How Much Does an Apostille Cost? Official Fees From 11 Authorities

An apostille costs $3 to $30 per document at United States state authorities, HK$125 at the Hong Kong High Court and £35 to £100 at the UK Legalisation Office. The price is set by the office that signs the certificate, not by the document. Every figure below is the published one, checked on 21 October 2026.

1. What the official fee actually buys

An apostille is one page that authenticates a signature and a seal. Nothing else. California states the scope as "provides an Apostille to authenticate California public officials' signatures on documents to be used outside the United States of America." New York is just as narrow: "The Department of State only authenticates public documents issued in New York State which are signed by a New York State official or county clerk."

The District of Columbia publishes the limits of the certificate in the plainest language of the eleven authorities below: "ONCA Authentication Does Not Verify accuracy of the information contained in the document; the legitimacy or accreditation of any school, university, financial institution, or organization referenced in the document; or the validity of the underlying record."

That single sentence explains most of the arguments people have with receiving authorities. The fee buys a check on the signer, not on the content.

The fee pays for	The fee does not pay for
A check that the notary or public official who signed is properly commissioned	Translation, or a check that a translation is accurate
A check that the seal or stamp on the document belongs to that office	A check that the school, bank or company named in the document exists
The certificate itself, attached to your document	The certified copy of the record the certificate sits on
The signature and seal of the authenticating officer	The embassy or consulate legalisation that a non-Convention country may still demand

2. Official apostille fees by authority

These are the published charges of eleven authorities, in the currency each one bills in. The spread is tenfold inside one country: Georgia charges $3.00 for the same model certificate that Delaware charges $30.00 for. There is no national fee schedule in the United States — each state fixes its own.

Authority	Where it is	Official fee	Charged per
Georgia	GSCCCA, 1875 Century Blvd., Ste. 100, Atlanta, GA 30345	$3.00	Per document
Massachusetts	Secretary of the Commonwealth, Room 1719, One Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02108	$6.00	Per document
New York	Department of State, Division of Licensing Services, PO Box 22001, Albany, NY 12201-2001	$10.00	Per document
Florida	Division of Corporations, 2415 N. Monroe Street, Suite 810, Tallahassee, FL 32303	$10.00	Per document
Florida (court-certified)	Same office, when the underlying document was certified by a Clerk of the Court	$20.00	Per document — $10 apostille + $10 certificate of incumbency
Texas	Secretary of State, Authentications Unit, 400 West 15th Street, Austin, TX 78701	$15.00	Per document, not per page
District of Columbia	ONCA, 899 North Capitol Street, NE, Suite 8100, Washington, DC 20002	$15.00	Per document, mail-in and walk-in alike
California	Secretary of State, 1500 11th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814; 300 South Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013	$20.00	Per apostille, plus $6.00 per different public official's signature in person
Nevada	Secretary of State, 401 North Carson St., Carson City, NV 89701	$20.00	Per document; expedite is per notary authenticated
Delaware	Division of Corporations, 401 Federal Street, Suite 4, Dover, DE 19901	$30.00	Per batch for personal use; per document for commercial use
Hong Kong SAR	Apostille Service Office, High Court Registry (Counter 5), LG1/F, High Court Building	HK$125	Per apostille application
United Kingdom	FCDO Legalisation Office — apply online, documents by post	£45 standard · £35 e-Apostille · £40 next-day · £100 urgent	Per document

Two of these numbers need a footnote before you compare them. Delaware's $30.00 is the commercial rate; for personal use the office "discounts its fees to $30.00 for any documents that are presented simultaneously" — five personal documents sent together still cost $30.00. And the UK's £40 next-day and £100 same-day rates are for registered businesses only; an individual cannot buy them.

The $3.00 Georgia certificate and the $30.00 Delaware certificate are the same document. Both follow the Hague Conference model, both carry the country of destination, the identity of the signer, the place and date of signing, the issuing authority, the certificate number and the seal. The price difference is a policy decision written into a state fee schedule, not a difference in what you receive.

