Answers And Examples To Assist Our Clients
Our goal is to help our clients build the knowledge base they need to successfully apostille their Texas documents for international use.
1. NOTARY SAMPLES FROM THE TEXAS SEC OF STATE
For documents that require notarization, the Texas Secretary of State is very strict and will only Apostille notarized documents that have the correct notary acknowledgment or Jurat. With your attorney and notary, you can determine the correct option. Here is a link to approved verbiage directly from the Texas SOS.
TEXAS SECRETARY OF STATE SAMPLE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND JURATS
Please keep in mind that, under state rules, all signatures must be original, and the complete notarization cannot be split over two pages.
For documents including, but not limited to:
- Contracts
- Power of Attorneys
- Minor Travel Permission Letters
- Diplomas
- Transcripts
- Single Status Affidavits
- Copies of Passports
- Copies of Driver Licenses
- Copies of Automotive Registration Receipts
2. ONLINE NOTARIZATION
The State of Texas now accepts documents notarized online by a Texas-commissioned online notary. The verbiage is different for acknowledgments and jurats for digital notaries. Online notarized documents receive the same Apostille as a wet-ink document.
3. CERTIFIED DOCUMENTS ISSUED BY TEXAS STATE, COUNTY AND CITY AGENCIES AND COURTS, including, but not limited to:
- Birth Certificates
- Death Certificates
- Burial Transit Permits
- Marriage Licenses / Marriage Certificates
- Texas DSHS Verification Letters
- Divorce Decrees
- Court Orders and Records
- DPS Criminal Background Check
- DPS Driving Record
- TDMV Certified Automotive Title
*PLEASE NOTE: THE STATE RECOMMENDS NOT SUBMITTING DOCUMENTS THAT WERE ISSUED OVER 5 YEARS AGO. OLDER DOCUMENTS MAY NOT BE ACCEPTED BY THE STATE, AND THERE IS NO WAY TO KNOW UNTIL WE PRESENT THEM AT THE COUNTER.
4. CERTIFIED DOCUMENTS ISSUED ELECTRONICALLY BY STATE AND COUNTY AGENCIES.
The State of Texas has given State agencies and County Departments the authority to issue digital/electronic Certified copies. Currently, only a few Counties have adopted the policy.
If you have a digital certified copy of a document, you can attach the PDF they issued to you to our service request; we print it, and you save shipping the document to us.
5. TRANSLATIONS
For a translation to be accepted by the SOS for an Apostille, it requires these three elements
a. A notarized certificate of translation a
b. The translation
c. A plain copy of the document that was translated
Without all of this together, the State will not apostille the translation.
6. CORPORATE DOCUMENTS ON FILE WITH THE TEXAS SEC OF STATE: The State does not attach Apostilles to previously issued corporate documents. We must order a new certified version with the Apostille attached at the same time.
Examples include, but are not limited to
- Certificates of Formation
- Certificates of Fact
- Certificates of Amendment
- Certificates of Merger
- Certificates of Name Change
- Change of Registered Agent or Address
7. FUNERAL HOME ASSISTANCE
We facilitate the Apostille of documents when a company needs to help its client get their loved one’s remains back to their home country.
Including
- Death Certificates
- Burial Transit Permits
- Certificates of Cremation
- Embalmer’s Affidavit
- Non-Infectious Disease Certificate
8. SCHOOL RECORDS
The State accepts school documents for Apostille if they are properly notarized in only one of two ways.
A. The school can properly notarize an original or a copy of a school document. A school official makes a notarized statement on the document or attached to the document.
B. The student or a family member can attach a notarized statement to a COPY. Not to the original. The statement must say it is a copy, and you cannot use the word ORIGINAL.
9. ADOPTION
We offer a 10% discount on our fees for families in the adoption process processing documents for Apostilles at the Texas Sec of State.
The State caps its fees for families in the adoption process. Contact them to set up an account for their discounted fee program.
10. TEXAS UNIVERSAL APOSTILLES // HAGUE AND NON HAGUE COUNTRIES
The State of Texas now issues a Universal Apostille. The certificate is now accepted in every country.
11. FEDERAL APOSTILLES AND AUTHENTICATIONS
Federal document Authentication is a different process. State-level documents do not need a Federal Apostille/Authentications if they will be used in a country that is a member of the Hague Convention. State documents used in countries that are not members of the Hague Convention need a Federal Authentication as the second step, then require embassy legalization for the country of final destination.
Federal documents (examples include FBI background reports, IRS letters, Federal Court Documents, Naturalization Certificates, CRBA-Citizens Registered Born Abroad, and more).