On this page

1. Who apostilles a power of attorney or notarized document?
2. What is an apostille on a notarized document, exactly?
3. Which notarized documents qualify for an apostille?
4. Acknowledgment or jurat: which notarial certificate works?
5. How do you apostille a power of attorney, step by step?
6. State or federal: where does your document actually go?
7. What is a "true copy" apostille, and when do you need one?
8. Can a remotely online notarized document be apostilled?
9. How long does it take, and what affects the timeline?
10. Hague versus non-Hague: what changes?
11. Do you need a translation?
12. Special cases: corporate, real estate, minors, and medical
13. Pre-submission checklist
14. Common reasons an apostille request is rejected
15. How do you find your state's apostille office?
16. Related walkthroughs
17. What to do next

Who apostilles a power of attorney or notarized document?

The Secretary of State of the state where the notary is commissioned — not the federal government. A power of attorney, affidavit, or any privately drafted document becomes eligible for an apostille the moment a state-commissioned notary signs and seals it. The apostille certifies that notary’s commission and signature. It says nothing about whether the document itself is true or legally adequate.

This single point resolves most of the confusion. The US Department of State’s Office of Authentications handles documents signed by a US federal official, a US consular officer, or a foreign consul registered with its Office of Protocol. Your notary is none of those. The Department’s own apostille certificate guidance routes non-federal documents back to the state that issued them.

Never send a notarized power of attorney to the federal Office of Authentications, and never notarize a federal document you are sending there. The Department of State warns that a federal document is no longer valid once it has been notarized. State and federal processes pull in opposite directions on this one point, and getting it backwards costs you a full round trip.

What is an apostille on a notarized document, exactly?

It is a standardized certificate, defined by the 1961 Hague Convention, that a designated Competent Authority attaches to a public document so that another Convention country will accept it without further legalization. For a notarized document, the “public official” whose signature is being verified is the notary.

South Carolina’s Secretary of State describes an apostille plainly as a state certification of the signature of the official who signed a public document, and confirms that documents notarized by a commissioned South Carolina notary qualify. Washington DC’s Office of Notary Commissions and Authentications puts it the same way: its job is to verify that the notary or authorized official who signed is properly commissioned and legitimate. That is the whole scope of the certificate.

Practical consequence: if a bank in Madrid rejects your power of attorney because the powers granted are too vague, an apostille cannot fix that. The apostille was never about the contents. Get the wording right with the receiving party first, then authenticate.

Which notarized documents qualify for an apostille?

Any document that a notary commissioned in that state has properly notarized, provided the state’s own eligibility rules are met. Texas frames this with a useful taxonomy: documents that are not recorded with a state or county official are “non-recordable” and can be notarized by a Texas notary to qualify. Documents that are recorded — birth certificates, marriage records, court records — are “recordable” and, in Texas, cannot be notarized or copy-certified by a notary at all. They travel on the certified-copy route instead.

Common documents that reach the Secretary of State via notarization:

• General, limited, durable, springing, and medical powers of attorney
• Affidavits, sworn statements, and declarations of single status
• Parental consent and minor travel authorization letters
• Corporate resolutions, board minutes, shareholder certificates, and signature attestations
• Contracts, deeds, and property transfer instruments intended for foreign registries
• Copies of diplomas and transcripts, where the state permits a notary to certify a copy
• Translator certificates of accuracy

Types of power of attorney and where each one lands

The type matters because the receiving institution abroad usually dictates specific language, and some jurisdictions require a specific instrument.

• General POA — broad authority over the principal’s affairs. Frequently used when someone relocates abroad and leaves an agent in the US, or the reverse.
• Limited or special POA — one transaction or one asset. Most foreign property closings, vehicle sales, and bank account operations want this narrow form, naming the property, account, or matter precisely.
• Durable POA — survives the principal’s incapacity, which is why guardianship and long-term care planning use it.
• Medical or healthcare POA — appoints a healthcare decision-maker. Often paired with an advance directive, and often required in the destination country’s own format.
• Corporate POA — an entity authorizes a representative abroad. Nearly always accompanied by a notarized corporate resolution and evidence that the signer holds office.

Acknowledgment or jurat: which notarial certificate works?

Both are apostillable. The difference is what the notary is attesting to, and the receiving party — not the notary — decides which one you need.

Whichever certificate you use, it must be complete: state and county of the venue, the date, the signer’s name spelled as it appears in the document, the notary’s signature, the seal, and the commission expiration date where the state requires it. A state authentication clerk compares the seal and signature against the commission on file. Anything missing or inconsistent is a return.