3. What the fee is charged per: document, page, signature or batch

The unit matters more than the rate. A $3.00 authority charging per signature is more expensive than a $20.00 authority charging per document once you have five notarized papers.

Authority	Unit	What that means in practice
Georgia	$3.00 per document	One page or twenty pages, same fee. No county certification step first.
Massachusetts	$6.00 per document	Counter limit of three documents per customer for same-day service.
New York	$10.00 per document	Same-day counter service capped at ten documents per customer.
Florida	$10.00 per document	Doubles to $20.00 when a Clerk of the Court has already certified the document.
Texas	$15.00 per document, not per page	The office prints the distinction on its own instructions.
District of Columbia	$15.00 per document	Identical at the mail-in centre and the walk-in counter.
California	$20.00 per apostille + $6.00 per different signature	The $6.00 special handling charge applies in person, for each different public official's signature.
Nevada	$20.00 per document	Expedite, by contrast, is billed per notary authenticated — two notarized signatures means two expedite charges.
Delaware	$30.00 per batch (personal) or per document (commercial)	The only authority in this table that prices a batch rather than a document.
Hong Kong SAR	HK$125 per application	Additional copies of the same document are separate applications.
United Kingdom	£45 per document	No refund if the document turns out not to be legalisable.

Two practical consequences follow. First, a long document is not automatically expensive: a twelve-page contract carrying one notarial certificate is one fee in every authority above except Delaware, where the batch rate makes it cheaper still. Second, a document carrying two notarized signatures — a deed signed by two parties, for example — can cost double in California in person and double again in Nevada if you buy expedite.

4. Documents you must already hold, and what they cost

The apostille fee is never the first bill. The office authenticates a signature that already exists, so the document has to arrive in the right form before anyone will take your money. Florida puts it bluntly: "An original certified copy or certificate of status of a public document is required. A photocopy is not acceptable." Georgia draws the same line from the other side: for official records, "These documents are never notarized."

Texas adds a time limit that catches people who ordered their records years in advance: "Certified records must have been issued within the past five (5) years to be eligible for apostille."

What the apostille sits on	Where the certified copy comes from	Published fee
Birth certificate	DC Health; Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health; Georgia DPH	$23.00 (DC) · $25.00 (NV) · $25.00 (GA)
Death certificate	Same three offices	$18.00 (DC) · $25.00 (NV, $22.00 in six counties) · $25.00 (GA)
Marriage certificate	DC Superior Court Marriage Bureau; county clerk in Nevada; Georgia DPH	$10.00 (DC) · $10.00 (GA, +$5.00 per extra copy) · county fee (NV)
Divorce decree	The court that granted it; some Georgia counties issue digital certified copies through eCertification	Court fee, set locally
Notarized document — power of attorney, affidavit, diploma, transcript	A notary public, or the school for an academic record	Set by the notary or the school, not by the state

Read the two tables together and the headline number collapses. A $3.00 Georgia apostille on a $25.00 birth certificate is a $28.00 job, and the certificate — not the apostille — is 89% of it. This is why quotes that lead with the apostille fee alone tend to disappoint.

5. Processing time by authority, and what "expedited" actually buys

In the United States, speed is rarely sold as a fee. It is bought by appearing in person. Only Nevada and Delaware publish paid expedite tiers for apostilles, and the UK sells three faster options that are mostly closed to individuals.

