Every state apostilles its own documents, and federal paperwork has an authority of its own — which is why getting a document accepted abroad can feel like a maze of fifty different offices. EKO 4 National Translation Service turns it into one online order: we translate, certify, notarize and obtain the apostille from the correct competent authority, wherever in the country your document comes from.
Your apostille, handled coast to coast
An apostille is a one-page government certificate, defined by the 1961 Hague Convention, that confirms the signature and seal on a public document are genuine — so the document can be used in any of the 120+ member countries with no further embassy legalization. Spain, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Japan and most of the world's major destinations all belong to the Convention. Attach the apostille, and your document is ready to travel.
Here is the part most people discover the hard way: the United States has no single apostille office. Each of the 50 states — plus the District of Columbia — apostilles the documents issued or notarized within its own borders, usually through its Secretary of State. Documents issued by the federal government, such as FBI background checks or federal court records, follow a separate track entirely: only the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. can apostille those. Send a document to the wrong office, miss a line of required notarial wording, or pay a fee the wrong way, and it comes back rejected while your deadline abroad keeps ticking.
That maze is exactly what we navigate for you. Our specialists process apostille requests across the country every day and know what each authority expects to see. You upload a scan; your document comes back translated, notarized, apostilled by the correct office and ready for its journey — right the first time.
People mix these up constantly, and no wonder — one usually rides on top of the other. Notarization happens at ground level: a notary public witnesses a signature and applies an official seal, confirming who signed. An apostille operates one floor up: it is the government certifying that the notary or official who sealed the document truly holds that office — the guarantee a foreign authority needs before it will trust American paperwork at all.
The sequence is fixed. A document headed overseas is notarized first; only then can the competent authority — the Secretary of State of the state where that notary is commissioned, or the U.S. Department of State for federal documents — attach the apostille. A lapsed notary commission, wording that falls short of what that particular state requires, or a submission to the wrong state entirely, and the request is refused.
The good news: when you order with EKO 4 National Translation Service, none of this is your problem. Certified translation, compliant notarization and the apostille itself arrive as one service, prepared by one team that deals with these requirements across all 50 states every working day. That is how we keep rejections practically unheard of.
Established in 1991, trusted by more than 50,000 happy clients, and rated 4.9/5 across 1,350 reviews — we make the country's most fragmented paperwork process feel effortless.
Accredited in all 50 states, with offices in Midtown Manhattan, Northvale NJ, the Boston area, Greenwich CT and Dallas TX plus a nationwide network. Whichever state issued your document, we already work with its apostille office.
Translation by 500+ human translators, certification, notarization, state or federal apostille, delivery — one order, one team. Most providers stop at translation; we carry your document all the way to acceptance abroad.
Upload a scan and you're done — no appointments, no notary hunting, no standing in line at a Secretary of State counter. Order from any state, or from abroad, and receive it at your door.
Since 1991 we have prepared documents accepted in 89+ countries. Our apostille specialists know what every U.S. competent authority requires — so your documents are safe from day one.
Wherever you are in the process, the order form has a lane for you.
Our most requested package. We prepare a certified (sworn) translation, notarize it, and obtain the apostille — delivered ready for official use abroad.
Already have a certified translation from us? Add an apostille whenever the need arises — just quote your order number in the form and we pick it up from there.
Document already apostilled? We produce a certified document translation of the whole thing — apostille certificate included — in 72 languages.
Apostilles in the U.S. are strictly jurisdictional. A California birth certificate can only be apostilled in Sacramento; a New York diploma goes through Albany; a Texas notarization through Austin. And no state can touch a federal document: an FBI background check or a federal court record must be apostilled by the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. — a completely separate procedure with its own forms and fees.
For a family assembling a dual-citizenship file, that can easily mean four documents, four authorities, four sets of rules. A local apostille runner in one state can't help you with the other three. A nationwide service can: you place a single order with us, and our specialists obtain the correct apostille for each document from each competent authority — state offices and the federal government alike — then deliver everything together in one tracked package.
Distance never enters into it. Clients order from every state and from overseas, because the entire process — the order form, the free estimate, the status updates, the delivery tracking — happens online. Wherever you are and wherever your documents were born, the path to "accepted abroad" starts in one place.
Five steps — and only the first one is yours.
From vital records to federal background checks, these are the documents our clients ask about most — from every state in the Union:
An apostille is never the goal — it's the key to one. A passport, a wedding, a degree, a deal. Whatever door yours opens, we'd love to help you through it sooner.
Applying for a second passport through Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland or another ancestral homeland? Consulates want apostilled birth, marriage and naturalization records — and they rarely all come from the same state. We collect the right apostille for each one.
