What Is Apostille Certificate?
An apostille is a certificate that is added to the original document, certifying that the document is genuine. This can be done by any authorized person (such as a notary public) in the country where the document was signed.
Documents issued by civil authorities should be legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country where they were issued and then get an apostille. Documents issued by administrative authorities or courts should be legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or their foreign counterparts, and then get an apostille.
If notarized documents need to be legalized, those notaries must have official judicial powers. The legalization process can take a few weeks or longer, depending on the country and the process. The final stage of legalization is to affix an apostille, which certifies that your document has been authenticated by the relevant authorities in your home country.
The documents must be original, signed and stamped by the issuing authority. The signature of the issuing authority should be notarized by a foreign notary and then get an apostille. Documents issued in languages other than English or Spanish need to be translated into one of these languages before they can be legalized.
Dallas Apostille Process
The documents should be sent to the Foreign Affairs Office of the Texas Secretary of State or your consulate. You can also mail them to an apostille provider in the US. The apostille can then be affixed to your document, which will make it legal and acceptable in any country that accepts these documents. There are Apostille Dallas services that can help you with this process. They will make sure that your documents are notarized and translated correctly, as well as affix the apostille itself.