Every Florida-issued and Florida-notarized document, authenticated for use abroad. $190 per document, 5 business days. Serving Clearwater with a booked appointment and our Tampa Westshore office.
An apostille is the certificate the Florida Department of State attaches to a document so that another Hague Convention country will accept it as genuine. Without it, a Florida birth certificate, diploma, background check or power of attorney is just paper once it leaves the United States. With it, foreign consulates, civil registries, universities and courts treat it as verified.
The document itself never leaves our hands until it's filed. We review what you have before anything moves — the certification, the notarization, and what your destination country actually expects — then carry it to the Department of State counter in Tallahassee in person. No mail-in queue, no batching. For Clearwater residents that means one appointment at our Westshore office, and the apostilled original back in your hands in 5 business days.
Italian, Spanish, Polish, Irish, German, Portuguese and Lithuanian citizenship-by-descent applications all begin with apostilled U.S. vital records — usually one per generation.
Work visa packets for the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Korea, Singapore and most of the EU require an apostilled degree and a background check at minimum.
Foreign civil registries generally won't issue a marriage licence to a U.S. citizen without an apostilled birth certificate and a single-status affidavit.
Buying, selling or inheriting property abroad usually runs through an apostilled power of attorney. Corporate filings and certificates of good standing follow the same route.
Family reunification, residency and consular petitions filed in another country ask for apostilled birth, marriage and police records from the U.S. side.
Foreign universities and ministries of education want an apostilled diploma and transcript before admitting a student or recognising a credential.
Population in Clearwater runs to roughly 117,000, the county seat of Pinellas County. Clearwater carries an unusually international profile for its size — a long-established Greek community in neighbouring Tarpon Springs, a large Eastern European and Russian-speaking population, and a steady stream of Canadian and British seasonal residents. Apostilles here run toward foreign property transactions, marriage and single-status documents, and background checks for residency applications overseas.
Across Clearwater we handle documents for residents of Countryside, Island Estates, Downtown Clearwater, Sand Key and Morningside. Landmarks like Clearwater Beach, Coachman Park and the Memorial Causeway put us on familiar ground — this is local service, not a mail-order processor.
Our office sits about 30 minutes away from Clearwater. We work by appointment, which means no queue at the counter when you get here. Nearby St. Petersburg, Westchase and Tampa are served on the same terms.
Documents leaving Clearwater most often head to Greece, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and Russia. A long-established Greek community, a large Eastern European population, and seasonal Canadian and British residents combine into property transactions, single-status documents and residency background checks.
Clearwater clients reach us over the Courtney Campbell. Call first, confirm the document qualifies, and we will hold the slot. Whichever route you take, the document is filed in person at the Florida Department of State rather than mailed, which is what holds the return to 5 business days.
Two categories of document qualify. The first is a Florida public record — a birth, marriage or death certificate, a divorce decree, an FDLE background check, or a certified court record — which must be a certified copy carrying the issuing official's seal and signature. The second is any document signed in front of a Florida notary: a power of attorney, an affidavit, a travel consent, a corporate resolution, or a copy certification.
What does not qualify: photocopies, hospital keepsake certificates, laminated documents, documents issued by another state, and federal records. Out-of-state documents must be apostilled by the state that issued them, and federal records — FBI checks, naturalisation certificates, Consular Reports of Birth Abroad — go to the U.S. Department of State instead. We'll tell you which bucket yours falls in before you spend a dollar.
We work by appointment, which means no queue and no wasted trip. Ring us and we'll confirm a time within the hour.
We check that what you have is actually apostillable — certified copy, correct seal, complete notarization — and that it matches what the receiving country asks for.
A person carries your document to the state counter in Tallahassee. That single decision is what removes the multi-week postal queue from the timeline.
Your originals come back apostilled inside 5 business days, available for collection at the office, with a call the moment they arrive.
You are told the number before we take the document, and it does not move. The state's per-document filing fee is already counted inside it.
Each figure includes the state's $10 filing fee per document, hand delivery to the Department of State counter, and all handling from drop-off to return. Notarization, where a document needs it first, is a separate add-on.
Grab the Apostille and Notarial Certificate Request Form from the Florida Department of State here. There's no need to fill it out ahead of time — we'll complete it with you at your appointment.
Yes — we work by appointment only, which is deliberate: it means no queue when you arrive and no wasted trip from Clearwater. Ring us and we'll confirm a time inside one business hour.
We'd rather you called first. The office runs by appointment, so an unannounced visit risks arriving while we're at the state counter in Tallahassee. One phone call avoids a wasted drive from Clearwater.
Drop-off to return runs 5 business days anywhere in our service area — the same in-person filing schedule for every city we cover. Facing a tighter deadline? Call and we'll give you a straight answer about what rush handling can realistically deliver.
It's a standardised certificate created by the 1961 Hague Convention that verifies the signature and seal on a public document, so member countries accept it without any further legalisation. The Florida Department of State issues it for Florida documents. It doesn't certify that the contents are true — only that the signature and seal on it are genuine.
Through us, 5 business days from drop-off to return. Mailing it to Tallahassee yourself typically runs several weeks once postal transit and the state's processing queue are added together, and a rejected submission restarts the whole clock.
$190 per document, which includes the state's $10 filing fee. Two documents are $300, and three or more drop to $130 each. There are no courier surcharges, rush upsells or handling fees layered on afterward.
Then it needs authentication rather than an apostille: the Florida Department of State certifies it, the U.S. Department of State authenticates it, and the destination country's embassy legalises it. Canada, China, the UAE and several others sit outside the convention or have their own procedures. Tell us the destination and we'll map the full chain.
Yes. A large share of the Tampa Bay work we handle is Spanish-language — actas de nacimiento, poderes notariales and antecedentes penales bound for Latin America and Spain. We can also coordinate the certified translation when the destination country requires one.
The office that issues the apostille itself.
Hillsborough County Clerk of CourtCertified copies of local court records and marriage certificates.
Florida Bureau of Vital StatisticsOrder certified Florida vital records.
One flat rate, volume bundles, and the few things that add cost.
Processing timeThe 5-day timeline vs the mail-in queue.
Same-day & rush serviceA straight answer on what a tight deadline allows.
Booking an appointmentHow office visits work, and what to bring.
Same-day appointments available for Clearwater — call and we'll confirm your window within one business hour.
