Quick answer: An apostille is the international authentication stamp that makes a US document valid in Mexico. State-issued documents (birth, marriage, divorce certificates) are apostilled by the Secretary of State of the issuing state — and only that state. Federal documents (the FBI check) go to the US Department of State (~5 weeks). State fees run $1 (Michigan) to $40 (Connecticut) per document; turnarounds range from same-day walk-in to several weeks by mail. The full 50-state table is below.
Key takeaways
- The issuing authority determines the apostille office — where you live is irrelevant. Born in Ohio? Ohio apostilles your birth certificate, even if you've lived in Texas for 30 years.
- Apostilles go on original certified copies, not photocopies — order fresh certified copies first if yours are old or laminated.
- Translation comes after the apostille (the apostille page gets translated too).
- Start with your slowest document — usually the out-of-state birth certificate or the FBI check.
Mexico and the US are both Hague Apostille Convention members, which is good news: no embassy legalization, just the apostille. The bad news is that "get an apostille" is actually several different processes depending on each document's issuer. Here's the complete map.
What an apostille actually is
A standardized certificate, physically attached to your document, in which the issuing authority confirms the signature and seal are genuine. Mexican consulates and INM accept apostilled US documents directly. It doesn't certify the content is true — just that the document is authentically what it claims to be. One apostille per document, and it must ride on a document the office recognizes — which is where the rules below come in.
The state-vs-federal split
This single distinction sorts out almost everything:
State documents → that state's Secretary of State (or equivalent office). Birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, name-change orders, notarized documents. Each state runs its own office with its own fee (from $1 in Michigan to $40 in Connecticut), its own methods (walk-in counters in some states, online-only in others), and its own turnaround (same-day to several weeks). The full state-by-state table is below.
Federal documents → US Department of State, Office of Authentications. For residency purposes this is almost always the FBI Identity History Summary. Plan on ~5 weeks and read the FBI check guide — it's the long pole of the whole application.
Every state's apostille office: fee, method, turnaround
This is the part nobody collects in one place. Each row is from that office's official page (linked) — fees and methods as published, verified June 2026. A few patterns worth noticing before you scan for your states: the cheap-and-fast states (Georgia $3 walk-in in 20 minutes, Arkansas $10 in 24–48 hours, Indiana $2 with vital records free), the slow-by-mail states where in-person rescues you (Texas mail can take 25 business days but Austin walk-ins are same-day; same story in New York and Pennsylvania), and the structurally different ones — Georgia uses the GSCCCA rather than the Secretary of State, New Jersey runs apostilles out of the Treasury with a 12–20 business day standard queue, and Connecticut takes requests online only.
| State | Fee | By mail | In person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $5/doc | No published time — allow about a week | Montgomery office |
| Alaska Office of the Lt. Governor | $5/doc | Aims to process same day on receipt | Juneau, by appointment |
| Arizona | $3/doc | ~10 business days | Phoenix & Tucson — same day with $25 expedite (max 6 docs) |
| Arkansas | $10/doc | 24–48 hours | Little Rock counter |
| California | $20/doc (+$6 handling fee in person) | Backlog varies — about 2 weeks as of mid-2026 (check their processing-dates page) | Sacramento & Los Angeles — typically ~30 minutes |
| Colorado | $5/doc | 5–7 business days typical; office reports longer-than-normal waits | Denver — while-you-wait when volume allows (arrive before 4:30pm) |
| Connecticut Secretary of the State | $40/doc ($90 expedited) | Online-only intake since Sept 2025; regular 5–7 business days, expedited 24 hours | — |
| Delaware Division of Corporations | $30 flat for personal documents submitted together | Typically same business day | Dover, by appointment |
| Florida Department of State | $10/doc ($20 for clerk-of-court certified documents) | Allow at least 5 business days | Tallahassee (Clifton Building) |