Authority	By mail	In person	Expedite sold?
Georgia	Normally one to two business days	While-you-wait, 9:00–16:00, no appointment	Not needed
Massachusetts	Two to three weeks	Three documents same day; four or more after 3pm the next business day	None
New York	In the order received	Same day, ten documents per customer	None
Florida	In the order received	Mail only	None
Texas	Up to two weeks from receipt	Same day, ten documents; drop box 72 hours	Walk-in is the only lever
District of Columbia	Five business days	Same day, 9am–1pm, no appointment	None
California	In the order received; the office "cannot pull submissions for expedited service"	Same day at Sacramento and Los Angeles	None
Nevada	Two weeks on one page, four to six weeks on another	Same day	24h $75 · 4h $125 · 2h $500 · 1h $1,000, per notary authenticated
Delaware	Typically the same business day by mail	Same day by appointment	Corporate expedite tiers, separate from apostilles
Hong Kong SAR	Two working days; two weeks for overseas applications	Counter 5, LG1/F, High Court Building	e-Apostille through enrolled notaries
United Kingdom	Up to 25 working days	Post only for individuals	e-Apostille £35, up to 2 working days; next-day £40 and same-day £100 for registered businesses only

Nevada is the one authority where paying for speed is worth checking against the post. Its own page warns: "All documents are returned by First Class Mail, even if expedited service is requested." A $1,000 one-hour service can still spend a week in the mail on the way back. Where the certificate is ready in an hour, the return leg is what you are actually buying when you add a prepaid label.

The UK numbers read the other way round. Standard service at £45 takes up to 25 working days; the £35 e-Apostille is both cheaper and faster at up to two working days, which is why it is the default choice for a document that is already electronically signed by a UK notary or solicitor. Birth, death, marriage and adoption certificates, ACRO police certificates and DBS certificates cannot use it.

6. Step-by-step, and where each step adds a charge

1. Confirm the destination is a Convention country. No charge at this step, but the wrong answer costs the whole job. If the destination is outside the Convention, the state certificate is only the first of three documents: the US Department of State and the destination's embassy in Washington each add their own fee afterwards.
2. Get the record in certifiable form. A certified copy from the issuing office, or a notarized original. This is the largest single line in most budgets, and it is paid to a different office than the apostille.
3. Clear any preceding certification. New York requires locally issued birth, death and marriage certificates to be certified by the County Clerk of the issuing county first, and notarized documents to be certified by the County Clerk of the county where the notary is commissioned. Georgia requires nothing of the kind: "Notarized documents do not require additional county certification prior to obtaining the apostille."
4. Assemble the request. Form, cover letter naming the destination country, payment, return envelope. A missing destination country is one of the most common reasons a packet comes back.
5. Pay the official fee. This is the line item in the table above, and usually the smallest one.
6. Pay the return leg. Postage, courier or a prepaid label — priced in section 7, and routinely left out of quotes.

7. Mail or walk-in: the return leg nobody prices

Walking in removes the wait and the postage in one move, which is why it is worth a flight for a batch of documents and not worth it for one. Where walking in is not possible, the return rule of each office decides whether your certificate arrives tracked or not.

Authority	How the certificate comes back
California	Prepaid postage required, otherwise regular mail. The office will not pull a mailed request for expedited service.
New York	First class by default; a prepaid label is accepted, but not one that bills the carrier to your card or to the sender.
Texas	The office "does not cover shipping costs or add tracking to your envelope"; anything uncollected 72 hours after processing goes out by USPS without tracking.
Georgia	Prepaid envelope or airbill required; FedEx and UPS airbills must be computer generated, handwritten ones are refused.
Delaware	First-class mail unless a prepaid Priority, FedEx or UPS envelope is enclosed.
District of Columbia	A self-addressed stamped envelope is part of the required packet; FedEx and USPS are collected daily.
Nevada	First class even when expedite is paid; a "Bill to Sender" label is refused.
Massachusetts	Prepaid return envelope required; no credit cards accepted for prepaying express return.
Florida	Self-addressed stamped envelope or a prepaid air bill, with the requestor named as both sender and recipient.
Hong Kong SAR	Add HK$15.50 for registered air mail, or arrange a prepaid courier to collect.
United Kingdom	Courier return £6 within the UK, £32 Europe, £42 rest of the world per 1.5kg; no return to Russia, Ukraine or Belarus.

