How much does an apostille cost?

Federal Apostille charges $120 per apostille, all-inclusive. That one price covers the government filing fee charged by the issuing authority, preparation and submission of the request, and our handling. There is no separate government-fee surcharge and no per-page add-on. One document, one apostille, one price.

The rest of this page explains what that price covers, the handful of costs that sit outside it and belong to other agencies, how long each route actually takes, and the document defects that stop an apostille before it starts. If you have ever received a quote that grew at checkout, the section on how apostille pricing is usually structured will explain why.

What does the $120 include?

Everything required to turn your eligible document into an apostilled document, on the correct route, filed with the correct authority:

• The government filing fee. Both the U.S. Department of State and every state Secretary of State charge a fee to issue an apostille. That fee is already inside our flat price. You will not be invoiced for it separately after you order.
• Route determination. We identify whether your document belongs to the federal lane or a state lane before anything is filed, which is the single most common place a self-filed request goes wrong.
• Request preparation. For federal documents this means a correctly completed Form DS-4194 naming your destination country. For state documents it means that state’s own cover or request form, which differs state to state.
• Submission and tracking. Physical delivery of your document to the issuing office, and monitoring of the request while it sits with them.
• Return of the completed document. Tracked domestic return to your U.S. address.

The count is per apostille certificate, not per page. A twelve-page notarized agreement that receives a single apostille is a single charge. A folder containing a birth certificate, a marriage certificate and a background check is three apostilles, because the authority binds one certificate to each document — there is no such thing as a bulk certificate covering a stack.

What is not included in the price?

These are costs that belong to a different agency and are not ours to absorb. Being explicit about them up front is more useful than a footnote at checkout.

• Obtaining the underlying document. If you need a fresh certified copy from a vital records office, a new court-certified judgment, or a new FBI Identity History Summary, that agency charges its own fee and you order it directly from them.
• Notarization of a document that is not yet notarized. A private document — a power of attorney, an affidavit, a corporate resolution — must carry a valid notarial act before a state will touch it. The notary charges for that act.
• Certified translation. Translation is a separate professional service. It is also frequently required after the apostille rather than before, which matters (see below).
• Consular legalization for non-Hague countries. If your destination is not a Contracting Party, an apostille will not help and the document goes to that country’s embassy or consulate instead. That is a different process with its own fee schedule.
• International outbound shipping. Quoted separately where the finished document has to leave the United States.

Never let anyone apostille a translation when the destination wants the original apostilled. The apostille certifies the signature and seal on the document it is attached to. Attach it to a translator’s affidavit and you have authenticated the translator, not your birth certificate. Confirm with the receiving authority in the destination country whether they want the original apostilled and then translated, or the translation notarized and apostilled as its own document — the order is not interchangeable, and getting it backwards is a full restart.

Why do apostille quotes vary so much?

Almost all of the variation is packaging, not service. A published figure only means something once you know which of these it absorbs:

One structural detail worth knowing: state apostille fees are charged per document, and where a state offers expedited handling, that expedite fee is typically charged in addition to the standard per-document fee rather than replacing it. Washington’s Secretary of State publishes exactly that structure. A provider quoting you a single low number for a ten-document packet is either absorbing a lot or has not told you the whole total yet.

Which apostille route applies to my document?

Price is flat, but the path is not. The document’s issuer decides who can apostille it, and nobody else can. Use this to place your document before you order.

The federal lane

Documents issued by a U.S. federal agency go to the U.S. Department of State in Washington. The request runs on Form DS-4194, Request for Authentications Service, and the destination country has to be named on the form — the Department issues either an apostille or an authentication certificate depending on that country, so leaving it blank stalls the request. Note that DS-4194 is distributed as a .far file that needs a separate free form-filler application, which surprises a lot of first-time filers.

The most common federal document by far is the FBI Identity History Summary. The channeler you used does not change the route, but it does change what your printed report looks like and how it must be presented — we maintain separate walkthroughs for reports from apostille an FBI background check from First Advantage Biometrics (PrintScan), FBI background checks run through Telos ID / IDVetting, and reports issued through Biometrics4ALL.

The state lane

A state Secretary of State can only apostille a document issued by a government entity or court of that state, or a private document notarized by a notary commissioned in that state. That constraint is absolute and it is where most self-filed requests die. A New Jersey birth certificate cannot be apostilled in Florida no matter where you now live. If you are handling vital records, the walkthrough on apostilling a birth certificate covers the certified-copy requirement in detail, and there is a state-specific Massachusetts apostille guide if your document originates there.

