The most requested apostille in the Tampa Bay area — for dual citizenship, foreign marriage, and visa applications. $190 per certificate, 5 business days. Serving Lutz with a booked appointment and our Tampa Westshore office.
Ask a foreign government to accept who you are and the conversation starts with a birth certificate. It is the single most requested document we handle, and it sits underneath almost everything else — a passport application in another country, a residency file, a marriage licence abroad, a child's school enrollment overseas.
Florida-born means the Florida Department of State issues the apostille, but only against a certified copy carrying a registrar's seal. The souvenir certificate from the delivery room does not qualify, and neither does a scan or a laminated version, however official either looks. We read the certificate before it travels, walk it to the state counter in person, and return the apostilled original to Lutz within 5 business days.
The reason we see most. A jure sanguinis application needs the certificate authenticated for the applicant and for every ancestor standing between them and Italy.
Both countries run descent-based routes, including the Sephardic tracks and the shortened path for Latin American nationals. All of them want authenticated U.S. birth records.
A foreign registrar will rarely issue a licence to an American without seeing the birth certificate authenticated, usually alongside proof of single status.
Poland, Ireland, Germany, Lithuania and a dozen others recognise descent. Each generation in the chain has to be evidenced with an authenticated certificate.
Gulf states, South Korea, Singapore and most of the EU fold the birth certificate into the permit file alongside a degree and a police check.
Second passports, enrollment at a school abroad, family reunification petitions — a child's certificate carries the same requirement as an adult's.
Population in Lutz runs to roughly 24,000, spanning the Hillsborough and Pasco county line. Lutz sits at the affluent northern edge of Hillsborough County, and its households skew toward executives, physicians and business owners — the profile that generates corporate apostilles, powers of attorney for foreign property, and diploma authentications for professional licensing overseas. It is also one of the strongest sources of apostille search demand in the county's northern tier.
Clients come to us from across Lutz — Cheval, Van Dyke Farms, Lake Fern, Sunset Lakes and Ladera among them. the Suncoast Parkway corridor, Cheval Golf & Country Club and Lake Park are part of the everyday geography here, and we work it in person rather than by post.
From Lutz, our Tampa Westshore office is about 25 minutes away — book a time and the slot is held for you when you arrive. Clients in Northdale, Carrollwood and Wesley Chapel come to us for the same birth certificate apostille work.
Documents leaving Lutz most often head to Italy, Ireland, Switzerland, Canada and the United Kingdom. Executive and professional households here mostly need corporate records, foreign property powers of attorney, and diploma authentication for licensing bodies abroad.
Coming down Dale Mabry or the Suncoast puts Lutz clients at the office in well under half an hour; call ahead and we'll hold the time. 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.
The state authenticates a registrar's seal, so a registrar's seal has to be on the paper. In practice that means a certified copy from the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics in Jacksonville or from a county health department vital records office, showing both the seal and an issuing signature. Anything printed at the hospital, however ceremonial it looks, is not a legal record and will not be accepted.
Born in Hillsborough County but don't have a certified copy? You can order one from the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County's vital records office or online through the state Bureau of Vital Statistics. Born in another state? Your birth certificate must be apostilled by that state's Secretary of State — we can point you to the right office. Born abroad? A Consular Report of Birth Abroad is a federal document requiring U.S. Department of State authentication instead. When your certificate is ready, bring it to our Westshore office — about 25 minutes from Lutz — at a time we hold for you.
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.
A single figure per document, with the Florida Department of State's fee already included. Bundles bring the per-document rate down from there.
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.
Call or send a request and we'll hold a time at the Tampa Westshore office. Appointments are confirmed within one business hour, so you'll know your slot the same day rather than waiting on a callback.
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 Lutz.
No. Every city we cover runs on the same 5-business-day schedule, because the document is hand-filed in Tallahassee regardless of where it was collected. If your deadline is shorter than that, call — we'll tell you plainly whether rush handling can meet it.
Florida sets no limit, but the receiving country often does. Spain and Italy in particular tend to want a copy issued within the last six to twelve months. If yours has been in a drawer for years, order a fresh one first — it is far cheaper than a refused consular file.
Usually not, as long as it is a certified copy with a seal and signature on it. The occasional snag is an issuing official so old that the state can no longer verify the signature against its records. Requesting a newly issued copy clears that in one step.
Whichever state registered the birth is the state that authenticates it — Ohio records go through Ohio, New York through New York. We work on Florida documents, and if yours belongs elsewhere we will name the office you need rather than leave you searching.
Often. The apostille form itself is multilingual and needs nothing done to it, but the certificate underneath is in English and most non-English-speaking authorities expect a certified translation with it. We arrange that alongside the filing.
Yes, and either parent can bring it in. Children's certificates make up a large share of this work — second passports and foreign school enrollment more than anything else.
Order certified Florida birth certificates.
Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough CountyLocal vital records office for Hillsborough-born residents.
Florida Department of StateThe office that issues the apostille itself.
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 Lutz — call and we'll confirm your window within one business hour.
