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State Apostille vs. Federal Apostille

The most common mistake in apostille processing is sending your document to the wrong authority. Here is how to determine which one you need.

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Who Issued Your Document?

Start here: who issued the document? The answer determines which authority issues your apostille.

A state or county agency

State vital records, county clerk, state court, state-commissioned notary, university

Your state's Secretary of State

State-level apostille authority

A federal agency

FBI, USCIS, U.S. Department of State, federal courts, Department of Defense

U.S. Department of State

Office of Authentications, Washington, D.C.

Source: USAGov confirms this routing. The Hague Conference (HCCH) lists each U.S. state Secretary of State and the U.S. Department of State as separate competent authorities under the Apostille Convention.

State Documents

These documents are apostilled by a state Secretary of State. Under the True Copy method, the apostille may come from a different state than the one that issued the document. Under Original Protocol, the apostille comes from the same state.

Document TypeIssued ByApostilled ByTypical Processing
Birth CertificateState vital records officeState Secretary of State1-6 business days (varies by state)
Marriage CertificateCounty clerk / recorderState Secretary of State1-6 business days
Death CertificateState vital records officeState Secretary of State1-6 business days
Diploma / TranscriptCollege or universityState Secretary of State1-6 business days
Divorce DecreeState courtState Secretary of State1-6 business days
Power of AttorneyNotary (state-commissioned)State Secretary of State1-6 business days
Corporate DocumentsState agencyState Secretary of State1-6 business days

Federal Documents

These documents must be apostilled by the U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications. State offices cannot process them.

Document TypeIssued ByApostilled ByTypical Processing
FBI Background CheckFBIU.S. Department of State6 to 14 business days
Certificate of NaturalizationUSCISU.S. Department of State6 to 14 business days
Consular Report of Birth AbroadU.S. Department of StateU.S. Department of State6 to 14 business days
Federal Court DocumentsFederal courtsU.S. Department of State6 to 14 business days
Military RecordsDepartment of DefenseU.S. Department of State6 to 14 business days

What Happens If You Send to the Wrong One?

The wrong authority will not process your document. They will return it unprocessed, often with a brief rejection letter. The consequences are significant:

  • You lose the weeks already spent in transit and waiting for a rejection decision.
  • You must restart the process from the beginning with the correct authority.
  • If your document has an expiration window (such as an FBI background check required within 3 months), you may need to obtain a new document entirely.
  • Federal processing cannot be expedited, so a routing mistake on a federal document costs you a minimum of several additional weeks.

We Handle the Routing

When you submit documents through Apostilles.us, we review each document to determine whether it requires a state or federal apostille. We route your documents to the correct authority automatically, so you never have to worry about sending to the wrong office.

State apostille service starts at $149 per document, which includes document review, correct routing, and tracked return shipping. Federal documents are routed to the U.S. Department of State on your behalf.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Under our True Copy method (used for approximately 95% of orders), you simply upload a scan of your document. We create a notarized true copy and submit it for apostille through a Secretary of State. The apostille may be issued by a different state than where the document originated, which is standard and accepted by most Hague Convention countries. If your receiving authority specifically requires the apostille to be issued by the same state that issued the document, we process it under Original Protocol, which requires shipping the original document to the correct state office.
Look at the issuing agency. If the document was issued by a state office (vital records, a county clerk, a state court, or a state-commissioned notary), it is a state document. If it was issued by a federal agency (the FBI, USCIS, the U.S. Department of State, the Department of Defense, or a federal court), it is a federal document. When in doubt, our free document review can confirm the correct routing before you submit anything.
Notaries are commissioned by states, so any document notarized by a U.S. notary public is treated as a state document. The apostille is issued by the Secretary of State of the state where the notary is commissioned, regardless of where the underlying document originated.
State processing varies widely: some states complete apostilles in 1 business day, while others take 6-8 weeks. Federal processing through the U.S. Department of State typically takes 6 to 14 business days and cannot be expedited. We factor that into our service timelines for federal documents.
Yes. Receiving authorities in Hague Convention countries verify apostilles against the issuing authority's registry. An apostille from the wrong authority will not match and will be rejected. The Hague Conference (HCCH) lists each U.S. state Secretary of State and the U.S. Department of State as separate competent authorities, and the correct one must be used for each document type.

Processing times are estimates based on typical authority timelines and may vary. Federal apostille processing through the U.S. Department of State cannot be expedited regardless of service tier. State processing times vary significantly by state and current volume. When in doubt about which authority applies to your document, use our free document review before submitting.

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