How do you apostille a power of attorney, step by step?

1. Confirm the destination’s requirements first. Ask the foreign bank, notary, registry, school, or attorney exactly what wording, format, and recency they need. Many civil-law countries expect a POA drafted to their own template. Fixing this before notarization saves an entire cycle.
2. Check the destination country’s Hague status. Look it up on the HCCH status table for the Apostille Convention. Read the entry-into-force column, not just the presence of the country name — a state can appear as a Contracting Party before the Convention is actually in force for it.
3. Sign before a notary commissioned in the right state. The state whose notary signs is the state that will apostille. If your agent is in Florida but you sign in Illinois, the apostille comes from Illinois. Bring valid photo identification and do not sign anything in advance unless the notarial certificate is an acknowledgment.
4. Inspect the notarial certificate before you leave. Venue, date, names, signature, seal, commission expiry, and — for multi-page documents — a certificate that clearly covers the whole instrument. Ask for the pages to be bound or numbered “page X of Y” so nothing can be swapped later.
5. Add the county certification if that state requires it. A minority of states require the county clerk of the notary’s county to certify the notary’s signature first, with the Secretary of State then authenticating the county clerk. California and Texas do not impose this step for notarized documents. Verify on the state’s own page before mailing.
6. File with the Secretary of State. Submit the original notarized document, the state’s cover sheet or request form naming the destination country, the filing fee, and prepaid return shipping. The destination country must be named — it determines whether you receive an apostille or an authentication certificate.
7. Route non-Hague documents onward. If the destination is outside the Convention, the state issues an authentication certificate rather than an apostille; that goes to the US Department of State’s Office of Authentications and then to the destination country’s embassy or consulate for legalization.
8. Translate last, if at all. Have the translation prepared after the apostille is attached, unless the recipient specifically wants the apostille to sit on top of a translated document.

We handle steps four through seven as a single flat-fee filing — $120 per apostille, all-inclusive, with the state’s filing fee already covered rather than billed on top.

State or federal: where does your document actually go?

Use this decision aid. The question is always “who signed it,” never “what is it about.”

Texas is worth studying because its office states the rule bluntly: it is the only agency in the state that can authenticate Texas public records for foreign use, and it cannot touch federal documents such as a Certificate of Naturalization or an FBI background check. Texas also issues what it calls a universal apostille, a single certificate serving as both authentication and apostille — but documents bound for non-Convention countries still need the federal layer afterward.

If your matter genuinely is federal, the paths differ: see our walkthrough on how to apostille an FBI background check, or the case study on apostilling a federal court document for use in Germany. For state-issued paperwork, our page on California apostille requests filed in Sacramento shows what a state-level filing involves.

What is a “true copy” apostille, and when do you need one?

A true copy apostille is what you get when you cannot part with the original. Instead of apostilling the original document, a notary executes a copy certification — a notarial certificate stating that the attached photocopy is a complete and accurate reproduction of an original the notary examined — and the state apostilles that notarial act. Passports, diplomas, corporate charters, and permanent resident cards are the usual candidates.

Two hard limits:

• Not every state lets a notary certify copies. Copy certification authority is granted by state notary law and some states withhold it entirely, or allow it only for documents not obtainable from a public recorder. Texas states directly that recordable documents cannot be notarized or turned into certified copies by a notary — a birth certificate copy from a Texas notary will not get you an apostille.
• The receiving party may refuse it. Foreign registries and universities frequently insist on a certified copy from the issuing agency itself, apostilled directly, and will not accept a notary’s copy certification as a substitute. Ask first.

Where a copy certification is unavailable or unacceptable, order a fresh certified copy from the issuing agency — the vital records office, the registrar, the court clerk, the Secretary of State’s business division — and apostille that instead.

Can a remotely online notarized document be apostilled?

Often yes, but the answer is state-specific and format-driven. Remote online notarization is authorized in most states, and a RON act performed by a validly commissioned notary is a legitimate notarial act. The friction is downstream, at the authentication counter.

Three things to confirm before you book a RON session for a document that needs an apostille:

1. Is the notary commissioned in a state that authorizes RON? The commission state governs the act, regardless of where the signer physically sits. Some states also require the notary to use an approved technology provider and to have registered separately to perform remote notarizations.
2. Will that state’s authentication office accept the record? Some offices apostille electronic notarial records and issue e-Apostilles. Others process paper only, in which case you need a certified paper printout of the electronic record — often produced by the RON platform with a tamper-evident certificate attached. Ask the office directly.
3. Will the destination accept an e-Apostille? The HCCH is explicit that an e-Apostille is as valid as a paper one and must be accepted by every Contracting Party. Reality on the ground varies: some foreign registries and courts still want ink, a raised seal, and a stapled certificate. When in doubt, take the paper route.

