Federal Apostille Service Order Page

■ Next to each of the different document types listed on the Select Document drop-down menu above, it will show an RD, NRD, or CD. This will let you know if you need to have your documents notarized before mailing or dropping them off to us.

■ Recordable Document (RD) = These documents DO NOT need to be notarized. They must be the original or a certified copy original (NO PHOTOCOPIES) and be issued from a Texas city or county clerk’s office or Texas Vital Statistics/Texas Vital Records if you want us to apostille them first at the state level (Texas Secretary of State) which you must do before they can be submitted to the federal level (U.S Department of State) for non-Hague member countries.

If your recordable documents were issued by another state (non-Texas), you must obtain a state-level apostille from the state where the documents were originally issued. We do NOT accept documents issued by other states or foreign countries for Texas apostille processing. You cannot email, mail, or drop off non-Texas documents to our office. TEXAS DOCUMENTS ONLY. The only exception is if your documents have already been apostilled at the state level by another state and you now require assistance with the federal apostille process.

■ Non-Recordable Document (NRD) = These documents must be signed originals (NO PHOTOCOPIES) and be properly wet-ink or online notarized by a Texas or another state notary public. If your non-recordable documents were notarized by a non-Texas notary, you can only receive a state-level apostille from the state that licensed your notary, and you must do this step before your document can be submitted to the federal level (U.S Department of State) for all non-Hague member countries.

You CANNOT email, mail, or drop off non-recordable documents to us that were notarized by a non-Texas notary. TEXAS NOTARIES ONLY, unless you got them apostilled from another state first, and now you want us to help you with the rush federal apostille service process.

■ Corporations Document (CD) = These types of Texas corporation documents DO NOT need to be notarized. You CANNOT mail or drop off these types of documents to us. You can only email us to start the Texas corporate apostille ordering process.

■ You can only choose ONE foreign (non-USA) country per document. The U.S Department of State will only issue ONE apostille certificate for ONE document and ONE foreign (non-USA) country. This means the U.S Department of State will not issue multiple apostille certificates or issue apostilles for multiple countries on one document.

■ All U.S Department of State government document filing fees are included in our flat-fee rush federal apostille service pricing.

■ Because we will be expediting your documents at the U.S. Department of State on your behalf, you should NOT complete or send us the Federal Apostille Form DS-4194. A different federal apostille order form is used for walk-ins that we will complete and submit to the U.S. Department of State along with your FBI background check.

■ When creating and buying a FedEx, UPS, or DHL prepaid return shipping label, they will ask you for a sender’s address (from address), which means that if your documents get lost in the mail, the sender’s address is the return address to which the undelivered documents will be sent back to you by FedEx, UPS, or DHL.

You must put your name and address or your company’s name and address as the sender (from address) on the prepaid shipping label and/or on the customs invoice if shipping internationally. Depending on what foreign country you live in outside the U.S, the FedEx, UPS, or DHL online system may detect your foreign IP address and not allow you to use your foreign address as the sender (from address). If this happens, you will need to list a friend’s, relative’s, or company office address within the U.S. as the sender (from address).

You CANNOT put our company name (Apostille Texas), address, or phone number as the sender or importer because we are not the sender or importer. The sender/importer is you because you created and paid for the prepaid return shipping label, not us, and you are 100% responsible for paying all current shipping and any future customs charges when shipping internationally.

We will not mail your documents back to you if you mail, email, or drop off to us a prepaid return shipping label or a customs invoice that incorrectly lists our company name, phone number, or address anywhere on it. FedEx, UPS, and DHL attempt to collect unpaid shipping bills from our company because people and companies do not pay their full shipping charges and customs fees when shipping internationally.

You must place the required prepaid return shipping label that you created and purchased inside the envelope that you mail to us, along with your documents and our order form. DO NOT place or stick the prepaid return shipping label anywhere else.

You or your representative must not require a photo ID for delivery when shipping your documents to us via FedEx, UPS, or DHL. If a shipment requires photo ID verification for delivery, our front desk staff will not accept the package, and it will be returned to you by the courier as undeliverable.

The U.S. Department of State does NOT provide status or order updates to us or to customers. As a result, we are unable to provide any status updates once your order has been submitted. The only notification we receive is on the day the U.S. Department of State issues the federal apostille or authentication certificate for your documents. Please do not contact us for status updates on your federal apostille order, as we are unable to provide any additional information during processing.

■ The United States Department of State has announced that, beginning October 1, 2024, it will reopen for rush walk-in services after being closed to the public for over 4½ years.

Effective October 1, 2024, the U.S. Department of State has implemented the following three new rules:

1. Submission Limit: Each apostille service company or agent can only submit a maximum of 15 documents per day.
2. Business Days: The U.S. Department of State is only open for walk-ins Monday through Thursday (closed on Fridays), 8am-9am (yes, they are only open 4 hours per week or 16 hours per month), excluding all federal holidays.
3. Processing Time: Federally apostilled or authenticated documents will be available for pickup approximately 7–9 business days (excluding Fridays) after they are hand-submitted to the U.S. Department of State.