How to Apostille a Florida Degree From Abroad
If you need to apostille a Florida degree from abroad, the Florida Department of State in Tallahassee does the apostille, but only after your school registrar has had the record notarized. The order is registrar, Florida notary, state. You can run all of it from another country without flying back or mailing your only diploma overseas.
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Who apostilles a Florida degree for a graduate living abroad?
The Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, Apostilles Section in Tallahassee apostilles the degree after a Florida notary has notarized the school record. The fee is $10 per document, paid by check or money order from a U.S. bank. The office does not accept cash or credit cards. It offers no expedited service. There is no county clerk step for school records.
- Who apostilles: Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, Apostilles Section, Tallahassee
- State fee: $10 per document, paid by check or money order
- Expedited service: None offered, per the state's FAQ
- Walk-ins: Tallahassee, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Mail address: P.O. Box 6800, Tallahassee, FL 32314
Who apostilles a Florida degree, and in what order
Picture a graduate in Bogotá. She finished a degree in Miami three years ago, and a ministry at home wants it apostilled. She has no U.S. checkbook. That one fact matters more than you would think.
The Florida Department of State will apostille a school record, but it will not take one straight from a registrar’s inbox. The record has to carry a Florida notary’s signature and seal first. At a Florida public school or university, the registrar or another issuing official signs and a notary completes the notarial statement. At a private school, the record is a notarized copy. Then the packet goes to the Apostilles Section in Tallahassee, which attaches the apostille to the notary’s signature.
The state’s accepted documents page says an ordinary notary cannot attest student records kept in public education offices. So a printed transcript from a bank notary will not do.
Registrar, Florida notary, Department of State. Skip the first two and the third will send the packet back.
How the signatures chain together for a Florida degree
- Registrarprints the official copy and signs it
- Florida notarynotarizes the record with stamp and seal
- Department of StateApostilles Section, Tallahassee, $10
- Apostilleattached to the notary’s signature
- CourierDHL, FedEx or UPS to you abroad
- Your officeministry, employer or translator
- 1
Ask the registrar for a notarized copy
Say “notarized for apostille” when you order. Each school has its own form.
- 2
The school notarizes
For a public school or university the Department of State describes a transcript signed by the registrar or an issuing official, with a full notarial statement. For a private school it describes a printed copy, attested as a copy and signed by the student or custodian, again with a full notarial statement.
- 3
The packet goes to Tallahassee
Check or money order, request form and a prepaid return air bill go with the record. Some registrars mail it. Many do not.
- 4
The state attaches the apostille
The apostille vouches for the notary’s commission, not your grades. A foreign office reads the chain backwards.
- 5
The set ships abroad
The return air bill carries it to you or straight to the office or translator that needs it.
Florida has no county clerk step for school records. The higher $20 fee applies to papers certified by a county Clerk of the Court, not to degrees. Boston offices cannot apostille a Florida school, which our out of state documents guide explains.
The Florida Department of State, Apostilles Section
The Department of State’s authentications page sets the fee at $10 per document. It says checks or money orders must be payable to the Florida Department of State, in U.S. currency and drawn on a U.S. bank. It adds that the office does not accept cash or credit cards. That is the biggest obstacle for a student abroad.
Mail goes to the Division of Corporations, Apostilles Section, P.O. Box 6800, Tallahassee, FL 32314. The state’s contact page gives the street and courier address as The Centre of Tallahassee, 2415 N. Monroe Street, Suite 810, Tallahassee, FL 32303, and the Apostilles Section phone as 850.245.6053. The state’s authentications page asks for either a self-addressed stamped envelope or a prepaid, preaddressed air bill, with your name and address as both sender and recipient.
The state’s FAQ says requests are processed in the order received, with no expedited service. Walk-ins are taken in Tallahassee, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and most are done while you wait. If your destination is not a Hague Convention country, the state issues a notarial certificate instead of an apostille.
The pages I read do not mention an e-apostille for school records or mail sent from outside the United States. Ask the office about both. The older notary procedure page asks for a cover letter naming the destination country. Name it every time.
Our view: the process assumes you can write a U.S. check. If you cannot, use a person in the United States as your hands, whether that is us or a trusted relative.
Florida registrar by registrar
These are the eight schools whose own pages I read. Where a page said nothing, the table says so. Every registrar changes forms without notice, so write before you pay for anything.
