Texas Secretary of State Seal


Texas Apostille Services

Are you on a tight State of Texas apostille certificate or Texas authentication certificate document filing deadline?

Feeling overwhelmed, confused and stressed out about the whole Texas Secretary of State Hague Apostille Convention authentication, apostille, legalization, and attestation document filing process and requirements?

Don’t worry your pretty little head off because we’re going to explain in great detail exactly how the entire Texas document apostille and Texas document authentication processing works from start to finish. We’ll do this with easy to understand apostille for Texas how to videos that you can watch and with two different step-by-step apostille in Texas flow chart graphics that can be seen below on this page.

We’re also going to explain some of the industry myths and the three most common reasons why your documents could be rejected by the State of Texas during the expedited Texas apostille and authentication document filing process.

Texas Secretary of State Office Building

First off the Texas Secretary of State building is located at 1019 Brazos Street, Austin, TX 78701 right across from the state capital. 

It is the only location in the world where you or your company can be issued a Texas apostille certificate or Texas authentication certificate on personal, business, or corporate legal documents to be used in a foreign country.

This means there are no other satellite or local branch offices located in Texas (not Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Arlington, Irving, Houston, Amarillo, Abilene, Lubbock, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Laredo, or El Paso) or anywhere else in the United States.

A U.S. foreign consulate, consular, consul, or embassy office or a notary public does not and cannot issue or create a Texas apostille certificate or Texas authentication certificate on any type of legal document.

You cannot email, fax or text your documents anywhere to receive a Texas apostille certificate or Texas authentication certificate (two types of document exceptions to this statement). Your original documents must dropped off via walk-in services or mailed in via mail-in services to be accepted by the Texas Secretary of State.

Most people think there legal documents will physically receive an Texas apostille stamp or Texas apostille seal (like a ink stamp that a public notary places on a legal document) from the Texas Secretary of State’s office on their documents, but this is incorrect.

Below are real examples of what a Texas apostille certificate and Texas authentication certificate will look like.

Your successfully apostilled or authenticated Texas originated document will come back to you from the Texas Secretary of State office stapled with a 8 ½ x 11 apostille certification or authentication certification attached to it by the TXSOS.

Please be aware that if the staple comes out of your Texas apostille certificate or Texas authentication certificate the foreign government or entity that requested and required you to get a Texas apostille or Texas authentication could possibly reject your documents when you try to file and submit it with them.

China consulates and the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C. for example will regularly reject people’s and companies documents solely for this minor little snafu.

So please be careful when handling your Texas apostilled and Texas authenticated documents because we don’t want you to have to go through this entire document legal process a second time.

New Non-Recordable Document Texas Apostille Certificate

New Non-Recordable Document Texas Apostille
Certificate As of 10/1/23

New Recordable Document Texas Apostille Certificate

New Recordable Document Texas Apostille
Certificate As of 10/1/23

What’s a
Recordable
Document?

Recordable documents as defined by the Texas Secretary of State are Texas birth certificates, Texas death certificates, Texas birth verification letters, Texas death verification letters, Texas divorce verification letters, Texas marriage verification letters, Texas marriage licenses, Texas marriage certificates, Texas marriage application forms, Texas divorce decrees, Texas divorce certificates, Texas judgments, Texas DPS vehicle title history report, Texas DPS criminal history records, and Texas cremation certificates.

What’s a
Non-Recordable
Document?

Non-recordable documents as defined by the Texas Secretary of State are college/university, high school, middle school, and elementary school diplomas, degrees, grades, transcripts, and attendance records, general educational development (GED), criminal background checks (police, sheriff, county, TXDOT), powers of attorneys (POA), wills, trusts, adoption, utility and phone bills, bank, credit union, stocks, bonds, investment, and insurance statements, immigration, bill of sales, affidavits, agreements, contracts, translated documents (the documents that you submit to us can be in any foreign language but the entire notary acknowledgement area must be in all English), copies of photo identification (driver’s license, visa, passport, DOD ID card, permanent resident card (green card), India pan card (Indian public account number), state or military issued photo ID card), business or corporation related documents that need to be apostilled or authenticated they must be properly notarized first by a Texas notary public before you can mail them or drop them off with us to rush apostille or authenticate file them on your behalf.

