Apostille Certificate

An Apostille is a form of certification that authenticates your state documents for use in foreign countries. Pursuant to the Hague Convention, it allows the data on your documents and filings to be understood by the receiving country regardless of the official language of the issuing country.

The purpose of the Apostille is to "abolish the requirement of diplomatic or consular legalization for foreign public documents.” In plain English, it certifies the authenticity of the official state documents.

In the United States, it is usually the Secretary of State of the individual states that issues the Apostille Certificates for their own state documents.

If you need to authenticate your corporate filings in a U.S. state for use in a foreign country, you may need an Apostille Certificate. The Apostille Certificate may accompany your Certificate of Good Standing, your Articles of Organization, your Articles of Incorporation or other official documents filed with or created by your local government. When you do business in a foreign country, they may want proof of your existence and validity. They can also accompany wills, marriage licenses and other more personal official documents.

You normally need to include a copy of the document you want to accompany the Apostille Certificate and there may be a cost associated with obtaining that document. On top of that, state agencies normally charge $10-$100.