Does an FBI background check need to be notarized for an apostille?

No. An FBI Identity History Summary is a federal public record that already carries an official FBI signature, so the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications apostilles it exactly as the FBI issued it. There is no notary step. Adding one does not help and can get the request returned.

That single answer resolves most of the confusion, but it raises the two questions that actually cause problems: why notarization is irrelevant here, and what the Department of State will accept in its place. Both are below, along with the rejection traps that send FBI apostille requests back to the sender.

Why is notarization not required on a federal document?

A notary public does one narrow job: they witness a signature and attest to the identity of the person who signed. That matters for private documents — an affidavit, a power of attorney, a parental consent letter, a corporate resolution — because nothing in those papers identifies the signer as anyone official. The notary’s commission, which is issued by a state, supplies the official act that an apostille can then certify.

An FBI report is the opposite case. It is a public document issued by a federal agency, already signed by an FBI official in their official capacity. The Office of Authentications verifies that signature against records it holds. There is no gap for a notary to fill, and a notary has no authority to attest to a federal official’s signature anyway.

The more damaging variant is asking a notary to certify a photocopy of the report. That converts your federal document into a state notarial act, which belongs on a completely different authentication chain — county clerk and state Secretary of State, not the Department of State. You end up holding a state-authenticated photocopy that the destination country did not ask for.

Do not let anyone notarize your FBI report or a copy of it. If your summary is damaged, outdated, or you need a second one, request a new Identity History Summary from the FBI. A fresh federal issuance is always the correct fix — never a notarized duplicate.

What does the Department of State actually accept?

Federal authentication requests are handled by the Office of Authentications at the U.S. Department of State. For an FBI background check, the submission generally consists of:

• The Identity History Summary as the FBI issued it — not a scan of a scan, not a photocopy, not a screenshot.
• A completed request form, Form DS-4194 (Request for Authentications Service) for mail-in filings. Confirm the current version and mailing address on travel.state.gov before you send anything.
• The destination country, named explicitly. This is not optional paperwork. The country determines whether you receive an apostille or an authentication certificate destined for embassy legalization.
• A return address and prepaid return delivery.
• The filing fee charged by the issuing agency — which is included in our flat price, so you never pay it separately.

One format question deserves care. The FBI now delivers Identity History Summaries electronically as well as by mail, and some applicants use an FBI-approved Channeler instead of applying directly. What the Office of Authentications will accept in each of those formats has shifted over time. Verify the current guidance on travel.state.gov, or let us confirm it as part of your order rather than mailing a printout and hoping.

State or federal: which office issues your apostille?

This is the most expensive mistake on the page, because a misrouted document does not get corrected — it gets returned, and you start the clock again. The rule is simple: whoever issued the document determines who authenticates it. A state Secretary of State can only certify signatures and seals belonging to that state. Federal agency records go to Washington.

If your relocation packet mixes federal and state documents — an FBI check plus a birth certificate plus a degree — they travel on separate tracks and arrive back on separate schedules. State-issued items are filed where they originated, which is why we run dedicated filings for California apostille filed in Sacramento, Massachusetts apostille filed in Boston, and Illinois apostille filed in Springfield.

How do you get an FBI background check apostilled, step by step?

1. Request the Identity History Summary. Apply directly through the FBI’s Identity History Summary Checks program or through an FBI-approved Channeler. Fingerprints are part of the process; plan for that before you count any days.
2. Confirm the destination country’s status. Look the country up on the HCCH status table for the 1961 Apostille Convention. Recent accessions have entry-into-force dates that matter — a country that joined last month may not yet accept apostilles.
3. Leave the report untouched. No notary, no staples through the seal, no “certified true copy” stamps, no separating pages. The document goes forward in the condition the FBI released it.
4. File with the Office of Authentications. Submit the summary with the completed request form naming the destination country. This is the step we handle for you at $120 per apostille, all-inclusive — the government filing fee is already inside that price.
5. Receive the apostille attached to the report. The certificate is affixed to the document and returned as a single set. Do not detach it, and do not photocopy the set and send the copy abroad.
6. Handle translation last, if the destination requires it. Arrange it only after the apostille is attached, and only in the form the receiving authority specifies.