| Georgia GSCCCA (not the Secretary of State) | $3/doc | 1–2 business days | Atlanta — under 20 minutes, no appointment |
| Hawaii Office of the Lt. Governor | $3/doc | 7–10 business days (also an online portal); no expedite | Honolulu (State Capitol) |
| Idaho | $10/doc | Processed daily — a few business days | Boise, by appointment only |
| Illinois | $2/doc | No published time — 1–2 weeks commonly reported | Springfield & Chicago — while you wait, first come first served |
| Indiana | $2/doc — birth/death certificates and transcripts exempt (free) | 1–2 business days | Indianapolis, by appointment |
| Iowa | $5/doc | ~2 business days | Des Moines (Lucas Building) |
| Kansas | $10/doc (raised March 2026) | 3–5 business days | Topeka (Docking Building) |
| Kentucky | $5/doc | 3 business days (also an e-Apostille portal for non-vital records) | Frankfort — while you wait |
| Louisiana | $20/doc | No published time — a few business days commonly reported | Baton Rouge |
| Maine | $10/doc | 10–15 business days | Augusta (6+ documents by appointment) |
| Maryland | $5/doc | Up to 1 week | Annapolis — 9am–1pm, same day, 15 docs/day limit |
| Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth | $6/doc | 2–3 weeks | Boston — up to 3 docs same day, 4+ ready next business day |
| Michigan Office of the Great Seal | $1/doc | 1–2 weeks; no expedite | Lansing + select SOS offices |
| Minnesota | $5/doc | Processed in order received — no published time | St. Paul, by appointment (released 14 days out) |
| Mississippi | $5/doc | No published time — ~2 business days commonly reported | — |
| Missouri | $10 per certification (per notary, per document) | No published time | Jefferson City |
| Montana | $10/doc | 3–5 business days (also an online portal) | Helena drop-off |
| Nebraska | $10 per notarization | 3–5 business days (also an online portal) | Lincoln — same day |
| Nevada | $20/doc | No published standard time; paid expedite tiers from $75 (24-hour) | Carson City / Las Vegas, by appointment |
| New Hampshire | $10/doc (+$25 per 10 docs for large walk-in batches) | A few business days | Concord — 8am–4:15pm, usually same day |
| New Jersey Treasury / DORES (not the Secretary of State) | $25/doc regular, $40 expedited (+ small card fee) | Regular 12–20 business days; expedited 8.5 business hours | Trenton — expedited orders only (8:30am–2pm) |
| New Mexico | $3/doc | Processed daily Mon–Thu (also an online portal) | Santa Fe — while you wait |
| New York Department of State | $10/doc | No published time — several weeks commonly reported | NYC, Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Utica — same day |
| North Carolina | $10/doc | About 5 business days slower than hand-delivered; current times on their homepage | Raleigh hand-delivery |
| North Dakota | $10 + $5 record search per notary signature | ~3 business days | Bismarck, by appointment |
| Ohio | $5/doc | 2–3 days | Columbus |
| Oklahoma | $25 per notarial act or certified document | No published time — 1–3 business days commonly reported | Oklahoma City — 8am–4:30pm |
| Oregon | $10/doc | Usually near-current — a few business days (status table on their site) | — |
| Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Commissions | $15/doc | 2–3 weeks by mail; 5–7 business days via drop box | Harrisburg, by appointment — usually same day |
| Rhode Island Department of State | $5/doc (+$0.75 online) | 3–5 business days (also an online portal) | Providence |
| South Carolina | $5/doc | No published time — ~2 business days commonly reported | Columbia — 8:30am–4:30pm |
| South Dakota | $25/doc (+$50 expedite by appointment) | ~2 business days | Pierre drop-off — 1–2 business days |
| Tennessee | $2/doc | ~3 business days | Nashville — 8am–4:15pm CT, same day |
| Texas | $15/doc | Up to 25 business days — use drop-off or in-person if you can | Austin — walk-in Mon/Fri, appointments Tue–Thu (max 10 docs, same day); bulk drop-off 24–48h |
| Utah Office of the Lt. Governor | $19/doc regular; $53 next-day; $93 same-day | Regular 3–5 business days | Salt Lake City — walk-in 2–4pm, appointments, drop box |
| Vermont | $10/doc | A few business days | Middlesex (State Archives) |
| Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth | $10 first doc + $5 each additional (same official, same date, same country) | Processed in 5–7 business days; ~7–10 round trip | Richmond, by appointment (constituents only) |
| Washington | $15/doc (+$100 per 10 docs to expedite; +$150 same-day in person) | Standard 7–10 business days; expedited 2–3 | Tumwater or Cheney — same day with fee |
