Nevada Apostille Guide: $20 Per Document and Two Certificate Types

Nevada apostilles are issued by the Secretary of State at $20 per document, and the state is one of the few that runs two certificate systems: a Hague Apostille for Convention countries and a Certification for everyone else. Expedited service runs as fast as one hour, but the certificate still comes back by ordinary first-class mail.

1. What a Nevada apostille is, and the two certificates the state issues

The legal basis is NRS 240.1657, and the Secretary of State states it plainly: "the Secretary of State's Office Shall Issue an Authentication to verify that the signature of the State Official is genuine on documents intended for use in a foreign country." Since 1 August 2013 Nevada has used the Hague Conference model apostille certificate and follows the national uniform apostille standards.

Physically, the certificate is a single 8.5 × 11 inch sheet — an allonge — printed in English, French and Spanish, with the record number in box 8. It is stapled to the front of the page carrying the official's or notary's signature, offset to the left, and a red state stamp is applied on the right so that it straddles the allonge and the underlying signature page.

Then comes the part most people miss. The state's own wording: "Nevada is a dual document state. For documents intended Non-Hague Countries, a certification of signature will be issued in the place of the Apostille." Both certificates are attached the same way and carry the same information; the difference is the title and what has to happen next.

Certificate	Destination	What still has to happen
Apostille	Hague Convention Contracting Parties	Nothing — it goes straight to the receiving authority
Certification	Non-Convention countries	Usually the US Department of State, then the destination's embassy or consulate in Washington

The single test is whether the destination is a Contracting Party. Get it wrong and the document is refused at the far end, which costs more than the certificate itself. The Convention was signed on 5 October 1961 and entered into force on 24 January 1965; the HCCH status table listed 130 Contracting Parties as of 30 June 2026.

2. Which documents qualify, and which go through a different desk

The scope is broad: the office authenticates signatures on any document to be presented to a governing body of a foreign sovereignty. Its own examples are marriage certificates, birth and death certificates, letters of eligibility of marital status, powers of attorney, parental permission slips, foreign adoption papers and authorisations to conduct business in a foreign country.

Two categories break the pattern:

• Corporate filings the Secretary of State itself issued. Commercial recordings do not go through the public apostille route. The page is explicit: "For Authentication of Nevada Secretary of State Commercial Recordings documents Please contact the Copies Division for procedural instructions at 775-684-5708." Certificates of incorporation and certificates of good standing fall here — this is where a correctly filled form still goes nowhere.
• Documents issued outside Nevada. The state will not touch them; they go back to the issuing state's authority.

There is also one absolute requirement: "Please Submit the original certified copy, photocopies of records will be rejected." A scan, a colour copy or the decorative certificate you were handed at the ceremony is not a certified copy.

3. Fees and processing time: $20 per document, four expedite tiers

The apostille or certification fee is $20.00 per document, not per page. Expedite is charged on top, in four tiers:

Item	Amount	Charged per
Apostille or Certification	$20.00	Document
24-hour expedite	$75	Notary authenticated
4-hour expedite	$125	Notary authenticated
2-hour expedite	$500	Notary authenticated
1-hour expedite	$1,000	Notary authenticated

Read the unit carefully. The fee schedule says "Per Notary Authenticated", so the expedite charge follows the number of notary or clerk signatures authenticated, not the number of documents. The state's own worked example is one marriage certificate with one signature: $20.00 plus $75.00 for 24-hour service, $95.00 total. A document carrying two notarized signatures costs two expedite charges.

The clock is not what people assume either: "For Expedite Services, the period begins when the filing or service request is received in the Secretary of State's office in a fileable form." The office also reserves the right to extend the expedite period during extreme volume, staff shortages or equipment failure, and processing is delayed whenever a signature cannot be authenticated.

Three different processing times on the same website

• The apostille landing page states a standard processing time of 2 weeks.
• The fee schedule states "Regular processing will be completed in approximately 4-6 weeks."
• The Processing Dates page, last updated 15 October 2026, lists Apostilles as In Process for 13 October 2026 — roughly a two-day queue at that moment.

Those numbers cannot all be right. The Processing Dates page is the one to trust: it is refreshed weekly and reports the date of the mail actually being worked, so you can read your own position off it. Treat the fixed "2 weeks" and "4–6 weeks" figures as background. If your timeline is tight, the honest answer is to check that page the week you file, not to average the two.

4. Step-by-step process

• Confirm what the receiving authority wants. Version of the record, translation, validity window, whether they want the apostille on the certificate itself. Only the receiving side can answer this.
• Get the certified copy. From the county, district court or records office that holds the record — see section 5, because for marriage and divorce this is not the state vital records office.
• Notarize if the document needs a signature. Nevada accepts notarization by a Nevada notary public. The notarial wording, the date and the stamp details have to be complete.
• Complete one Apostille/Certification Order Form. One form covers multiple documents. Fill in an email address, the country of use and a valid return address.
• Pay and submit by mail, at the Carson City counter or through the Las Vegas drop box.
• Translate afterwards if the destination needs it — in most cases the translation is of the apostilled document, so the order matters.

