New York Document Apostille

An apostille authenticates the seal and signature on a document that has been issued by a U.S. federal department, for use in countries that are part of the 1961 Hague Convention. There are 97 member countries. If your country is not a member of the convention, you will need to follow an additional step of Embassy Legalization before your documents can be used in that country. The Department of State Authentication Office provides the authentication service for both apostilles and full legalizations for government documents, contact them directly for cost, requirements and address. URL

Getting a DOJ Apostille: Tips and Requirements

For New York State documents, you will need to first have your document notarized by a notary public or County Clerk (depending on the type of document). Then take the notarized document(s) and the certificate of authentication from the notary to the Department of State, Division of Licensing Services to get the apostille.

This process takes on average about 4-6 weeks to complete. It is not guaranteed that your documents will be approved for the apostille. It is important that the original certificates of authentication are attached to the original documents.

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