How long does an apostille take?

Processing time is set by the office holding your document, not by us. State turnaround varies dramatically, and the published figures below are real examples rather than a nationwide average — do not assume your state matches them.

Two things people consistently get wrong about timing. First, every one of those clocks starts when the office receives the document, not when you place an order — mail transit sits on top. Second, federal authentication times have historically moved a great deal with workload, so confirm the current figure on the Department of State’s authentication services page rather than relying on a number you read months ago.

What do I need before I order? A pre-flight checklist

1. Identify the issuer. Federal agency, state or county office, or private party. This decides the authority and nothing else does.
2. Get an issuable original. Vital records must be a recent certified copy bearing the registrar’s signature and seal — not a hospital souvenir certificate, not a scan, not a photocopy of a certified copy.
3. Notarize private documents in the right state. The notary must be commissioned in the state whose Secretary of State will issue the apostille, the commission must be unexpired on the date of signing, and the seal, venue and signature must all be present and legible.
4. Confirm the destination country is in force. Open the HCCH status table for the 1961 Apostille Convention and read the entry-into-force column, not just the list of names. There are 130 Contracting Parties, and the table includes parties for which the Convention has not yet entered into force.
5. Ask the recipient about translation order. Before, after, or a separately apostilled translator’s affidavit. Get it in writing from the receiving institution.
6. Start the order. Tell us the document type, the state that issued it, and the destination country. Those three facts determine the route, and the price stays at $120 per apostille either way.

Common reasons an apostille request is rejected

Rejections cost time far more than money. These are the failures that come up again and again:

• Wrong authority. A federal document sent to a state office, or a state document sent to Washington. Neither office will forward it; it comes back.
• Wrong state. The Secretary of State can only certify officials and notaries of its own state. A document issued or notarized elsewhere is outside its jurisdiction.
• A photocopy instead of a certified copy. The apostille authenticates a signature and seal. A copy has neither in an authenticable form.
• Notarial defects. Missing seal, missing venue line, an expired commission on the signing date, a signature that does not match the commission record, or a notary whose specimen signature is not on file with the state. This is the largest single category for private documents.
• Destination country omitted. The federal request requires the country to be named, because it determines whether you receive an apostille or an authentication certificate.
• Payment method violations on federal mail-in requests. The Department of State requires a check or money order payable to the U.S. Department of State for mailed requests — no cash, checks must carry a preprinted name and address, and check numbers must be over 100. In-person requests flip the rule entirely: card or contactless only, no cash, checks or money orders.
• Requesting an apostille for domestic use. An apostille or authentication certificate is not valid for use anywhere inside the United States, its territories or possessions. If a U.S. recipient asked for one, they have asked for the wrong thing.
• Non-Hague destination. If the Convention is not in force for the destination, no apostille will be issued and the document needs consular legalization instead.
• Wrong format for the route. Some states restrict which documents may take the electronic route — Connecticut, for example, requires vital records such as birth, death, marriage and adoption certificates to go through the paper process rather than as e-Apostilles. Where an e-Apostille is properly issued it is as valid as paper and must be accepted by every Contracting Party.
• A laminated or altered document. Lamination, staples removed and replaced, whiteout, or handwritten amendments will get a document returned as altered.

Is my document eligible at this price?

Yes, if it is an apostille. The flat $120 per apostille applies whether the route is federal or state, whether the document is one page or thirty, and whether the destination is Spain, Colombia, Italy or Japan. What changes between documents is the turnaround and the prerequisites, not what we charge.

The one case where the price does not apply is when your destination country is not a Hague Contracting Party. There, the document needs embassy or consular legalization, which is a different chain of certifications ending at that country’s mission, with its own fee schedule set by the mission. Check the destination first; it takes thirty seconds on the HCCH table and saves a wasted filing.

Requirements vary by receiving institution, and the authority receiving your document abroad has the final say on what format it will accept. When in doubt, ask them in writing before you file.

Your next step

Gather three facts — what the document is, which state or federal agency issued it, and which country it is going to — and start an order with those. We confirm the route and the prerequisites before anything is submitted, so you find out about a missing seal or a wrong-state notarization at the beginning rather than three weeks in. The price is $120 per apostille, all-inclusive, and it does not move after you order.