For spousal visas, foreign marriage registration, and citizenship through marriage. $190 per certificate, 5 business days. Serving Westchase with a booked appointment and our Tampa Westshore office.
A Florida marriage certificate proves a marriage inside the United States. The moment that marriage has to be recognised by another country — for a visa, a residency application, a foreign civil registry, or a citizenship claim — the certificate needs an apostille attached before anyone abroad will treat it as genuine.
The certified copy comes from the Clerk of Court in the county that issued the licence. For couples married locally that's the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court; for Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Manatee or Sarasota marriages it's that county's clerk. Once we have the certified copy we review it, file it in person in Tallahassee, and return the apostilled original within 5 business days. Westchase clients hand it off once — at our Westshore office or via a booked appointment — and it comes back ready to send.
Nearly every foreign spousal or partner visa application requires the marriage certificate with an apostille attached before it will be accepted.
Many countries require U.S. marriages to be entered in their own civil registry before the marriage carries legal effect there.
Naturalisation via a foreign spouse routinely requires the apostilled marriage certificate alongside apostilled birth records.
Updating a passport, national ID or property title in another country after marriage generally means producing the apostilled certificate.
Survivor benefits, foreign pensions and social insurance claims ask for proof of marriage that the paying country will accept.
Foreign courts handling a divorce or property division often want the original marriage certificate apostilled before proceeding.
Westchase counts roughly 23,000 people and stands a master-planned community in northwest Hillsborough. Westchase draws a professional, well-travelled population — corporate relocations, physicians, and a notable concentration of households with dual nationality or family abroad. It is one of the closest communities to our Westshore office, and one of the most consistent sources of diploma, background check and corporate apostille requests in the county.
We serve clients throughout Westchase's neighborhoods including West Park Village, The Greens, Radcliffe and Harbor Links. Working near West Park Village, the Westchase Golf Club and the Upper Tampa Bay Trail keeps this a local operation rather than a mail-order one.
Our office sits about 15 minutes away from Westchase. We work by appointment, which means no queue at the counter when you get here. The same service runs to Town 'n' Country, Carrollwood and Clearwater just up the road.
Documents leaving Westchase most often head to the United Kingdom, Germany, India, Brazil and Canada. Corporate relocations and dual-national households dominate here, which means diplomas, transcripts, background checks and employment-related authentications more than vital records.
Among the closest communities to the office, so a same-day appointment is realistic even on short notice. 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 accepts a certified copy of the marriage certificate issued by the Clerk of Court in the county where the licence was issued — it must carry the clerk's seal and signature. The souvenir or ceremonial certificate from the officiant, the church, or the wedding venue is not a legal record and will be rejected.
Married in Hillsborough County? Certified copies come from the Hillsborough County Clerk of Court. Married in Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Manatee, Sarasota or Hernando? Order from that county's clerk — we can tell you exactly which office and what it costs. Married in another state or another country? That jurisdiction has to certify it; a foreign marriage certificate cannot receive a Florida apostille. Bring the certified copy to our Westshore office — about 15 minutes from Westchase — 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.
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 Westchase.
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.
The Hillsborough County Clerk of Court, which issued your marriage licence. You can request certified copies in person or by mail. If you were married in a neighbouring county, that county's clerk holds the record — tell us where and we'll point you to the right office.
No. The apostille authenticates the clerk's seal on the certificate, not either spouse's signature. Only one of you needs to hand off the certified copy.
Frequently, yes — the apostille is multilingual but the certificate underneath it is in English. Spain, Italy, Brazil and much of Latin America typically want a certified translation filed with it. We coordinate translations alongside the apostille.
Florida places no limit, but destination countries often do — six months is a common cutoff for visa and residency filings. If your copy is old, order a fresh one first; it's cheaper than having the foreign consulate refuse it.
Yes. Any Florida county's certified marriage certificate receives its apostille from the same Tallahassee office. We handle certificates from across the Tampa Bay region and beyond — Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Manatee, Sarasota and Hernando included.
Certified copies of local marriage certificates.
Florida Department of StateThe office that issues the apostille itself.
Florida Bureau of Vital StatisticsStatewide marriage record index.
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 Westchase — call and we'll confirm your window within one business hour.
