The Apostille Convention, which was established in 1961, is an international treaty that governs the use of apostilles to certify documents for legal purposes. The treaty specifies that all member nations must recognize documents certified by one another as legitimate.
An apostille can be used to certify a variety of documents including birth certificates, marriage licenses and divorce decrees. It can also be used to authenticate a notary seal or a government seal. In Texas, the Secretary of State’s office certifies all official documents before issuing an apostille, including those from foreign countries that have signed the convention.
An apostille is a stamp that has the same appearance as a regular rubber-stamp, but it contains the name and emblem of a signatory country. The process of getting an apostille is similar to getting certified copies from the government—it can be done by mail or in person at your local county clerk’s office.
The first step is to request an apostille from the country that issued your document. This can be done by contacting the consulate or embassy where you obtained the document. In most cases, they’ll provide you with a blank form and specific instructions on how to fill it out.
Once you have all of this information, take it back to your local county clerk’s office and ask them to verify that everything is in order before proceeding with getting an apostille. The process for getting an apostille varies from state to state, so you should contact your local county clerk’s office to learn more.
Professional Apostille Services in Houston
If you don’t want to deal with the hassle of getting your documents in Houston apostilled yourself, there are professional Apostille Houston Texas services out there that can do it for you. These companies will charge a fee for their services, but they can save you time and effort by taking care of all of the paperwork for you.