For work visas, teaching placements, residency and citizenship applications. $190 per document, 5 business days. Serving Temple Terrace 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.
With roughly 27,000 residents, Temple Terrace sits adjacent to the University of South Florida. Temple Terrace sits alongside the University of South Florida, and the international student and faculty population shapes the apostille demand here more than anywhere else in the county. Diplomas, transcripts, and background checks bound for foreign ministries of education and overseas employers are the everyday requests — often on a deadline set by a foreign university or licensing board.
Across Temple Terrace we handle documents for residents of Terrace Park, Raintree Village, Grand Hampton and the USF area. Landmarks like the University of South Florida, Florida College and the Temple Terrace Golf & Country Club put us on familiar ground — this is local service, not a mail-order processor.
The Westshore office is about 25 minutes away from Temple Terrace. Appointments are confirmed within one business hour, so the drive is never wasted. Clients in Northdale, Tampa and Wesley Chapel come to us for the same FDLE background check apostille work.
Documents leaving Temple Terrace most often head to India, China, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Brazil and Nigeria. The University of South Florida sets the pattern: diplomas, transcripts and background checks bound for foreign ministries of education, licensing boards and overseas employers, very often against a fixed academic deadline.
We are used to working to a university or consulate deadline here, and will tell you plainly at booking whether the date is achievable. 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 — about 25 minutes from Temple Terrace — or book a booked appointment.
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.
No courier surcharge, no rush upsell, no handling fee appearing at the end. The figure below covers the work and the state's filing fee together.
The $10 Florida Department of State fee is built into every price, along with in-person filing and end-to-end handling of the document. Documents that require notarization first can have that added 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.
A phone call. We'll confirm an appointment at the Westshore office within one business hour and tell you before you set off from Temple Terrace whether your document actually qualifies.
about 25 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.
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 Temple Terrace appointment within one business hour.
