Apostille & Authentication Services in Summerville, SC

In South Carolina, apostilles are issued by the Secretary of State in Columbia. Your document must reach that office in acceptable form, with the state fee, and then be returned to you. You can do this yourself by mail. Most people who call me are short on time, are sending documents overseas for the first time, or have already had a package returned.

An apostille is a certificate the state attaches to a document so that a foreign government will accept it without further proof. It is used between countries that belong to the Hague Apostille Convention. For countries outside the convention, the state issues an authentication instead, and the document usually goes on to that country's embassy or consulate.

Here is what I do. I notarize the documents you provide when the state requires a notarial act, prepare and submit the request to the Secretary of State, handle the courier trip, and coordinate the return. I do not give legal or immigration advice, and I do not tell you which document your receiving country will accept. If a consulate, university or employer has given you a list of requirements, please bring that list, and I will work from it.

The documents I handle most often are powers of attorney, single-status and other affidavits, corporate and business records, school records, and government-issued records that already carry the issuing office's signature.

Turnaround depends on the state's processing times, not on me. When a deadline is tight, I drive the package to Columbia myself rather than mailing it. I quote that trip per job, because it depends on the day, the number of documents and how quickly you need them back. For that reason, no fixed price is listed here.