US Department of State Apostille

The US Department of State (USDOS) in Washington, DC is the authority to apostille or authenticate documents issued mainly by the U.S. Federal Agencies (documents signed by a federal official with the official seal of that agency), American Consular Officers, Military Notaries or Foreign Consuls.

The USDOS is the highest level of certification provided in the United States. It is similar to what other foreign countries call “Foreign Affairs Certification”.

Apostille

Documents issued by U.S. Federal Agencies that will be used in countries signatory of the Hague Convention Treaty (France, Bahrain, Spain, Portugal, Panama, etc.) Examples of these documents are FBI Clearances, Naturalization Certificates, Free Sales, etc.

Authentication

Documents that are going to be used in Non-Hague Convention countries (Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Vietnam, etc.) require the following process:

• Notarized by a U.S. public notary
• Certified by the secretary of the state where the public notary is commissioned (Texas, California, etc.)
• Authenticated by the USDOS offices in WDC
• Embassy Authentication (Legalization)

What is a federally issued document?

Any document issued by one of the federal agencies’ entities or by a U.S. Federal court. The document must be an original certificate and must contain the raised seal of the federal agency to be accepted for the authentication process from the USDOS. Examples of the federal agencies are: –
The Food and Drug Administration- FDA.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation- FBI Background Check.
The Environmental Protection Agency- EPA.
The Internal Revenue Service- IRS.
The US Patent and Trademark Office- USPTO.
The United State Department of Agriculture- USDA
The US Homeland Security- Naturalization Certificate.
The United States Social Security Administration- SSA.
The United States Federal Courts (Note: Prior to USDOS authentication, certification by the U.S. Department of Justices in WDC is required.)