Understanding Apostilles

What is an apostille? Why is it required? How do you get an apostille done? Here's a simple explanation you may find helpful:

Think of an apostille as an "international notarization". Many notarizations are valid only within the country where the notarization is performed. So, a document notarized in the U.S. may be valid only within the U.S. A document notarized in Mexico may be valid only within Mexico. And so on...

But let's say a document must be notarized in the U.S., then sent to an official in Mexico. Because the document is crossing international boundaries, the Mexican authority might not accept the U.S. notarization as valid. An additional step may be required to authenticate that the notarization is legitimate. The solution is usually an apostille, and here's how it's done:

First, the notarization is performed. Then, the notarized document is forwarded to a state-level government office (in California, the document is forwarded to the California Secretary of State's office). That's where the apostille is performed, thereby authenticating the notarization.

The document is now ready for delivery to Mexico or any other country that accepts apostilles from the U.S.

For an alphabetical list of all participating nations, visit http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=states.listing.

Joel
http://www.drivenotary.com
http://www.sundancenotary.com