How can I get an apostille quickly?

The turnaround time to obtain an apostille will vary, depending upon which Secretary of State office you need to work with, or the USDOS (for federal documents). The best way to find out how long each state or federal office takes, you can call directly. Turnaround times can change from time to time, based on the amount of submissions each office receives, the amount of staff in the office, and if there are holidays in which government offices close. If you need an apostille quicker than the quoted turnaround time, it’s best to reach out to a RELIABLE courier and/or certified apostille agent. In most cases, using this type of service can greatly decrease the turnaround time for processing with the government office. For example, at the time of writing this blog, the approximate turnaround time to obtain an apostille from the Florida Secretary of State is 1 month. If you don’t have an immediate need for your apostille, this could be OK for you. However, many people don’t have the luxury of time on their side when needing an apostille for another country, so 1 month can cause many issues. If you use our services, our turnaround time to obtain an apostille from the Florida Secretary of State is approximately 2-3 days. In most cases, we have the apostille a day after it’s submitted to the SOS, but there is a never a guarantee because we are working with a government office. An educated and experienced apostille agent can also offer options that may work for your needs in many situations. Remember, the only way to determine if optional apostille processing will be accepted by the requestor, is to find out exactly what the requestor wants and needs. If an apostille specialist guarantees to you that an alternative processing will be accepted, by wary of the resource. One other situation that should be avoided is obtaining an apostille from a non-governmental office who provides it to you on the spot, within the same day that you bring them your documents. The only LEGAL place to obtain apostilles are the Secretary of State or USDOS Federal Government offices. Although you may get a piece of paper that states it’s an “apostille”, if it’s not authentic, you may run into problems.