Ordering an apostille from outside the United States

If you already have the document

This is the most common case, and it's fully remote from your side:

1. Send us a photo of the document by WhatsApp, text, or email so we can confirm it's ready to be apostilled — an original or a certified copy, not a photocopy, and notarized if the destination country requires it.
2. Mail the original to our Beaverton, Oregon office by international courier (DHL, FedEx) or your country's postal service.
3. We notarize it if needed, complete the request, and courier it to the correct government office — the Secretary of State for a state-issued document, or the U.S. Department of State for a federal one.
4. Once the apostille is issued, we ship your documents back to you internationally, tracked door to door.

Nothing in this process requires you to be in the United States, on the phone during U.S. business hours, or to have a U.S. mailing address.

FBI background checks from overseas

An FBI Identity History Summary is the one exception, because it starts with fingerprinting, and fingerprinting has to happen in person somewhere. You have a few options:

• Many U.S. embassies and consulates offer fingerprinting services for American citizens abroad.
• A local police station or notary in your country may offer FD-258 fingerprint cards that the FBI accepts by mail.
• If you're visiting the U.S., we can fingerprint you at any of our three Oregon offices.

Once your FBI Identity History Summary comes back, mail the original to us and we handle the rest — the federal apostille request, our courier service in Washington, D.C., and international return shipping.

If you don't have the original with you

Tell us what you have and where the original or a certified copy currently is. A few common situations:

• A family member in the U.S. has it — they can mail it directly to our office.
• You need a fresh certified copy of a vital record (birth, marriage, or death certificate) from the state that issued it — we'll tell you which office to request it from and how to have it sent straight to us, so it doesn't have to pass through your hands twice.
• You're not sure what you have — send us a photo of whatever you've got and we'll tell you what's missing.

Paying from outside the U.S.

Three options work cleanly from overseas, with no U.S. bank account needed:

• Credit or debit card — we can charge it over the phone or send a secure payment link.
• PayPal — send payment to our business account, in U.S. dollars.
• Wise — a low-fee bank transfer that converts from your local currency.

We also accept Zelle, Venmo, and personal check, but all three require the payer to have a U.S. bank account, so they generally only work if a family member here is paying on your behalf. Cash is accepted in person at our Oregon offices only. All prices on our pricing page are in U.S. dollars.

Getting your documents back

International shipping goes by DHL or FedEx, tracked door to door, and is quoted by destination and weight once we know where your documents are going. Tell us your destination country when you book and we'll include shipping in your quote.

Time zones and communication

Our office runs on Pacific Time (UTC−8, or UTC−7 in the summer). WhatsApp is usually the easiest way to reach us from a different time zone since it doesn't require a live call — send a message any time and we'll pick it up during our business hours, Monday to Friday 8am–5pm and Saturday 8am–2pm Pacific Time.