5. The step most people miss: marriage and divorce records live at the county

Nevada splits its records more sharply than most states. The Office of Vital Records handles birth and death certificates only. For anything else the state page says: "Marriage certificates and divorce decrees are held at the county level."

The state office can search and verify marriage or divorce events from 1968 to September 2005 and from 2015 to the present, at $10.00 per name — but that verification is not a certified copy and cannot be apostilled. If you married in Las Vegas, the document you need comes from the Clark County Clerk, not from Carson City.

Document	Where to order it	Fee
Birth certificate	Office of Vital Records, 4150 Technology Way, Suite 104, Carson City, NV 89706 · (775) 684-4242	$25 per copy
Death certificate	Same office	$25 (Carson, Clark, Douglas, Lyon, Mineral, Washoe) · $22 elsewhere
Marriage certificate, divorce decree	County clerk where the event occurred. Clark County Clerk: 200 Lewis Avenue, 5th Floor, Las Vegas, NV 89155-1604. Washoe County Clerk: 1001 E. 9th Street, Building A, 1st Floor, Reno, NV 89512	Set by each county
Corporate filing	Secretary of State Copies Division · (775) 684-5708	Per the Copies Division

Vital records accept cheques, money orders, cashier's cheques and credit cards, and the state says "DO NOT send cash via mail." The same office also warns that third-party vendors are selling birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates at inflated prices, and points complaints to the Attorney General's Bureau of Consumer Protection at (702) 486-3132. Worth knowing when you are comparing quotes.

This is the real bottleneck in Nevada. The apostille itself is $20 and the office turns documents around quickly; what takes weeks is getting the certified copy, especially a marriage certificate that has to be pulled by a county office.

6. Mail or walk-in: two addresses and a drop box

Route	Address	Notes
Mail	Nevada Secretary of State, 401 North Carson St., Carson City, NV 89701	The default for anyone outside Nevada
Carson City counter	Same building	Drop-off during office hours; Hold for Pick-up available
Las Vegas drop box	70 E. Bonneville Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89101	Open during business hours; expedite pick-up times are posted at the box

Customer service is (775) 684-5708, Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific time. One detail worth flagging: the contact panel in the site footer gives 101 N Carson Street, Suite 3, Carson City, NV 89701, which is not the street number on the apostille page. Mail to the address the apostille page tells you to use — 401 North Carson St.

7. Payment and return shipping: six hard rules

• Cheques and money orders are payable to The Office of the Secretary of State.
• To pay by card, include the ePayment Checklist with the card number and expiry date written on it — Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover.
• The order form must carry an email address, the country of use and a valid return address. The office warns that "Failure to do so may result in a rejection."
• One order form can cover several documents.
• If you do not supply return shipping, the documents come back by First-Class Mail International, without tracking.
• Return labels marked "Bill to Sender" are refused: "Shipping labels that designate 'Bill to Sender' with the Secretary of State listed as the sender of the document cannot be used. Please use 'Bill to Recipient' if applicable." And if you use FedEx, the address information has to be machine-printed — FedEx does not accept handwritten address details.

The most counter-intuitive rule of all: "All documents are returned by First Class Mail, even if expedited service is requested." Paying $1,000 for a one-hour apostille does not buy you fast shipping. The only ways to get the certificate back quickly are to include a prepaid return label or to choose Hold for Pick-up and collect it in Carson City.

8. Where overseas applicants get stuck

• The certified copy is a county problem. A marriage certificate has to be ordered from the county clerk, and a divorce decree from the court that granted it. Neither can be done at the Secretary of State's window.
• Payment instruments. Cheques must be drawn on a US bank; foreign bank drafts are regularly refused. Paying by card means writing the card number on a form and posting it, which many people are unwilling to do.
• Return shipping needs a US landing point. Without a prepaid label there is no tracking, and an untracked international envelope is a gamble.
• The expedite clock starts on arrival. It runs from the moment the request is received in a fileable form. An incomplete package is not late — it has not started.
• Corporate documents go elsewhere. Sending a certificate of good standing to the apostille address wastes a mailing cycle; the Copies Division has to be contacted first.

9. Cost breakdown

Item	Amount	Paid to
Certified copy of the record	$25 birth or death; marriage set by county	Issuing office
Notarization, if required	Set by the notary	Nevada notary public
Apostille or Certification fee	$20 per document	Secretary of State
Expedite, optional	$75 / $125 / $500 / $1,000 per signature	Secretary of State
Federal authentication, non-Hague only	Charged separately	US Department of State
International courier and return postage	At cost	Carrier
Translation, if required	By language and volume	Translator
Service fee	Quoted by document type, volume and use Get a quote →	Chengshe Notarization & Certification

No single party can collect the others' charges. When a quote says "all in", ask whether it covers the county copy fee and the return shipping — those are the two items most often left out.

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 Nevada, you are not, and you have nobody there to walk into the Carson City counter or the Las Vegas drop box.
• You need a marriage certificate or divorce decree, so a county office has to be involved first.
• You can only pay by a foreign bank draft and you are unsure it will be accepted.
• The document is a corporate filing and has to go through the Copies Division.
• You have several documents of different types — a birth certificate, a marriage certificate and a power of attorney at once.
• You want to reduce the risk of a rejection rather than spend weeks re-posting an envelope or a cheque.