Please note that the notarization on your non-recordable documents cannot be done by a notary public licensed in any another U.S.A state or country.

Only a Texas notary public can be used.

Meaning your non-recordable documents will be rejected by the Texas Secretary of State office if your documents are notarized by a non-Texas notary public.

On any non-recordable document a Texas notary public or you must write down on your document or attach a piece of paper to your document that has the exact notary Jurat or Acknowledgement verbiage shown below to receive an Texas apostille certificate or Texas authentication certificate on your document.

If the below jurat or acknowledgement (only choose one) notary public verbiage is not written, typed, or attached to your non-recordable document your document will be rejected by the Texas Secretary of State office when we go attempt to file it for you.

Name of affiant = you or whoever is signing the document in front of a Texas notary.

Notaries make this error all the time so please make sure the notary writes in your (signers) name in the name of affiant space not the notary’s name. Otherwise your document will be rejected by the state because of the notary’s mistake.

Jurat:

State of Texas
County of
Sworn to and subscribed before me on the day of (month) (year),
by (name of affiant).

_________________________________
Texas notary signature

Or

Acknowledgement:

State of Texas
County of
Before me, (notary public name), on this day personally
appeared (name of affiant), known to me or proved to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the person whose name is subscribed to the foregoing instrument and acknowledged to me that he executed the same of the purposes and consideration therein expressed.

Given under my hand and seal of office this day of (month), and (year).

_________________________________
Texas notary signature

You must write the above Texas notary jurat or acknowledgement verbiage on all non-recordable documents. 

On our Texas State apostille order form PDF that can be downloaded further down on this page we also include this exact Texas notary verbiage on the second page of our Texas apostille service order form.

We did this so you can easily print that page out and show it to a Texas notary public if typing out the verbiage on your document beforehand is not possible for you.

The second most common reason why documents we attempt to apostille or authenticate for our customers get rejected is because of Texas notary public errors.

When a Texas notary public notarizes a non-recordable document that will be used to apply to receive a Texas apostille certificate or Texas authentication certificate the Texas notary public must always do five things.

Five Things Your Notary Must Do

1) A Texas notary public must place their non-expired notarial stamp on a non-recordable document. 

The Texas Secretary of State office prefers the Texas notary stamp to be placed on the same page of where the document holder/affiant signed. 

But you can also attach a separate piece of paper to the non-recordable document with the notarization on it or the notarization can be placed on the backside of the document if there is no space on the frontside to do it. 

2) A Texas notary public must write down on the document the exact date of when they witnessed the person signing the document in and around the notarial acknowledgment area.

This means it does not matter if a date is listed somewhere else within the body of the legal document.

If this is not done the Texas Secretary of State authentications unit will reject the document.

3) A Texas notary public must print and sign their name on a document exactly how their name is spelled on their official Texas notary stamp for each and every document that you want apostilled or authenticated in Texas.

If the Texas notary public signs or prints their name on a document differently then what is listed on their official licensed Texas notary stamp the State of Texas Secretary of State office will reject the document.

(Rejection letter)

4) The notary jurat or acknowledgement verbiage that is required to be placed on all non-recordable documents must be written or typed out completely in English and in no other foreign language.

The document that you want to receive a Texas apostille certificate or Texas authentication certificate on can be in a non-English language.

But the entire (not just some of it) Texas notary public jurat or acknowledgement verbiage must be in all English. If it’s not 100% in English the Secretary of State will reject the document. 

5) The signature of the notary, the document holder (the person who is signing the document in front of the Texas notary public) or the person who signed the document or certified photocopy cannot be an autopen or an electronic copy signature. 

An autopen or signing machine is a device used for the automatic signing of a signature or autograph or a photocopy of a signature and an original signature must be used on your documents.

