How to obtain your Florida Birth Certificate in a foreign country

How to obtain your Florida Birth Certificate in a foreign country

The state of Florida issues computer generated birth certification on safety paper containing an embossed seal, which meets the requirements of Homeland Security and other national and international monitory groups. Florida State has been issuing these certifications since the mid-1980s, and they are accepted by the various government institutes and branches, like the Social Security Administration, courts, schools districts, the U.S. Passport Office, and other state and federal entities and cruise lines that might require proof of U.S. birth.

If you wish to order a Florida Birth Certificate for use by a foreign government that is a member of the 1961 Hague Convention, it is advisable to get an apostille with the help of online apostille services. An apostille is authentication of any public document in a foreign country, where public document is any document issued by an elected or appointed public official or has been notarized; for example, a marriage license, school transcript, diploma, death certificate, adoption records, etc. The main purpose of an apostille is to endorse the legitimacy of the issuing official or notary’s signature.

Every state in the United State of America designs a competent body which issues an apostille for any public document. In the state of Florida, this responsibility falls on the Florida Secretary of State. Only this body can issue an apostille, and they can only be issued at 2661 Executive Center Cir., Tallahassee, FL 32301 by the Division of Corporations.

For countries that are nonmembers of the 1961 Hague Convention, instead of an apostille, they are issued notarial certificates or certifications. Just like an apostille, this document too authenticates the issuing official or notary signature. Need help to ensure that the document is not fraudulently notarized, if yes then you can check out this Notary Public services here for great help! You can also search notary near me online if you need notary services.

To verify the validity of a Florida notary public’s signature, the Department of State compares the notary’s information against their Notary Public database. They also verify the notary public’s commission number, expiration date, and name. To get either an apostille or a notarial certificate issued under normal circumstances, the process does not take more than 3-5 days, perhaps a little longer on peak days.

To request for an apostille or a notarial certificate, the supplicant needs to send a self-addressed stamped envelope or a pre-paid pre-addressed airbill, along with the requester’s name and address listed as both sender and recipient. This is because the Department of State understands that a petitioner’s documents are important and time-sensitive to him/her, and a self-addressed stamped envelope would ensure that their documents return to them as soon as possible.

There is no way in which a supplicant can expedite his/her request, but the Department of State does offer walk-in services. Walk-in requests can only be asked for at their office in 2661 Executive Center Cir., Tallahassee, FL 32301, on business days from Monday through Friday, 8 am – 5 pm, with the obvious exception of state holidays. If a document needs to be translated and apostillised for another country, the Florida Secretary of State’s Office does not provide translation services either. Supplicants are advised to contact the Yellow Pages or to locate translation services online.