How long does the process take?

Published turnaround at the Office of Authentications has moved significantly over the past several years, so any day count you read on a third-party page may already be stale. Check the current figure on travel.state.gov the week you file. What you can plan around is the sequence, and which stage is under your control:

Do you need a translation?

Not for the United States. An apostille certifies the origin of a document — the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the signer acted, and the identity of any seal. It says nothing about what the document means, so the language it is written in is irrelevant to the authority issuing it.

The translation requirement, when it exists, comes from the receiving country. Three patterns are common: no translation needed; translation by any competent translator with a signed certificate of accuracy; or translation by a sworn, court-registered, or consulate-approved translator inside the destination country. That last category is the one that catches people out, because a translation prepared in the U.S. is rejected on arrival no matter how good it is. Ask the receiving authority which pattern applies before you pay for anything, and never have a translation bound into the apostilled set unless you have been told to.

Common reasons an FBI apostille request is rejected

• Sent to a state Secretary of State. No state office can authenticate a federal record. The package comes back unprocessed.
• Notarized photocopy submitted instead of the FBI issuance. Wrong chain, wrong authority, wasted postage.
• Destination country left blank. Without it the office cannot determine whether to issue an apostille or an authentication certificate for legalization.
• Unacceptable format. A scan of a scan, a screenshot, a faxed copy, or a printout that does not meet current Office of Authentications guidance.
• The report is too old for the receiving authority. The FBI does not expire its summaries — immigration departments, employers, and adoption agencies do. Ask whether their clock runs from the FBI issuance date or the apostille date.
• Destination is not a Convention party. An apostille cannot be issued for it; the document needs consular legalization instead.
• Name mismatch. The name on the report does not match the passport or visa application — common after marriage or a legal name change, and a problem the receiving authority raises, not the U.S. office.
• Pages separated or altered. Once the apostille is attached, detaching it, re-stapling, or copying the set defeats the certification.

When do people need an apostilled FBI background check?

Visa and residence permit applications

Long-stay visas, residence permits, and citizenship-by-descent files routinely require a nationwide criminal record check with an apostille. A state police certificate is not usually an acceptable substitute, because the consulate wants federal coverage. Check the recency window before you order the report — this is where a months-old summary gets rejected.

International employment and professional licensing

Employers abroad, regulated professions, and foreign work-permit authorities often want the FBI check alongside proof of qualifications. It is typically submitted as part of a bundle, and the other pieces in that bundle are usually state-issued, which means parallel filings in more than one office.

Adoption and family matters

Intercountry adoption files are the most document-intensive and the least forgiving of formatting mistakes. Everything must match: names, dates, spellings across the FBI report, birth certificates, and marriage records. Confirm exactly what the foreign central authority expects before you file anything, because re-running a criminal record check mid-dossier costs weeks.

Academic programs abroad

Universities and teaching placements — particularly English-teaching programs in Asia — commonly require an apostilled FBI check together with an apostilled degree. The academic documents follow the state route and have their own prerequisites; see our guide to diploma and transcript apostille requirements for studying abroad for how those are prepared.

Requirements vary by destination and by institution, and the authority receiving your document has the final say on whether it accepts what you present.

What to do next

Get the Identity History Summary in hand from the FBI first — nothing can be filed without it — and confirm your destination country on the HCCH status table while you wait. Then send us the summary exactly as the FBI issued it, with the destination country named. We file it with the Office of Authentications at $120 per apostille, all-inclusive, with the government filing fee already covered, and return the apostille attached to your report. If any part of your packet is state-issued, tell us at the same time and we will run those filings in parallel rather than one after another.