A Texas Secretary of State official may conduct a smudge test where they literally wet there finger and rub the document signature to see if it smudges or not (we’ve seen this done firsthand).

The State of Texas will reject the document if the document signature doesn’t smudge at all and Texas Secretary of State officials will also use a jeweler magnifying glass to check to see if the signature on the document is in fact a photocopy or autopen and not an original signature on the document.

The third most common reason why documents that our customers send us get rejected by the Texas Secretary of State office is because the documents we were sent did not originate in the State of Texas.

What this means is the Texas Secretary of State office can only issue Texas apostille certificates and Texas authentication certificates on recordable and non-recordable documents that originated or were issued by a government entity located within the State of Texas.

If your documents were issued from the federal government (FBI, IRS, SSA, DHS, ATF, USCIS, DOD, USDA, USDOT, FDA, DOE, USPTO, EPA, DEA, USDOC, DOJ, VA, etc.) they can only be apostilled or authenticated at the U.S Department of State office in Washington D.C.

Yes, Apostille Texas can help rush file those types of federal documents for you as well.

For example, let’s say you currently live in the State of Texas but you were legally born in the State of California, your parent died in the State of New York, you got married in the State of Washington, and you got divorced in the State of Florida.

In these scenarios you can only receive a state-level apostille or authentication document certificate on your California birth certificate from the California Secretary of State, an apostille on your New York death certificate from the New York Secretary of State, an apostille on your Washington marriage license from the Washington Secretary of State, and an apostille on your Florida divorce decree from the Florida Secretary of State.

Make apostille document sense?

 

Step 1

You contact us and say you
need a document apostilled or authenticated at the Texas Secretary of State.

Step 2

You tell us what type of documents, how many documents and for what country you need documents filed.

Step 3

You download off our website
our Texas apostille order form
to complete.

Step 4

You check out our apostille pricing on our website or on our order form.

Step 5

You email or mail us the completed Texas apostille order form.

Step 6

You mail your original documents and a prepaid return shipping
label or envelope to us.

Step 7

We rush file your documents at
the Texas Secretary of State office
.

Step 8

We mail back all the documents
that you sent us along with the
new certificates to any place in
the world that you want.

Step 9

You’re so overwhelmed with happiness from hiring us that you refer every person and company you know to Apostille Texas.

Rush Texas Apostille &
Authentication Process

Step 1

You contact us and say you
need a document apostilled or authenticated at the Texas Secretary of State.

Step 2

You tell us what type of documents, how many documents and for what country you need documents filed.

Step 3

You download off our website
our Texas apostille order form
to complete.

Step 4

You check out our apostille pricing on our website or on our order form.

Step 5

You email or mail us the completed Texas apostille order form.

Step 6

You mail your original documents and a prepaid return shipping
label or envelope to us.

Step 7

We rush file your documents at
the Texas Secretary of State office
.

Step 8

We mail back all the documents
that you sent us along with the
new certificates to any place in
the world that you want.

Step 9

You’re so overwhelmed with happiness from hiring us that you refer every person and company you know to Apostille Texas.

Texas Apostille &
Authentication
Services Pricing

Woman Peeking Over Wall
 Woman Peeking Over Wall
TXSOS Seal

All Texas Secretary of State government filing fees included in the $95 price.

100% Satisfaction Guarantee

Money back if we don’t attempt to file your documents in the stated time.

Document Courier

Your documents couriered to any shipping center (return shipping costs not included).

Cellphone Email

Document filing status updates by email or text.

Austin Texas

We’re based, so no middleman for you to go through.

Phone and Email Support

Phone and email support seven days a week.

Texas Documents

Additional documents filed at the same time only $65 each.

Texas Apostille Service Pricing Chart
Same Business Day Apostille Service $95

Same Business Day
Apostille Service

TXSOS Seal

All Texas Secretary of State government filing fees included in the $95 price.

100 Satisfaction Guarantee

Money back if we don’t attempt to file your documents in the stated time.