11. Common rejection reasons

• A photocopy instead of a certified copy. The office rejects copies of records outright.
• A ceremonial marriage certificate. The decorative version handed out at the ceremony is not a certified copy and cannot be apostilled.
• An incomplete order form. Missing email, missing country of use or missing return address.
• Wrong payee or wrong amount. Cheques must be payable to The Office of the Secretary of State.
• A Bill to Sender return label. Refused; it has to be Bill to Recipient, and FedEx labels must be machine-printed.
• A corporate document sent to the apostille address. It has to go through the Copies Division first.

The first three account for most refusals. Running the checklist before you post is cheaper than running it after the envelope comes back. Contact us →

12. How to verify authenticity

The certificate carries the standard three-part disclaimer, in English, French and Spanish: it certifies only the authenticity of the signature, the capacity of the signatory and, where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp; it does not certify the content of the document; and it is not valid for use anywhere within the United States, its territories or possessions.

Nevada does not publish an online certificate-number lookup. Check four things on the paper itself: box 1 for the country, box 8 for the apostille record number, box 9 for the state seal and box 10 for the Secretary of State's signature. If you need confirmation beyond that, quote the record number to the office on (775) 684-5708 or by email at sosmail@nv.gov.

13. FAQ

1. Do I need an apostille or a certification?

Depends on the destination. If it is a Hague Convention Contracting Party you get an Apostille. If it is not, Nevada issues a Certification, and the receiving authority will usually want the US Department of State and its own embassy to add their stamps afterwards. Confirm the destination's status on the HCCH table before you file.

2. I got married in Las Vegas. Can the Secretary of State issue the apostille directly?

Not until you have the certified copy. Marriage certificates are held at county level, so order it from the Clark County Clerk first, then send it to the Secretary of State. The state vital records office can verify that a marriage exists but cannot give you the certified copy the apostille has to sit on.

3. If my document has two notarized signatures, what does the expedite fee cost?

Two expedite charges. The fee schedule is written per notary authenticated, so the expedite fee follows signatures while the $20 certificate fee stays per document.

4. The website says 2 weeks and also 4–6 weeks. Which is right?

Use the Processing Dates page. It is updated weekly and names the date of the mail being worked, so you can read the current queue off it. As of 15 October 2026, Apostilles were in process for 13 October 2026.

5. Will expedited service get my document back to me faster?

Only inside the office. The return leg is still ordinary first-class mail unless you include a prepaid label or choose Hold for Pick-up. Expedite shortens the stamping, not the post.

6. The official fee is only $20. Why would anyone pay a service?

Because $20 is only the state's stamping fee. Around it sit the certified copy, the notarization, international postage and translation, each paid to a different party. A service fee buys the sequence — sourcing the copy, preparing the form, paying from a US account, tracking the file and absorbing the cost of a redo.

7. Can I do this myself from outside the United States?

Sometimes. If you already hold a certified copy that needs no notarization, and you can arrange US payment and a prepaid return label, mailing it in works. If the certified copy still has to be ordered from a county, or the document needs notarizing, or you have no US payment route, 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

• Nevada Secretary of State, Apostille page: NRS 240.1657, the dual-document-state statement, the 2013 model certificate and its physical format, the accepted document examples, the Copies Division route for commercial recordings, both mailing addresses, the order-form fields, the Bill to Sender exclusion, the FedEx handwriting rule and the First Class Mail return rule — checked 21 October 2026.
• Nevada Secretary of State, Fees page: $20.00 per apostille or certification, the four expedite tiers at $75 / $125 / $500 / $1,000 per notary authenticated, the $95.00 worked example, the expedite clock and extension right, and the 4–6 week statement — checked 21 October 2026.
• Nevada Secretary of State, Submission Instructions page: original certified copy only, cheque payee, ePayment Checklist, drop box and counter routes, Hold for Pick-up — checked 21 October 2026.
• Nevada Secretary of State, Nevada Clerks & Recorders page: the 17 county clerk and recorder addresses, including Clark County Clerk and Washoe County Clerk — checked 21 October 2026.
• Nevada Secretary of State, Processing Dates page: last updated 15 October 2026, Apostilles in process 13 October 2026; customer service hours and (775) 684-5708 — checked 21 October 2026.
• Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, Office of Vital Records: birth certificate $25, death certificate $25 or $22, marriage and divorce held at county level, $10 per name for verification, no cash by mail, 4150 Technology Way Suite 104 Carson City NV 89706, (775) 684-4242, and the third-party vendor warning with the Attorney General consumer complaint line — 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.
• Nevada apostille certificate text: signature and seal only, no certification of content, invalid within the United States, its territories and possessions.

Fees and timelines above are those published on the dates checked. Official charges change, so confirm against the authority's current page before quoting a figure to a client. Two items were not verified and are therefore not stated anywhere in this article: the county-by-county fee for a certified marriage certificate, and the existence of any online Nevada apostille number lookup.