8. Where overseas applicants get stuck

Almost never at the fee. The wall is payment and postage, and it is built out of rules that are trivial inside the country and immovable outside it.

• Florida takes neither cash nor cards. "We do not accept cash or credit cards." A cheque or money order is required, and "All checks must be issued in U.S. currency drawn from a U.S. bank." A euro cheque from a European bank is refused before anyone reads the amount.
• Texas accepts a US bank cheque, or a funded client account. Personal cheques without a printed address, without an amount, or without a signature are returned.
• Massachusetts will not take a card even for postage. "We do not accept credit cards as a form of pre-payment for express mail services."
• Washington DC takes cards, but a cheque must be payable to "DC Treasurer" from a US financial institution in US dollars, for the exact amount.
• Georgia sells a prepayment voucher for people who cannot hand over cash or a company cheque — the practical route for a courier acting for an overseas client.
• Hong Kong wants a bank draft in Hong Kong dollars, and any bank charge on the draft is borne by the applicant.
• Nobody abroad can buy a US stamp. A prepaid return label needs a US carrier account, and several offices refuse labels that bill the sender.

Add the time zone problem and the county problem. A county clerk in New York or a marriage bureau in the District of Columbia works office hours in a time zone most applicants are asleep in, and neither will take an instruction by email from someone who has not proved they are entitled to the record.

9. Cost breakdown: four real scenarios

The same task priced end to end, using only the published figures above. Where a component is set locally and could not be verified, it is named rather than estimated.

Scenario	Official charges	Total	Not included
Georgia birth certificate, walk-in	$25.00 certified copy + $3.00 apostille	$28.00, same day	Travel and parking
District of Columbia birth certificate, by mail	$23.00 certified copy + $15.00 apostille + return postage	$38.00 plus postage, five business days	Postage, which the office does not supply
Nevada marriage certificate, 24-hour expedite	County copy fee + $20.00 apostille + $75.00 expedite	$95.00 plus the county fee, the office's own worked example	The county's certified copy charge, set by each of the 17 counties
UK degree certificate, e-Apostille	Solicitor or notary certification + £35.00 e-Apostille + £6.00 UK return	£41.00 plus the professional's charge, up to two working days	The solicitor's or notary's fee, which is not set by government
Agency service fee	Quoted per document type, number of copies and destination Get a quote →	—	—

No single party collects the others' charges. The vital records office keeps the copy fee, the notary keeps the notarisation fee, the authority keeps the apostille fee and the carrier keeps the postage. When a quote is described as all-in, the two questions worth asking are whether it covers the certified copy and whether it covers the return leg.

10. When to use a service

If three or more of the following apply, the time cost of doing it yourself usually exceeds the service fee:

• The document is in one country, you are in another, and you have nobody to walk into the counter or post a US-bank cheque on your behalf.
• The record has to be ordered first from a county clerk or a vital records office that will not deal with you by email.
• You need a county-level certification step before the apostille, as in New York, and you are not sure which county.
• You have documents of several types at once — a birth certificate, a marriage certificate and a power of attorney — going to the same destination.
• Your destination is outside the Convention, so the apostille is only the first of three authentications.
• You would rather reduce the risk of a rejection than absorb the cost of a second international shipment and another wait.

11. Common rejection reasons, and what a rejection costs

A rejection is not just a delay. The fee is usually gone, both shipments are gone, and the queue starts again from the back.

• A photocopy instead of a certified copy. Florida states it twice on one page: "A photocopy is not acceptable."
• A record older than the state will accept. Texas will not apostille a certified record issued more than five years ago, because the signature may no longer be verifiable.
• A document from another state or from a federal agency. Georgia lists both as outside its authority, and names the Consular Report of Birth Abroad specifically.
• A missing destination country. Delaware requires the request to state it; Texas makes it a field on the form; Nevada says a missing country may lead to rejection.
• A notarial certificate that does not match the signer. The name on the seal, the name on the commission and the handwritten signature have to agree.
• One cover certification over several filed documents. Delaware refuses these outright and requires each document to be certified separately.
• A document that is not eligible at all. The UK does not refund: "If your document cannot be legalised you will not be refunded."