Marrying overseas means proving who you are on paper first: an apostilled birth certificate, proof you are free to marry, sometimes a divorce decree — all translated into the local language. One order covers the whole checklist.
Universities, licensing boards and employers abroad routinely refuse to review a diploma, transcript or background check until it carries an apostille and a certified translation. We deliver both together.
Closing on property in another country nearly always calls for an apostilled power of attorney, so a local representative can sign on your behalf while you stay home.
Long-stay visa and residency files in Hague Convention countries typically demand apostilled civil records and clean-record certificates — including the federal FBI check, which needs a federal apostille from Washington, D.C.
Registering a subsidiary, opening a bank account or signing contracts abroad requires apostilled corporate records — often from the state of incorporation, on a deadline. We know exactly which office to go to.
Every competent authority — all fifty Secretary of State offices and the U.S. Department of State — examines submissions in detail, and each has its own tripwires: notarial wording that one state accepts and its neighbor refuses, photocopied notarizations where originals are required, missing seals, lapsed notary commissions, fees paid in the wrong format, or a document simply sent to a jurisdiction that has no power to apostille it. Every rejection restarts the clock: new forms, new mailing, weeks gone.
Handling the whole chain under one roof is what removes that risk. The notarization on your translation is prepared by a notary who works to apostille standards daily, and each request package is assembled by specialists who deal with that specific authority's requirements all the time. There is nothing left for the office to object to — which is why rejections are practically unheard of with us.
And if an authority ever does refuse a document, you are never left guessing: you receive the official statement of refusal along with our plain-language guidance on the next step. No mysteries and no runarounds — a straight answer even when bureaucracy has other plans.
An apostille is a standardized certificate, created by the 1961 Hague Convention, that verifies the signature and seal of the official behind a public document so it can be accepted in the 120+ member countries without further legalization. Whenever you present a U.S. document abroad — for citizenship, marriage, study, employment or business — the foreign authority will almost always ask for one.
No, and this surprises most people. In the U.S., apostilles are issued by the competent authority of the jurisdiction the document belongs to: each of the 50 states (and the District of Columbia) apostilles its own state-issued or state-notarized documents through its Secretary of State, while federal documents — FBI background checks, federal court records, USDA or FDA certificates — are apostilled by the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. We route every document to the correct office for you.
A notary public verifies a signature on a document; an apostille is the government verifying the notary or official themselves — confirming their authority so a foreign country can trust the document. They happen in order: notarization first, then the apostille on top. When you order with us, both are handled inside a single service, in the right sequence, every time.
Yes — that is precisely what a nationwide apostille service is for. A birth certificate from one state, a diploma from another and an FBI check from the federal government each need an apostille from a different authority. You place one order, and we obtain the correct apostille for every document, from every office involved.
Yes. FBI identity history summaries are federal documents, so no state can apostille them — they must go through the U.S. Department of State. We handle federal apostilles as part of the same online order, together with the certified translation if your destination country requires one.
It depends on what the receiving authority wants. In many cases we prepare a certified translation, have it notarized, and obtain the apostille on that notarized translation; in others the apostille belongs on the underlying document itself. Tell us the destination country and purpose, and we will prepare it the way the receiving side expects.
Processing times genuinely vary by jurisdiction — some Secretary of State offices turn documents around in days, others take considerably longer, and federal apostilles run on their own timeline. Instead of quoting one number for all 50 states, our order form shows you the exact completion date for your specific document before you pay, and our express options keep it as short as your state allows.
Whenever the apostille process requires it, yes. A translation-based apostille can only be issued on a properly notarized document, so notarization by a licensed notary is built into the service — you never have to find a notary yourself.
Then an apostille will not be accepted, and the document instead needs embassy or consular legalization — a multi-step chain of authentications ending at the destination country's embassy. We arrange that route too, through the same order form: just tell us the country and we will prepare the correct certification.
For most translation-based apostille orders, no — you upload a scan and we handle everything remotely. Where a specific document type or destination requires the physical original to be authenticated, we tell you up front and give you simple, tracked shipping instructions. Either way, there are no appointments and no waiting rooms.
Of course. We prepare a certified translation of the complete document, apostille certificate included, in any of our 72 languages — ready for official submission abroad.
Every state sets its own apostille fee, and the federal government sets another, so the honest answer is: it depends on your document and its jurisdiction. Our estimate is free and instant — start an order or request a quote and you will see your exact all-inclusive price, government fees and all, with no obligation.
Upload a scan and we'll handle the rest — translation, notarization, the apostille from the correct state or federal authority, and tracked delivery to your door. Your free estimate takes seconds.
