Apostille FAQ
What is an apostille
and why would I need one?
If you are intending to use your marriage certificate in a country other than the USA, you will almost certainly need to apostille your wedding certificate.
What is an Apostille?
An apostille is an authentication of your document from the source of your document. Apostilles are not limited to marriage certificates, there are many other public documents that may need this authentication such as birth certificates, diplomas, business ownership documents, and others.
The Hague Apostille Convention simplifies international document authentication by replacing the traditional, complex legalization process with a single Apostille certificate issued by a competent authority in a member country. To obtain one, you must first ensure the document is properly signed, and then submit it to the designated authority, such as the Utah Lt. Governor‘s Office of Authentications for US state-level documents or the U.S. Department of State for federal documents.
A Hague Apostille allows you to give an authenticated document that originated in one country to a different country than where it was created. Not all countries will require the apostille, so it is important to research the requirements for using an apostille before ordering.
Regardless of how it is done, the process to apostille a document is not online, and can only be handled through obtaining the certified paper documents and carrying or shipping the documents to the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s physical office for authentication – and that’s where our services shine!
Do I need to be a current or former client?
Not at all, we are pleased to offer this service to any couple with a Utah County issued marriage certificate. We hope you will come to know our excellent service personally as our many happy couples have already done.
When are you “Open”?
You can start your intake form at any time! However, we can only do the main parts of your service during Utah business hours. We do offer customer service outside the “business hours” listed. These are the times when the two government offices (Utah County Clerk and the Lt. Governors Office of Authentication) and FedEx are open on weekdays. Additionally, we must now operate within scheduled appointment times for the Office of Authentications.
Apostille Services are available Monday – Friday 10 am – 5 pm and closed on Saturdays, and Sundays. Our service cannot operate on US Federal Holidays and on July 24th, a Utah-specific holiday where government offices are closed. Some offices also choose to close on the day after the holiday as well, so the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day are often impacted. We have also encountered random office closures at times which we are unable to predict.
Our standard pickup days are on Mondays and Wednesdays, and our standard processing days are Tuesdays and Thursdays. Orders placed and completed over Friday-Sunday will be added to the Monday queue. Mailed documents are picked up every day and will be added to the first available processing slot.
What do all the fees and costs mean?
Here is our costs “glossary” – to let you know where your money goes!
- Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office of Authentications – These are the fixed costs to process an apostille document and the funds go directly to them.
- Utah County Clerk’s Office – We need a copy of your final marriage certificate to create the apostille, and this fee covers that cost. It is also paid directly to this office.
- Shipping – All shipping fees are quoted directly from either FedEx, DHL or USPS, we don’t “pad” the shipping costs with “handling”.
- Apostille Agent – This is where the rubber hits the road!
The agent is responsible for the round trip to retrieve a document from the Utah County Clerk, Then they take it to the Lt. Gov. office, and drop it at the shipping location. For our Lightning service, this takes a minimum of 3-5 hours (including driving and waiting times) and covers over 125 miles from our starting point. The agent also is responsible for picking up mailed documents for our Speedy Economy service and taking it through the authentications process and to the shipment location.
The $50 deposit also covers the human cost of administering these systems, creating documents, sending documents, printing documents, filling out forms, ensuring all boxes are ticked, customer service emails, texts, phone calls to the various offices, and more! - Admin Fee – This fee will cover any unseen costs in your order such as customs surcharges, country-specific taxes, administrative charges, tariffs or other items we can’t predict up-front. We do this so there’s no fuss or hassle for our beloved clients!
My Country Doesn’t Accept Apostilles – Now What?
While the Apostille is the standard for many countries, not all countries need or accept an apostille. However, *most* countries do have some process to accept proof of foreign marriage certificates. So there may be some research needed to find out what your specific country will need. Often, these regulations may be detailed on a government website, or through the country’s embassy.
We do know that the Utah Lt. Governor’s Office of Authentications can issue a “Certification” of authenticity that many countries do accept. If you think your country might accept this, please let us know. We are happy to call the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s Office of Authentications to find out.
We also work with and recommend Apostille Please for further federal and embassy authentications.
Pictured to the left, a real State of Utah issued Certificate.
Do You Apostille Any Other Documents?
We can sometimes obtain apostilles for other documents, but it is not generally possible to do any in person pickup. See our longer explanation on our Apostille Ordering FAQ page.