Most fee schedules are silent on refunds for the United States authorities in this table, which in practice means the same thing. If you want a second pair of eyes on the packet before it goes out, Contact us →

12. How to verify authenticity

Only one of the eleven authorities in this table offers a public online lookup. New York lets you verify an apostille or certificate of authentication issued on or after 9 April 2013 through its own verification page; anything earlier has to be checked by telephone. Georgia, Nevada and the District of Columbia publish no certificate-number search, and Delaware, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida, California, Hong Kong and the UK publish none either.

What you can check by eye is the same on every certificate: the country of destination, the name and capacity of the person who signed, the place and date of signing, the issuing authority, the certificate number, the signature of the authenticating officer and the seal. A mismatch between the country named on the certificate and the country you are submitting to is a refusal waiting to happen.

Two sentences from the District of Columbia are worth keeping. "This Apostille is not valid for use anywhere within the United States of America, its territories or possessions." And on what the certificate does not do: "This Apostille does not certify the content of the document for which it was issued."

A cheap apostille is not a lesser apostille. The $3.00 Georgia certificate and the £45 UK certificate carry the same twelve items and the same legal effect between Convention countries. What the extra money buys, where it buys anything, is a shorter queue, a counter you can walk up to, and an office that will answer the telephone.

13. FAQ

1. Why does the same certificate cost $3 in one state and $30 in another?

Because each state sets its own fee by statute and there is no national schedule. Georgia charges $3.00 per document and Delaware $30.00 per document for commercial use. Neither office is doing more work than the other; the certificate is the same model document.

2. Is the fee per document or per page?

Per document at ten of the eleven authorities here. Texas says so explicitly: $15 per document, not per page. California is the exception worth knowing — $20.00 per apostille, plus $6.00 for each different public official's signature when you apply in person.

3. Can I pay by credit card?

Not everywhere. Florida accepts neither cash nor credit cards, only a cheque or money order drawn on a US bank. Massachusetts takes cards at the counter but not as prepayment for express return. Washington DC and Texas accept cards. Georgia and Hong Kong both have routes for people who cannot pay by cheque.

4. Do I pay the authority or the service?

Both, but they are separate bills. The authority's fee is fixed and published, and it is the number in the table above. A service fee covers the work around it — obtaining the certified copy, preparing the request, paying from an account the office will accept, tracking the file and absorbing the cost of a redo.

5. Why is Nevada's expedite so much more expensive than everyone else's?

Because it is the only authority here that prices speed as a product for individuals, in four tiers from $75 for 24 hours to $1,000 for one hour, charged per notary authenticated rather than per document. Elsewhere speed comes from appearing in person, which is free.

6. Does the fee include translation?

No. No authority in this table translates. Delaware and Massachusetts state that they issue certificates in English only; Delaware additionally requires a foreign-language document to be accompanied by an English translation, with both versions notarized.

7. Can a state authority apostille a federal document?

No. Federal documents — FBI background checks, federal court records, consular reports of birth abroad — go to the US Department of State, Office of Authentications. Florida, Georgia and the District of Columbia all say so on their own pages.

8. The official fee is only $3. Why would anyone pay a service?

Because $3 is one line in a bill that also contains a certified copy, sometimes a county certification, sometimes a notarisation, international postage and occasionally a translation — each paid to a different party, several of which will not accept money from outside the country. The service fee buys the sequence, not the stamp.

9. Can I do this myself from outside the country?

Sometimes. If you already hold a certified copy that needs no notarisation or county step, and you can arrange US payment and a prepaid return label, mailing it in works. If the copy still has to be ordered, or the payment has to come from a US bank account you do not have, it usually does not.

