APOSTILLE

An Apostille by the California Secretary of State is a certificate that authenticates the signature of a public official on a document for use in another country.

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An Apostille certifies:

• the authenticity of the signature of the public official who signed the document,

• the capacity in which that public official acted, and

• when appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which the document bears, e.g. a notary public seal.

The Apostille does not validate the contents of the document.

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The California Secretary of State issues a single Apostille for documents to be used outside of the United States, regardless of the country of destination.

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The use of the Apostille was first instituted at the 1961 Hague Convention which did away with the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. Under the Hague Convention, participating countries have agreed to recognize public documents issued by other signatory countries if those public documents are authenticated by the Apostille. The Apostille guarantees that public documents issued in one signatory country will be recognized as valid in another signatory country. 

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Note: If a birth or death certificate has the signature of a Health Officer or County Registrar (e.g. Local Registrar, Registrar of Vital Records), prior to submitting your documents for authentication, one of the following may be required:

• have that birth or death certificate certified by the county clerk’s office in the county in which it was issued; or

• obtain a certified copy of that birth or death certificate from the county recorder or State of California Department of Public Health.

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