For work visas, teaching placements, residency and citizenship applications. $190 per document, 5 business days. Serving Tampa by appointment.
Almost every country that issues a long-stay visa wants a police clearance from where you've been living. For Florida residents that's the FDLE criminal history record — and it has to carry an apostille before a foreign consulate will accept it.
The critical detail: only the certified FDLE record qualifies. The instant online search printout that anyone can generate has no seal and no signature, so the Department of State will reject it. You need the certified version FDLE issues on request, which arrives with an official seal. We review what you've received before filing, carry it to Tallahassee in person, and return it apostilled in 5 business days — which matters, because these documents expire.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Korea, Singapore and most of the EU require an apostilled police clearance in the work permit packet.
TEFL and international school placements pair the apostilled background check with an apostilled degree — the two travel together.
Residency-by-investment and long-stay visa programs in Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy all require apostilled criminal record checks.
Naturalisation files abroad routinely include a police clearance from every country of residence in the applicant's recent history.
Foreign adoption authorities require apostilled background checks for every adult in the household, often with a short validity window.
Healthcare, education and financial licensing boards abroad require a criminal record check authenticated for use in their jurisdiction.
Tampa counts roughly 400,000 people and stands the anchor of a metro of just over three million people. Tampa is one of the most internationally connected cities in Florida. Ybor City's Cuban and Spanish roots run straight through the city's identity, and the modern population layers on large Puerto Rican, Colombian, Venezuelan, Mexican, Indian, Vietnamese and Filipino communities. Add the Port of Tampa Bay, MacDill Air Force Base, a busy international airport, and a professional class with business interests across Latin America and Europe, and the apostille demand is constant: birth certificates for dual citizenship, corporate records for cross-border deals, powers of attorney for property held abroad, and background checks for overseas work visas.
We serve clients throughout Tampa's neighborhoods including Hyde Park, Ybor City, Westshore, Seminole Heights, South Tampa, Davis Islands, New Tampa and Channelside. Working near the Tampa Riverwalk, Water Street, Tampa International Airport, Amalie Arena and the Port of Tampa Bay keeps this a local operation rather than a mail-order one.
Our office sits minutes away from Tampa. We work by appointment, which means no queue at the counter when you get here. We also handle FDLE background check apostille work for clients in nearby Town 'n' Country, Temple Terrace and Brandon.
Documents leaving Tampa most often head to Spain, Colombia, Venezuela, Italy, India and the Philippines. Ybor City's Cuban and Spanish lineage still drives citizenship-by-descent files, while Water Street's professional class generates corporate records and powers of attorney for deals across Latin America and Europe.
Being in the city itself, we can usually hold a same-day appointment and still file that week. Downtown and Westshore office workers often come by on a lunch break. 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 Department of State will only apostille the certified FDLE criminal history record — the version FDLE issues with an official seal and an authorised signature. Request the certified copy specifically when you order; the free instant search result and the standard online printout are not certified and cannot be authenticated no matter how official they look.
Some destinations want an FBI Identity History Summary rather than a state check, and that's a federal document — it goes to the U.S. Department of State in Washington for authentication, not to Tallahassee. A few countries want both. If you're not sure which your consulate expects, tell us the country and the visa type and we'll tell you which route to take before you order anything. Bring the certified record to our Westshore office — our office is right here in Tampa, on West Kennedy Boulevard in the Westshore district — or book a booked appointment.
Appointments are confirmed inside one business hour, not the next day. Tell us roughly when suits and we'll fit you in.
We read the document before it travels. Wrong seal, missing notarial wording, a certificate the state won't accept — we catch it here, where fixing it costs nothing.
Your paperwork goes to the Department of State counter in a person's hands, not an envelope. That's the whole reason the timeline is five days instead of several weeks.
Apostilled originals are ready in 5 business days at the Westshore office, and we call as soon as they land.
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.
Usually the same day or the next. Tell us when suits and we'll hold the slot; confirmation comes back within one business hour of the request, not the following morning.
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 Tampa.
Five business days after handoff. The clock is set by the Department of State counter, not by the drive, so Tampa is on the same schedule as the rest of our area. Tight deadline? Ring us and we'll be straight with you about what's possible.
Request it directly from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and specify that you need the certified copy for apostille purposes. It arrives with FDLE's seal and an authorised signature. Turnaround is typically a few business days, and we can walk you through the request if it's your first time.
No. That printout carries no seal and no signature, so there's nothing for the Department of State to authenticate. It gets rejected at the counter. Only the certified record works — this is the single most common mistake we see on background check requests.
It depends on the country. Many accept a state-level FDLE check; others specifically require the FBI Identity History Summary, which is federal and authenticated in Washington rather than Tallahassee. Some want both. Tell us the destination and visa type and we'll confirm.
Most consulates treat a police clearance as valid for three to six months from issue, and some count from the apostille date instead. Don't order it too far ahead of your filing date — that's the most common reason people end up doing this twice.
It can slow the FDLE search, and a fingerprint-based request usually resolves it cleanly. It has no effect on the apostille step itself — once the certified record is issued, authentication proceeds exactly the same way.
Order the certified criminal history record.
FBI Identity History SummaryThe federal alternative, authenticated in Washington.
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.
Background checks expire — call and we'll confirm a Tampa appointment within one business hour.
