legal representative. Hospital keepsake certificates and photocopies cannot be apostilled, so ask for a certified copy.

The same two sources issue marriage and death certificates. A marriage certificate comes from the town where the couple filed their marriage intention, or from the Registry. See our pages on birth certificate apostilles, marriage certificate apostilles and death certificate apostilles.

In New Hampshire

New Hampshire vital records come from the city or town clerk or from the Division of Vital Records Administration at 9 Ratification Way in Concord, whose lobby is open 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM. The fee is $15 per search, charged even when no record is found, and $10 for each extra copy of the same record ordered at the same time. For an apostille, tell the clerk the copy is going abroad and ask for an original, notarized copy, because photocopying a vital record is illegal in New Hampshire and the Secretary of State apostilles only notarized public documents.

New Hampshire documents: the Concord office

New Hampshire apostilles come from the Secretary of State's Office in Room 204 of the State House, 107 North Main Street, Concord, for $10 a document. Walk-in requests are taken Monday to Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:15 PM and are usually finished the same day, though a large batch may wait until the next business day.

The rule that decides a New Hampshire rush is notarization. The office apostilles public documents notarized by a New Hampshire notary public or justice of the peace who watched the official sign, and that includes birth, marriage and death certificates. A certified copy ordered for a passport application or a new job may not meet that standard, so a rush often starts with the right copy from the clerk.

• Vital records must be originals. Photocopying a vital record is illegal in New Hampshire, and the office refuses any vital record not submitted in the form set by RSA 5-C:98 and RSA 5-C:99.
• The notary must be from New Hampshire. A document notarized in Massachusetts or Maine is apostilled by that state instead.
• The office does not notarize. Everything has to be notarized before it reaches Room 204.
• Federal documents are out. The office names FBI background checks, naturalization papers and passports as federal documents it cannot apostille.
• Big batches cost more to rush. Under RSA 5:10, same-day service on 10 or more documents adds $25 for every 10.
• Non-Hague countries get a certificate. It replaces the apostille, and the embassy step follows, which cannot be done the same day.

Signing a new document near the border, such as a power of attorney? You can sign it before our notary in Tewksbury instead. The apostille then comes from Massachusetts, because it follows the notary's commission, and the document can still go same-day. This does not work for vital records, which have to come from New Hampshire. Our New Hampshire apostille guide covers the Concord office in full.

What cannot go same-day, and the fastest route instead

Documents from any state other than Massachusetts and New Hampshire, federal records and documents for countries outside the Hague Convention cannot use same-day rush. Neither can passport copies, or documents that are not ready to file. Each still has a quickest route, and we tell you which one fits your deadline before you pay.

Same day at your own state's counter

If your document comes from another state and you are near its apostille office, going in person may beat any mail service. As published in September 2026, California's counters in Sacramento and Los Angeles typically finish requests within 30 minutes, New York's walk-in offices apostille up to 10 documents the same day, Georgia's counter typically takes under 20 minutes, and Texas finishes walk-ins the same day on Mondays and Fridays. Others work by appointment only, including Virginia and Utah. Our state guides list each office's rules, including California, New York, Georgia, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania, and our apostille by state directory covers the rest.

New York documents need one more step: a notarized document goes to the county clerk where the notary is registered before the Department of State will apostille it. Through us, the quickest option for a New York document is Express, which takes 1 to 5 business days in most states. For timing in every state, see how long an apostille takes.

Getting your document to us fast

The quickest hand-off is to bring the document to our office at 1215 Main St, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876, Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern. If you cannot come in, send it by local courier the same morning or by overnight delivery the day before. Call first either way, so we can confirm the day's cutoff.

Tewksbury sits close to Interstate 93 and Interstate 495, which makes the office an easy stop from much of eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. We serve clients by drop-off from the Merrimack Valley, including Lowell, Andover, Billerica, Chelmsford, Lawrence and Methuen, from the Route 128 corridor and Boston, and from southern New Hampshire towns such as Nashua, Salem, Derry and Manchester.

You do not have to be local. A Massachusetts or New Hampshire document can reach us from anywhere by overnight courier, and the finished apostille can go back the same way, to a U.S. address or abroad. Living far from both states with a document from somewhere else? Our apostille near me guide explains how we handle documents from every state by mail.

Same-day, Express or Economy: which one you need

Choose same-day rush when the deadline is within a few days and the document is from Massachusetts or New Hampshire. Express, our expedited service for documents from any state, takes 1 to 5 business days in most states for $199.95, and Economy takes 1 to 3 weeks for $149.95. All three include the state fee, a free review and online tracking.

If you have a week or more, Express on a Massachusetts or New Hampshire document usually fits, at about half the price of the rush. See all our apostille services, or start your order now.

Tips for a tight deadline

Call before you send anything, have the certified copy in hand rather than on order, make sure any notarization was done by a notary of the same state, and confirm the destination takes an apostille. Then choose the fastest hand-off and return you can, and tell us the exact deadline at the start.

• Call first. A short call to (978) 424-4629 confirms eligibility and the day's cutoff before you spend the rush fee.
• Get the right copy. A certified copy from the Registry or the town clerk in Massachusetts, or an original, notarized copy in New Hampshire.
• Check the notary's state. The notary has to be from the state that will issue the apostille.
• Confirm the destination. China and Canada take apostilles now. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait do not.
• Ask how recent the document must be. An apostille does not expire, but the office abroad may want a recently issued copy, so confirm with the consulate, court or lawyer. See do apostilles expire.
• Plan any translation. If the destination wants one, it usually comes after the apostille. We offer certified translation in more than 100 languages.
• Plan the return. Tell us the deadline and the return method at the start, so we can plan the return leg from the first call.