One more caution: only a designated Competent Authority can issue an apostille. The HCCH Permanent Bureau has no mandate to issue or verify them, and no online service can generate one outside the official channel. If a website offers you an instant downloadable apostille, it is not an apostille.

How long does it take, and what affects the timeline?

Turnaround depends on which office handles it, how you submit, and whether a county or federal layer is involved. The figures below are the structural stages — confirm current processing times with the specific office, because state backlogs move.

Texas illustrates how scheduling itself becomes a timing factor: appointments on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, walk-ins Monday and Friday, and submissions of more than ten documents dropped off for a three-business-day turnaround under a registered drop-box system. Every state has its own operating rhythm.

Filing fees exist at every government layer described above. Our price includes them — $120 per apostille, all-inclusive, with no per-page add-on and no separate government-fee line.

Hague versus non-Hague: what changes?

Hague Convention destinations

One certificate, one office, done. The state apostille is the end of the chain, and the receiving country must accept it without consular involvement. The HCCH status table listed 130 Contracting Parties at its 30 June 2026 update. Two subtleties that trip people up:

• Listed is not the same as in force. The status table’s “Contracting Party” label covers states for which the Convention has not yet entered into force. Always read the entry-into-force column.
• Objections break the link between two specific countries. When a state accedes, existing parties may object, and the Convention then does not enter into force between the objecting state and the acceding state. Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland each objected to Burundi’s accession, for example. If your document runs between two countries and one objected to the other’s accession, an apostille will not work for that pair.

Non-Convention destinations

The full legalization chain applies: notarization, then state certification, then authentication by the US Department of State using Form DS-4194, Request for Authentications Service, then legalization at the destination country’s embassy or consulate in the US. Consulates set their own rules on translations, jurisdiction by state of origin, appointment access, and document age. Build in weeks, not days.

Note also that the Department of State will not certify a document when it has good reason to believe the certification is sought for an unlawful or improper purpose — a refusal ground stated on the DS-4194 form itself under 22 CFR 131.2.

Do you need a translation?

The apostille never requires one. It attaches to the English document and to the notary’s certificate, and Competent Authorities do not translate anything. The requirement, when it exists, comes from the recipient.

Handle it in one of three ways, depending on what the recipient asks for:

• Translation after apostille, done abroad. Most civil-law countries want a sworn or court-registered translator in their own jurisdiction. Send the apostilled English original and let them translate locally. This is the safest default.
• US translation with a notarized certificate of accuracy. The translator signs a certificate of accuracy before a notary; that notarized certificate is a separate document and needs its own apostille. Budget for two apostilles.
• Bilingual document from the start. Some foreign counterparties supply a dual-column POA. If you use one, make sure the notarial certificate is in English and complies with your state’s wording requirements, or the state office may not recognize it.

Special cases: corporate, real estate, minors, and medical

Corporate and banking

Foreign banks and registries almost never accept a bare POA from a company. Expect a bundle: a notarized corporate resolution or board minute authorizing the transaction, a notarized incumbency or signature attestation showing the signer holds office, and often a certificate of good standing or certified articles from the Secretary of State’s business division. The corporate certificates are state-issued and apostilled directly; the resolutions and attestations reach the same office through notarization. Each item needs its own apostille. If the company operates across states, watch for split routing — Delaware corporate records get apostilled in Delaware even if every officer signs in New York.

Real estate abroad

Property closings are the least forgiving category. Foreign notaries and land registries typically require a limited POA that identifies the property by its registry description, names the agent by full legal name and passport or national ID number, states the exact acts authorized, and carries an expiration date. Registries also apply recency rules, commonly rejecting documents more than three or six months old. Get the draft approved by the closing notary abroad before you sign anything.

Minors and school matters

Travel consent letters, guardianship authorizations, and school enrollment paperwork usually need both parents’ signatures, each notarized. If only one parent signs, expect the receiving school or border authority to ask for a custody order or death certificate — and those are court or vital records documents on a different apostille route. Where the child’s identity must be evidenced, a certified birth certificate from the state vital records office is apostilled alongside the notarized consent, not copy-certified by a notary.