Tell us the document type and the destination country and we will come back with the steps, the service fee and the timeline — free consultation, no charge and no follow-up pressure. Ask us a question →

Sources / last verified

• California Secretary of State, Request an Apostille and Apostille FAQs: $20.00 per apostille, the $6.00 special handling fee per different public official's signature, PO Box 942877 Sacramento, 1500 11th Street 2nd and 3rd floors, 300 South Spring Street Room 12513, no cash at the Los Angeles counter, and the refusal to pull mailed submissions for expedited service — checked 21 October 2026.
• New York Department of State, Apostille or Certificate of Authentication: $10 per document, PO Box 22001 Albany, the five walk-in counters and their hours, the ten-document same-day cap, the County Clerk rule, and the online verifier for certificates issued on or after 9 April 2013 — checked 21 October 2026.
• Texas Secretary of State, How to Request a Universal Apostille: $15 per document not per page, 400 West 15th Street Austin, 8:00–5:00, ten documents per person, the 72-hour drop box, the two-week mail estimate, the five-year rule and the US-bank cheque requirement — checked 21 October 2026.
• Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, Authentications: $10.00 per document and $20.00 for documents certified by a Clerk of the Court, 2415 N. Monroe Street Suite 810 Tallahassee, no cash or credit cards, US-currency cheques from a US bank, and the photocopy prohibition — checked 21 October 2026.
• Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Apostilles and Certification of Documents: $6.00 per document, Room 1719 One Ashburton Place Boston, three documents per customer at the counter, four or more after 3pm the next business day, two to three weeks by mail, and no credit cards for express prepayment — checked 21 October 2026.
• Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority, General Apostille Information: $3.00 per document, 1875 Century Blvd. Suite 100 Atlanta, 9:00–4:00 with no appointment, one to two business days by mail, computer-generated airbills only, and the statement that the GSCCCA is the only state agency authorised to issue apostilles for Georgia documents — checked 21 October 2026.
• Delaware Division of Corporations, Submitting Non-Commercial Documents for Apostille or Authentication and the Certifications page: $30.00 per batch for personal use and $30.00 per document for commercial use, 401 Federal Street Suite 4 Dover, same-business-day mail processing, the appointment line (302) 739-3077, the separate-certification rule and the refusal of remotely or electronically notarized documents — checked 21 October 2026.
• District of Columbia Office of Notary Commissions and Authentications: $15 per document at both centres, 899 North Capitol Street NE Suite 8100, walk-in 9am–1pm with same-day service, five business days by mail, payment to "DC Treasurer", the three certificate types and the two limitation statements quoted above — checked 21 October 2026.
• Nevada Secretary of State, Apostille and Fees pages: $20.00 per document, expedite at $75 / $125 / $500 / $1,000 per notary authenticated for 24, 4, 2 and 1 hours, the $95.00 worked example, 401 North Carson St. Carson City, and the first-class return rule — checked 21 October 2026.
• Hong Kong Judiciary, Apostille Service: HK$125 per apostille application, two working days, two weeks for overseas applications, HK$15.50 for registered air mail return, and Counter 5 on LG1/F of the High Court Building — checked 21 October 2026.
• GOV.UK, Get your document legalised: £45 standard, £35 e-Apostille, £40 next-day and £100 restricted urgent for registered businesses only, up to 25 working days standard, up to two working days for an e-Apostille, courier return at £6 / £32 / £42 per 1.5kg, and no return to Russia, Ukraine or Belarus — checked 21 October 2026.
• HCCH, Apostille Convention status table: signed 5 October 1961, in force 24 January 1965, 130 Contracting Parties as of 30 June 2026.

Every figure above is the one published by the authority on the date checked. Official charges change, so confirm against the current page before quoting a number to a client. Two things are deliberately absent: any national average service fee, and any figure for notary charges, which are set by the notary rather than by the state and vary from document to document.