| West Virginia | $10 first doc + $5 each additional | No published time | Charleston |
| Wisconsin | $10/doc standard; $35 expedited | Standard 7–20 days; expedited 2–4 business days | Madison (Capitol basement) — usually same day |
| Wyoming | $20/doc | ~5 business days | Cheyenne, by appointment only |
| Washington, DC Office of Notary Commissions & Authentications | $15/doc | 5 business days | 899 North Capitol St NE — 9am–1pm, same day, no appointment |
Three practical notes on reading the table. First, mail turnarounds exclude shipping both ways — add a week of postal time to any mail figure, and send originals with tracking. Second, several offices publish no turnaround at all; where the table says "commonly reported," treat it as an estimate and confirm by phone if your timeline is tight. Third, fees move — Kansas raised its fee in March 2026, Hawaii in mid-2025 — so the linked official page is always the final word.
The multi-state family problem
A typical couple's file: his birth certificate (Ohio), her birth certificate (California), marriage certificate (Nevada), kids born in Texas. That's four separate apostille processes in four states, each with its own forms and clock. The strategy:
- Inventory first. List every document and its issuing state on day one.
- Order fresh certified copies where needed (the state's vital records office) — apostille offices reject laminated certificates and dog-eared 1970s originals routinely. Some states let you order the certified copy and apostille in one transaction.
- Start the slowest state first and run the others in parallel.
- Keep every apostilled document unstapled, unfolded, unlaminated from then on.
When should you use a third-party apostille service?
The honest answer: less often than their marketing suggests. They're worth it when you need walk-in speed in a state you don't live in, or you're juggling four states at once and value the project management. They're not worth it for one document from your own state — it's a mail-in form. And for the federal apostille, remember: no service can skip the State Department queue, whatever the website implies.
Timing and recency
Most consulates want apostilled documents reasonably recent — commonly issued or apostilled within about a year. The practical sequencing: apostille your civil documents once your consulate appointment is realistically in view, not years ahead. And translation, where your consulate requires it, happens after the apostille so the translator can include the apostille page.
The mistakes that bounce files
- Apostilling a photocopy instead of a certified copy.
- Sending a birth certificate to the wrong state (where you live, not where it was issued).
- A laminated certificate the state office refuses to stamp.
- Forgetting the kids' documents — every applicant's civil documents need the same treatment.
- Apostilling everything except the document the consulate actually scrutinizes — match your list to your consulate's published requirements, which is exactly what your consulate page and our checklist track.
Common questions
Do bank statements and employment letters need apostilles? Generally no — financial evidence is presented as-is (with bank stamps/letters). Apostilles are for civil and government documents: birth, marriage, divorce, background checks.
My state offers same-day walk-in service — can I just do it all there? Only for documents that state issued. The walk-in counter can't touch your out-of-state birth certificate.
How much should I budget? For a couple with documents from two or three states plus an FBI check: roughly $50–150 in government fees, plus certified-copy fees and shipping — and several hundred more if you use handling services. The real cost is calendar time, not money.
Does Mexico ever reject an apostilled document? Rarely for the apostille itself — rejections come from the underlying document (too old, wrong type, missing translation). Get the certified copy right and the apostille follows.
Next step
Your document list depends on your case — family composition, income type, Temporary vs Permanent. Run the free calculator to confirm your route, then check your consulate's requirements before apostilling anything.
Prefer not to piece the process together yourself? Our guided residency product walks you through the entire application end to end — a document checklist personalized to your consulate and income type, apostille and translation tracking, interview prep, and real human support along the way.