| School | What the page says | How to ask from abroad |
|---|---|---|
| University of Florida | Its request form covers diploma, transcript or certificate. A transcript cannot be notarized once it has left the office, so order it through One.UF with the Apostille/Other option. The form wants the state’s fee and a prepaid return mailer. | Send the signed form to the registrar in Gainesville. The form shows a 2022 revision, so confirm it is current. |
| University of Central Florida | Notarizes diplomas at no extra cost, but only at issue, never after mailing. Digital diplomas cannot be notarized or apostilled. UCF does not send documents to the state. | Email graduation@ucf.edu for the diploma form. Transcripts go through the registrar’s ordering page with a note. |
| Florida International University | Notarizes official hard copy transcripts and diplomas at no cost. Only the academic pages of a transcript are notarized. Financial holds block the request. | The student or alumnus emails notary@fiu.edu to start. The page does not say who mails to Tallahassee. |
| University of South Florida | The registrar notarizes diplomas, will not send them to the state, and requires the full legal name from international students who need an apostille. Its transcript page says nothing about apostilles. | Order a replacement diploma with notarization requested, or send the original with a signed letter. Ask the registrar about transcripts. |
| University of Miami | Says to order a notarized transcript if an apostille is required. Offers paper and PDF transcripts. When I read it, processing took 7 to 10 days. | Alumni order through Parchment. Diploma handling is not on the page I read, so ask the registrar. |
| Florida Atlantic University | Not authorized to grant an apostille. Request the document from the registrar and ask for notarization, with a per-document processing fee. The amount is not listed. | Request through the registrar. The notarized document comes back to you, then you handle Tallahassee. |
| University of North Florida | Only the student may start the request. Do not submit originals. $10 per transcript copy and $10 per printed diploma copy, check or money order only. Allow 10 to 15 business days. The student sends the packet to Tallahassee. | By mail with a photocopy of photo ID. No online option. |
| Nova Southeastern University | A private school. Notarization is free. Transcripts should process in five business days and replacement diplomas in about two weeks. The page does not say who submits to the state. | Download the transcript or replacement diploma form and write “notarize for Apostille.” Phone (954) 262-7200, Monday to Friday. |
Documents students ask about
Not every document with your name on it is a Florida public record. Here is how the usual six sort out.
Diploma
The heart of a Florida diploma apostille. The registrar notarizes a copy, or sometimes the original. Do not ship the original abroad.
Final transcript
The Florida transcript apostille works on an official paper transcript, notarized by the school before it leaves the building. Ask for the final one showing your degree posted.
Degree or enrollment verification letter
A letter on school letterhead signed by a registrar can often be notarized and apostilled the same way. A system-generated PDF has no wet signature to notarize. Ask the registrar which letter they will notarize.
I-20 or DS-2019
Federal forms issued through the school. No Florida office apostilles them. For proof of student status, ask for a school letter instead.
Course syllabi and descriptions
Recognition offices abroad sometimes want these. A department or registrar can sign a certification for a notary, but practice varies by school.
Background-check letters
An FBI report goes to the U.S. Department of State, not to Tallahassee. A police certificate from a Florida local agency has its own route. Do not mix them into your degree packet.
Our college diploma apostille page, the diploma service page and the digital document guide cover the wider picture.
Step by step, with a realistic timeline
This is how a student in another country gets a Florida diploma apostille done without a plane ticket.
- 1
Find out what the receiving office wants
Ask whether it needs the diploma, the transcript or both, whether a translation is needed, and whether the destination is on the HCCH status table as an apostille country. If it is not, you need legalization instead, as our apostille versus legalization page explains.
- 2
Check your account and your legal name
FIU will not act with a financial hold on the account. UNF and USF want your full legal name. Fix these first.
- 3
Order the records in notarized form
Use the school’s own apostille or notarization channel. UNF and UF both want the student to start the request, so expect to prove who you are.
- 4
Settle the payment problem
The state takes checks and money orders on a U.S. bank. Without a U.S. account, that means a person in the United States has to buy the money order. That is one of the jobs we take on in an order.
- 5
Build the return leg
The state wants a prepaid return air bill. DHL, FedEx and UPS each need a shipper account and an address on the label. A U.S. shipper has to set it up, and we confirm the details with you in the review.
- 6
Track it
Once your file opens, you can follow it in ApostilleDesk.
Planning numbers
- Registrar: from about five business days at NSU to 10 to 15 at UNF.
- State: at least five business days, per the state’s older procedure page and UCF’s instructions.
- Courier: roughly two to five business days in each direction to major cities.
- Seoul is 13 or 14 hours ahead of Florida. Madrid is usually six. Bogotá is the same or an hour behind.
A smooth file lands in about three to five weeks. That is a planning figure, not a promise.
Three typical cases
No real client names. These show the pattern, not a specific order.
The hold nobody saw
A Miami graduate needs a degree and transcript for her ministry. The registrar stalls for a week because of a small balance on her account. Check for holds first, then ask for both documents together.
The diploma that stayed in Orlando
A UCF graduate in Korea only holds a digital diploma. UCF says digital diplomas cannot be notarized or apostilled, and notarization happens only at issue. So a paper duplicate is ordered with notarization requested on the form, which turns a quick task into a few weeks.
The copy that was already out the door
A UF graduate has an official transcript sent to her home. The school says a transcript cannot be notarized once it has left the office. She orders a new one through the apostille option, and the first transcript is kept for her own files.
The tip behind all three: ship the diploma last, not first. Most receiving offices accept a notarized copy, so you rarely need to send the only original across an ocean. Our guide for people living abroad covers the same habit for other documents.
Six reasons Florida degree packets stall
The notary is not on the state’s list
The state checks notary commission numbers, expiration dates and names against its database. A stale commission gets the packet returned.
Photocopies of a notarized page
The Department of State says a photocopy is not acceptable. You need the original notary signature, stamp and seal, with a full notarial statement.