Medical and guardianship

Healthcare powers of attorney and advance directives are often subject to the destination country’s own statutory format, and a US form may simply not be recognized. Hospitals abroad frequently want a translated instrument executed under local law instead. If the matter is a formal guardianship or conservatorship, the operative document is usually a court order — a certified copy from the clerk of court, apostilled through the state, or through the federal route if it is a federal court record.

Pre-submission checklist

• Original wet-ink notarized document, not a photocopy or scan — California explicitly refuses photocopies
• Notarial certificate complete: venue, date, signer name, notary signature, legible seal, commission expiry
• Correct certificate type — acknowledgment or jurat — matching what the recipient demanded
• Notary’s commission current on the date of notarization and not expired
• Multi-page documents bound or paginated so the notarial certificate clearly covers the whole instrument
• Signer’s name spelled identically in the document body, the signature, and the notarial certificate
• State cover sheet or request form completed, with the destination country named
• County certification obtained, if that state requires one
• Filing fee paid in the form the office accepts — many state offices refuse cash by mail
• Prepaid, trackable return envelope included
• Destination country’s Hague status and entry-into-force date checked on the HCCH table
• A scanned copy of everything kept for your own records before you mail the originals

Common reasons an apostille request is rejected

These are the failures that send documents back, in rough order of frequency:

• Wrong state. The document was mailed to a state that did not commission the notary. Only the commissioning state can verify that signature.
• Wrong level of government. A notarized POA sent to the federal Office of Authentications, or a federal record sent to a Secretary of State. Texas states outright that it cannot apostille federal documents.
• Incomplete notarial certificate. A blank county line, a missing date, an unsigned certificate, or an omitted commission expiration date where the state requires it.
• Seal problems. Smudged, faded, cut off by the page margin, overlapping text, or scanned rather than impressed. Clerks compare it against the commission on file.
• Expired commission. The notarization date falls after the commission expired, or the notary’s signature on file no longer matches.
• Photocopy submitted instead of the original. A frequent and avoidable rejection.
• Notary added a legal opinion. Certifying that a POA is valid, that a signer had capacity, or that the contents are true goes beyond notarial authority and can void the act.
• Copy certification the state does not permit. A notary certified a copy of a recordable public record in a state that prohibits it.
• Destination country omitted. The office cannot decide between an apostille and an authentication certificate without knowing where the document is going.
• Missing county certification in the states that require it as a prerequisite layer.
• Fee or payment method wrong. Underpayment, personal checks where they are not accepted, or cash sent by mail.
• No return shipping. Without a prepaid envelope the file waits, and some offices return the package unprocessed.
• Improper purpose. The Department of State declines certification where it has good reason to believe the request serves an unlawful or improper purpose.
• Document rejected abroad after a clean apostille. The apostille was correct but the POA’s wording, scope, or age failed the receiving institution’s rules. This is why you confirm the draft before notarizing.

How do you find your state’s apostille office?

Start with the National Association of Secretaries of State’s apostille and document authentication directory, which lists the competent authority for every state and territory and instructs you to contact the state that issued the document. From there, go straight to that state’s own page for its current cover sheet, submission address, appointment rules, and accepted payment methods. A few examples of how differently states present the same service:

• California Secretary of State — requires the document, a cover sheet naming the destination country, payment, and return arrangements; mail requests are processed in Sacramento.
• Texas Secretary of State — universal apostille, recordable versus non-recordable document taxonomy, appointment and walk-in days.
• South Carolina Secretary of State — authentication cover letter, self-addressed stamped return envelope, per-document fee.
• District of Columbia ONCA — a non-Secretary-of-State competent authority handling DC notarial acts.

Related walkthroughs

Documents that start life as agency records rather than notarized instruments follow a different path. Two worked examples: apostilling a Social Security benefit letter for a Costa Rica residency application, which is a federal-agency document, and apostilling a USDA export certificate for a shipment to Japan, where the issuing agency’s own signature is what gets authenticated.

What to do next

Do these two things before anything else. First, email or call the person abroad who will accept the document and ask for their required wording, their preferred notarial certificate, and any recency deadline. Second, open the HCCH status table and check the entry-into-force column for that country. Those two answers determine everything downstream.

Once your document is signed and sealed, send us a clear photo of the notarial certificate and tell us the destination country. We will confirm the correct filing state, flag any county or federal layer, and file it — $120 per apostille, all-inclusive, government filing fees included. Requirements vary by state and by receiving institution, and the authority abroad always has the final word on whether a document serves its purpose.