Document Courier

Your documents couriered to any shipping center (return shipping costs not included).

Cellphone Email

Document filing status updates by email or text.

Austin Texas

We’re based, so no middleman for you to go through.

Phone and Email Support

Phone and email support seven days a week.

Texas Documents

Additional documents filed at the same time only $65 each.

Download Texas Apostille Order Form
Texas Apostille Service Pricing Chart
Download Texas Apostille Order Form
Discount Apostille Document Services

For large Texas apostille and Texas authentication orders of twenty or more documents rush filed at the same time the per document Texas apostille service or Texas authentication service filing cost drops to $60.00 (including the first document filing cost) for every document that you need Texas apostilled or authenticated.

20 documents x $60/each = $1,200
30 documents x $60/each = $1,800
40 documents x $60/each = $2,400
50 documents x $60/each = $3,000

All State of Texas apostille and authentication document filing fees are included in this high volume discount pricing.

We can handle thousands of Texas apostille courier filings per month, so don’t be shy and give us a try.

Yes, we know that rhymed quite nicely.

Unlike most document authentication service filing companies we don’t mark up one red cent the return shipping costs or roll it into an all-inclusive price that drains more money from your wallet.

We Customize
To Your Needs

Cookie Cutter

We customize everything to your needs, no generic cookie cutter apostille document packages for you.

When Apostille Texas mails your documents back to you, your company or to wherever in the world you want us to ship your documents back.

You get to choose what shipping courier service you want to use and how fast you want your documents to be delivered back to you.

You will need to purchase a prepaid return shipping label (we DO NOT accept air waybills) at any local USA shipping or mail store or you can go to www.UPS.com, www.FedEx.com, or www.USPS.com to create, purchase, and download a prepaid return shipping label.

On your prepaid return shipping label you can go ahead and list the sender’s address from our Austin, TX mailing address.

Then you can either mail or email us the prepaid return shipping label (you will be able to download a PDF of the shipping label from any of the courier websites) along with the documents that you want us to Texas apostille or Texas authenticate for you or your company.

We highly recommend you DON’T USE the USPS (United States Postal Service) to send documents to us or to return documents back to you. If you send us a prepaid USPS label/envelope your documents more then likley WILL NOT get shipped out until the NEXT DAY and why we strongly recommend to not use USPS.

Trust us when we say you don’t want USPS to lose your original and one of kind personal, business, or corporate documents just to save a few measly buck.

Our office can accept and sign for your document deliveries Monday through Friday (excluding major holidays) any time after 9am in our Austin, TX office.

When using FedEx overnight delivery don’t pick first morning delivery which guarantees document delivery by 8:30am. Instead choose the cheaper second morning delivery option which guarantees delivery by 10:30am.

The reason being FedEx often times will attempt to deliver between 7:30-8:15am before our office building opens which could lead to delays on obtaining and filing your documents. 

You can also stop by our office and drop-off your documents at the receptionist area between the hours of 9am-5pm if you live or will be traveling to the Austin metro area. 

If you want to drop your documents off you must print out, complete, and bring with you our apostille order form along with the documents that you want us to apostille or authenticate. 

Please note the cut-off time for us to provide same business day Texas apostille services or Texas authentication services on your documents is noon CST.

So please mail or drop your documents off at our office by the noon deadline otherwise your documents won’t be apostilled or authenticated until the next business day.

Time Machine Fast
Apostille Service
When Tomorrow
Is Too Late

We always recommend to plan ahead, but in some circumstances for law firms, large international corporations, mergers and acquisitions deals, adoption filings, court proceedings and immigration dealings that conduct business in another country even the earliest overnight delivery options with the big three shipping companies will be too late for your emergency situation.

For example, let’s say it’s a Monday and you realize you need some important documents apostilled in Texas for yourself or your company and you live or your office is based in Houston, TX.

You need the documents back by the next day (Tuesday) so you overnight the documents to us here and we receive and rush file them for you on Tuesday.