A personal check from a foreign bank
Checks must be drawn on a U.S. bank. A foreign cheque, cash or a card payment all fail. Send a U.S. money order.
No usable return air bill
The state asks for a prepaid, preaddressed return air bill with your name and address on both ends. An unpaid bill sits on a desk.
The country is missing
The destination country decides between an apostille and a notarial certificate, so the state needs it.
A translated copy notarized by the translator
The state’s FAQ says the person translating a document cannot be the person who notarizes it. Translate after the apostille, as our common mistakes guide also warns.
Three destinations, three different asks
Spain
Spain has been a Hague Apostille Convention party since 1978, per the HCCH table. A typical case is a graduate in Madrid whose recognition file asks for the apostilled degree and transcript plus translations. Ask the office which translators it accepts before you pay anyone. Our Spanish guide covers the rest.
South Korea
South Korea joined in 2007. A graduate in Seoul applying for a job or a visa will usually need the apostilled diploma and often the transcript. Ask whether they want an official translation.
Brazil and Colombia
Brazil and Colombia are both parties, since 2016 and 2001. A graduate in São Paulo or Bogotá who wants a Florida degree recognized at home is usually asked for the apostilled record plus a Portuguese or Spanish translation. Brazilian offices often insist on a sworn translator registered in Brazil. See the Brazil guide.
Translation, honestly
We can provide ATA certified translations that get notarized. We are not a sworn translator and we do not arrange sworn translations. If your destination requires one, you hire a sworn translator there and we ship the apostilled set to them. Our translation and apostille page sets out the line. For the full country list, see the Hague country list.
Birth, marriage and other vital records
Many students need a birth or marriage certificate in the same packet. The Department of State’s accepted documents page says a birth certificate is accepted if signed by the State Registrar, and a marriage certificate if signed by the State Registrar or the Clerk of the County Courts. It warns that births before 2004 carry limited information, so check with the embassy first. Our birth certificate and marriage certificate pages explain how we handle them.
We also keep a page for Florida vital records. Ask the receiving authority how recent a certified copy must be, then order a fresh one if there is doubt.
Typical package for a student
- Diploma
- Notarized copy, apostille from Tallahassee
- Transcript
- Notarized official copy, apostille
- Birth certificate
- State Registrar signed, apostille
- Translations
- After the apostilles
Our part of the chain, from Tewksbury
Boston Apostille Service is a private document preparation and courier service. We are not a government agency and are not affiliated with any state office or school. We review your files, obtain the registrar’s notarized copy where the school allows it, deal with the Department of State and ship the finished set abroad. We have served Boston and the Merrimack Valley since 2007.
Every order starts with a free document review. If Florida needs something the school did not supply, we tell you before you pay. Our published prices cover Massachusetts, where state apostilles run $149.95 Economy, $199.95 Express or $385.95 Rush per document, with the Commonwealth’s $6 fee and return postage included. For a Florida degree we confirm the state’s fee and timing during the review and send one flat-rate quote before you pay. Ask us about a volume discount if you have several documents, or call (978) 424-4629 and talk it through. See the pricing page and how it works.
Get a flat-rate quoteFrequently asked questions
Who apostilles a degree from a Florida university?
The Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, Apostilles Section in Tallahassee. It attaches the apostille to the notary’s signature, so the school registrar has to have the record notarized first. The university itself cannot issue an apostille.
Do I need to send my original diploma abroad?
Usually not. Most registrars notarize a printed copy or a duplicate diploma, and some accept a photocopy of the credential. Ask the receiving office whether a notarized copy is enough, then order that so the original stays with you.
How much does the Florida apostille cost?
The Department of State charges $10 per document, and the school may charge its own notarization or copy fees. Some schools notarize free. For our own service we confirm the total and send one flat-rate quote after the free review.
Is an electronic transcript good enough for an apostille?
No. FIU says only hard copy transcripts are notarized, and UCF says digital diplomas cannot be notarized or apostilled. A PDF has no wet signature for a notary to witness. Ask the registrar for the paper notarized option.
Can the state apostille my transcript if my school is private?
Yes, but the form differs. The state’s accepted documents page describes a printed, notarized copy that attests it is a copy and is signed by the student or custodian. Public schools use a registrar or issuing official signature instead. Ask your registrar which route applies.
How long does a Florida degree apostille take?
The registrar step runs from about five business days to several weeks. The state says it works in the order received and does not expedite, and older state and UCF pages say allow at least five business days. Add courier days both ways.
Does the country I’m sending it to change anything?
Yes. A Hague Convention country gets an apostille, while other countries get a notarial certificate or full legalization. Check the HCCH status table before you order, and tell the state the destination country on the request.
Does Boston Apostille Service work with Florida schools?
Yes. Our Tewksbury office handles documents for all states. We obtain the registrar’s notarized copy where the school allows it, deal with the Florida Department of State and ship the set abroad. We are a private service, not a state office.
Related services and guides
From a Florida registrar to a ministry abroad
Tell us the school, the degree year and the country. We review your file for free, quote one flat rate and run the registrar, the notary and the state for you.
