For work visas, teaching placements, residency and citizenship applications. $190 per document, 5 business days. Serving Wesley Chapel 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 65,000 residents, Wesley Chapel sits the fastest-growing community in Pasco County. Pasco County converts better than any market we advertise to outside Hillsborough, and Wesley Chapel is the reason. Explosive master-planned growth has brought in relocating professionals and a fast-expanding Indian, Puerto Rican and Latin American population — households that regularly need degree authentication for overseas licensing, birth records for citizenship applications, and powers of attorney for property held abroad.
Across Wesley Chapel we handle documents for residents of Meadow Pointe, Seven Oaks, Epperson, Union Park and Estancia. We know the ground around The Shops at Wiregrass, the Epperson Lagoon and the Grove at Wesley Chapel. That matters more than it sounds: this is a local service, not a mail-in processor.
The Westshore office is about 35 minutes away from Wesley Chapel. Appointments are confirmed within one business hour, so the drive is never wasted. We also handle FDLE background check apostille work for clients in nearby Lutz, Northdale and Temple Terrace.
Documents leaving Wesley Chapel most often head to India, Puerto Rico, Colombia, the United Kingdom and the Philippines. Fast master-planned growth has brought in relocating professionals whose paperwork skews toward degree authentication for licensing, background checks for work permits, and birth records for citizenship files.
A straight run down I-75. Booking a day ahead gives the widest choice of times. 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 35 minutes from Wesley Chapel — 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.
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 Wesley Chapel. Ring us and we'll confirm a time inside one business hour.
Ours, at 4830 W Kennedy Blvd, Suite 633K in Tampa's Westshore district — about 35 minutes away away. Appointments only, confirmed within one business hour of your request.
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 Wesley Chapel appointment within one business hour.