Texas Overnight Courier Services

The problem is you need the documents in your hands by Tuesday night and the earliest FedEx/UPS could get it to you in Houston would be Wednesday morning by 8:30am.

Our time machine fast Texas apostille service means we’ll fire up our Back to the Future DeLorean Machine and right from the steps of the Texas Secretary of State’s building we’ll time travel (drive) your documents right to your home or office’s door step that very same day.

Below we have the thirty largest populated cities in Texas listed on a 3-D map and the total cost for Apostille Texas to same day courier your legal documents directly to you or your company from downtown Austin, TX.

Please note the top thirty most populated Texas cities listed on this map doesn’t include Round Rock, TX because it’s a suburb of Austin.

Texas 3D Coverage Map

Time Machine Fast
Apostille Service
When Tomorrow
Is Too Late

We always recommend to plan ahead, but in some circumstances for law firms, large international corporations, mergers and acquisitions deals, adoption filings, government submission deadlines, court proceedings and immigration dealings that conduct business in another country even the earliest overnight delivery options with the big three shipping companies will be too late for your emergency situation.

For example, let’s say it’s a Monday and you realize you need some important time sensitive documents apostilled in Texas for yourself or your company and you live or your office is based in Houston, TX.

You need the apostilles in your hands by the next day (Tuesday) so you overnight the documents to us here and we receive and rush file them for you on Tuesday.

The problem is you need the documents in your hands by Tuesday night and the earliest FedEx/UPS could deliver them to you in Houston would be Wednesday morning by 8:30am (FedEx first morning delivery).

Our time machine fast Texas apostille service means we’ll fire up our Back to the Future DeLorean and right from the steps of the Texas Secretary of State’s building we’ll time travel (drive really fast) your documents right to your home or office’s door step that very same day.

Texas Overnight Courier Services

Below we have the thirty largest populated cities in Texas listed on a 3-D map and the total cost for Apostille Texas to same day courier your legal documents by car directly to you or your company from downtown Austin, TX.

Please note the top thirty most populated Texas cities listed on this map doesn’t include Round Rock, TX because it’s a suburb of Austin.

Texas 3D Coverage Map

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Plano – $450 1 blue map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Dallas – $425 2 blue map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Fort Worth – $400 3 blue map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Houston – $400 4 blue map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to San Antonio – $200 5 blue map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to El Paso – $1,200 6 blue map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Corpus Christi – $450 7 red map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Laredo – $500 8 red map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Amarillo – $1,100 9 red map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Abilene – $500 10 red map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Waco – $200 11 red map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Arlington – $425 12 red map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Lubbock – $750 13 yellow map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Garland – $425 14 yellow map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Irving – $425 15 yellow map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Grand Prairie – $400 16 yellow map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Killeen – $175 17 yellow map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Pasadena – $400 18 yellow map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Mesquite – $425 19 green map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to McKinney – $475 20 green map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Carrollton – $450 21 green map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Frisco – $450 22 green map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Beaumont – $500 23 green map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Denton – $450 24 green map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Midland – $700 25 green map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Odessa – $725 26 green map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Wichita Falls – $600 27 green map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Richardson – $450 28 green map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to McAllen – $650 29 green map marker

Austin Blue Map Marker Austin to Brownsville – $700 30 green map marker

The apostille courier travel fees listed above do not include any expedited Texas apostille certificate or Texas authentication certificate filing costs, just the Austin, Texas courier travel costs.

This apostille courier pricing is for a normal business week (Monday-Friday) and leaving Austin, TX by no later than 5:00pm when the Texas Secretary of State office closes.

All other cities in Texas not listed as well as Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, and New Mexico we can provide “drive through the night” courier document and package services to you or your clients.

Please call or email us to get an exact apostille couriers quote for those cities and states.

As actor Bill Murray famously says in the classic movie ‘Ghostbusters’, “Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, no job is too big, no fee is too big!”

We could not have said it any better ourselves about our apostille courier services and company philosophy toward our worldwide customers.