An apostille seal is an additional seal required by some foreign governments to authenticate certain certified records. The apostille acts as a legal authentication for seals and signatures on public documents that are signed by government officials. The apostille can be used only in countries that are part of the Hauge Convention, and can not be utilized in the country of origin.
Birth Certificate Apostilles are commonly needed for foreign countries when applying for universities or employment, or for persons wishing to marry in a foreign country, or adopt a child from a foreign country.
Houston Notary Solutions can assist you with your Birth Certificate Apostille for any state inside the US, and can ship documents to you both inside the US and abroad.
How to Apostille a Birth Certificate
An apostille stamp is considered a long form certificate and will be issued and attached by the Secretary of State that authenticated the official who has signed your document. Birth Certificate Apostilles help authenticate the identity of the user and can only be used in the country of destination.
Getting Started with the Birth Certificate Apostille
Persons requiring an apostille of their birth certificate must first start with a certified copy of the birth certificate provided by the Vital Statistics office in their state of origin. The County Clerk’s office in the county where the birth event occurred will be able to issue a certified copy of the original birth certificate. A certified copy is required for the birth certificate apostille, and must have been issued within the past 5 years, and not any longer. Some foreign governments or agencies will require that the certified copy be more recently issued and may require birth certificate copies be only 60days old. Verify with the requesting agency what will be accepted.
Provide your certified copy of your vital statistics document to an apostille agent for authentication or the apostille seal. The Secretary of State will apply the seal or document to your original document which will be presented to the requesting entity.
Birth Certificate Issuance Date
It is important to determine when your birth certificate was issued before requesting the apostille. Our apostille agent will ask you when the certificate was issued so that we can legally and properly process your apostille with the Secretary of State. Typically apostilles can be applied to certificates issued within the last five years, but some requesting countries may have varied requirements for how recent the document can be issued. We urge you to check with the requesting entity as to what is allowed in terms of issuance date before proceeding with the apostille.
Re-issuing your vital statistics certificate for a more recent date
If you are requiring an apostille for a birth or death certificate that was issued more than 5 years ago, you will first need to obtain a more recent certified copy through the County Clerk of the issuing county. For example, If your birth certificate was issued at birth in 1990, and you were born in Harris County, you will need to obtain a Certified Copy of your birth certificate, and can do that by visiting one of the 11 county clerk’s offices located throughout the Harris County area.
Does your apostille require translation services?
It is important to verify if your birth certificate apostille will require a translation from English to another language so that officials in the foreign country are able to receive it. Your original document will be translated into other languages if required, and that translation must then be certified before the apostille stamp can be processed. The apostille and certified translation must be authenticated simultaneously.
Houston notary solutions can help you process your apostille
Contact our apostille notaries to learn about processing your birth certificate for an apostille for your destination country. In most cases your Birth Certificate Apostille can be made available to you within a few short days rather than waiting weeks or months for regular processing.
Houston Notary Solutions has facilitated thousands of apostilles and authentications for citizens traveling to foreign countries for employment, for university program enrollments or for marriage.
Let our apostille experts assist you with obtaining a birth certificate apostille for Texas or any other state of origin within the United States. 713-357-1924