Apostille certification is an international convention that allows for countries to recognize certain legal documents from other countries.
The purpose of the apostille is to simplify the process for international recognition of documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, and death certificates.
For example, if you’re from the United States and you want to get married in France, you can go ahead and get married back home (or wherever else), but then you’ll have to bring your marriage certificate to France for it to be recognized there. But if you have an apostille on your marriage certificate, that’s all you need—you can just bring it into any French consulate or embassy and they’ll recognize it right away.
The United States has been a member of the Hague Convention since 2008, so all states in the US are already recognized by other countries that have signed on. However, there are some additional steps that you’ll need to take if you want to get an apostille for your birth certificate. These vary from state to state but generally consist of filling out some paperwork at your local county clerk’s office and paying a small fee.
There are two types of apostilles: a standard one and an urgent one. The standard apostille can take up to 3 weeks, but the urgent one can be processed in as little as 24 hours.
The standard apostille is the most common and is used for documents such as birth certificates, driver’s licenses, marriage certificates and death records. The urgent apostille is used for legal documents that must be used immediately. For example, if you’re applying for a visa or work permit in another country, that country may require an urgent apostille on your document before they will accept it.
Getting An Apostille in Austin
It is easy to obtain an apostille in Austin. You can either go to the Apostille Austin Texas secretary of state office yourself or send your documents through the mail, or hire apostille services to do it for you. If you choose to go into the office, bring a valid photo ID with you and make sure that all of your documents are originals (no copies).
