Every Florida-issued and Florida-notarized document, authenticated for use abroad. $190 per document, 5 business days. Serving Plant City 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 Plant City 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.
With roughly 40,000 residents, Plant City sits the agricultural heart of eastern Hillsborough County. Plant City's agricultural economy supports one of the largest Mexican and Central American communities in Hillsborough County, along with a long-settled population whose families have worked the same land for generations. Apostille work here leans heavily toward Spanish-language vital records, single-status affidavits, child travel consents, and powers of attorney sent back to family in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.
Our work in Plant City spans Historic Downtown, Walden Lake, Springhead and Cork and the streets between them. Working near the Florida Strawberry Festival grounds, Historic Downtown Plant City and the Plant City Union Depot keeps this a local operation rather than a mail-order one.
From Plant City, our Tampa Westshore office is about 35 minutes away — book a time and the slot is held for you when you arrive. The same service runs to Valrico, Brandon and Lakeland just up the road.
Documents leaving Plant City most often head to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. The agricultural economy shapes the caseload almost entirely — actas de nacimiento, poderes notariales, child travel consents and single-status affidavits going back to families in Mexico and Central America.
Plant City clients come in along I-4. We run the appointment in Spanish end to end where that is easier, and a day's notice secures a morning 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.
You come to West Kennedy Boulevard at a time we've reserved for you. One exchange, and the document is in our hands.
Every document is examined before filing — issuing seal, signature, notarial certificate, and the specific requirements of the country it's headed to.
We present the document at the Florida Department of State in person. Nothing sits in a mailroom, and nothing waits behind a batch of other people's paperwork.
The apostilled original is back and ready to collect at the office. You'll hear from us the moment it's in.
One flat number, nothing bolted on afterward. What we quote is what you pay, and the Florida Department of State's filing fee is already inside it.
Filing fees are not extra: the state's $10 per document is already inside these numbers, as is in-person submission and the handling either side of it. Notarization is available as an add-on where required.
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.
A phone call. We'll confirm an appointment at the Westshore office within one business hour and tell you before you set off from Plant City whether your document actually qualifies.
about 35 minutes away — on West Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa's Westshore district, at 4830 W Kennedy Blvd, Suite 633K. Call ahead and your slot is reserved before you set off.
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 Plant City — call and we'll confirm your window within one business hour.
