How to Apostille a Maine Degree from Abroad

Maine is small, and that shapes everything

Maine has one apostille office and it works by mail and courier. There is no state apostille for a registrar’s signature, so every school record has to pass through a Maine notary first. That is the whole trick, and most delays come from missing it.

The school notarizes a copy of your diploma or a freshly printed official transcript. The Secretary of State attaches the apostille to that notarization. Then somebody ships the set to a country that, we hope, belongs to the Hague Convention.

We act as the somebody. You order the records from your school, we collect the notarized set, file it in Augusta, check the finished apostilles and ship them on. Our counter work is in Boston and covers Massachusetts, so a Maine file is a mail-in file for us, and we plan it that way from day one.

Registrar, Maine notary, Augusta. Three signatures in that order, and a courier at the end.

The Maine Secretary of State’s apostille desk in Augusta

The Maine Secretary of State’s Authentications and Apostilles page names the Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions as the office. Its mailing address is 101 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0101. The courier address on the page is 6 E. Chestnut Street, Augusta, ME 04330, and the phone number is (207) 624-7752.

The page states the fee as $10.00 per special certification, payable to the Secretary of State in U.S. funds. The request form accepts a check, a money order or a card, and the card details go on the form or a payment voucher the page links. The form asks for the type of document, the person it pertains to, the number of documents and the destination country.

The stated processing time is 10 to 15 business days, and the state notes that requests with more than five documents need an appointment by phone. The page also warns about holiday closures. At the time of writing it lists Wednesday, November 11, 2026 as a closed day, which is the sort of date that quietly adds a day to a deadline.

Mail from abroad and e-apostilles

The page lists a mail address, a courier address and a phone number. It does not describe a walk-in counter or an electronic apostille, so ask before you plan around either. The form says customs forms are the requester’s job, which trips up graduates who ask Maine to mail a set to Seoul or Lima on their own.

How this differs from Massachusetts

In Boston the Commissions Section counter at One Ashburton Place can turn a small file the same day. Maine publishes a longer wait and no counter service we can point to. For a Maine file we budget weeks, not days, and we say so in the quote. Our out-of-state documents guide explains how we route files to the right state.

Documents students ask about, and which ones take an apostille

Diploma

A diploma is the usual request. Schools notarize a copy of your original or issue a replacement for the purpose. Your original rarely needs to travel, which is a relief if you are worried about mailing an irreplaceable document across an ocean.

Final transcript

Ask for the final transcript with the degree and conferral date posted. Credential evaluators often want it alongside the diploma. A transcript printed before your degree posted can look incomplete. Tip: ask the registrar to notarize it in the same visit as the diploma copy.

Degree verification letter

Some schools send verification through the National Student Clearinghouse instead of a signed letter. Bowdoin’s registrar page says it uses the Clearinghouse for degree verifications. Colby’s page says the Clearinghouse cannot give academic detail such as a grade point average. A Clearinghouse printout has no registrar signature to notarize, so ask whether the school will sign a letter instead.

I-20 and DS-2019

Those are federal immigration forms issued through the school’s international office. They are not a Maine public record and Augusta does not apostille them. If a foreign office asks for proof of your student status, ask the school for a signed letter. That letter can then be notarized and sent through the same chain.

Syllabi and background-check letters

A registrar may certify a copy of a syllabus before a notary, but it is optional and schools differ. A federal report goes to the U.S. Department of State, not Augusta. Mention both in your review and we route them correctly. Our digital document guide explains why PDFs and e-signed files are a separate problem.

Six ways a Maine degree file gets stuck

1. The notarial statement is missing

The Secretary of State’s page calls this the most common reason it rejects a request. The wording that says which act the notary performed has to be on the document or attached to it. Ask to see the page before it leaves the building.

2. The notary is not a Maine notary

The state’s page speaks of keeping the oath of Maine notaries on file. We would not expect Augusta to apostille a notary commissioned elsewhere. If the school notary is on a satellite campus, ask where they are commissioned.

3. The set comes back to your overseas address

UNE will mail the notarized set by first-class mail to a designated recipient. Bowdoin issues it to the student in a sealed envelope. If that is a foreign address, the paper wanders, and then must come back to Maine. Name us or Augusta as the recipient instead.

4. A stamped envelope that cannot leave the country

Bates asks for a stamped self-addressed envelope. A U.S. stamp does nothing overseas. Use a U.S. address that can forward the apostilled set, or let us handle the return.

5. No shipping label or customs form

Maine’s request form says a shipping label is required for documents mailed out of the country. Customs forms are the requester’s job. Forgetting either one stalls a finished file in Augusta.

6. The country was left off the cover letter

Bates tells students to name the destination country, because that decides whether Augusta issues an apostille or an authentication. A country outside the Hague Convention needs a different path. See apostille versus legalization and our common mistakes list.

What we do for a Maine file

We review the school, the documents and the destination country for free. We coordinate with the registrar, collect the notarized set, file the request in Augusta with the $10 state fee per special certification and a prepaid label, check the apostilles when they arrive and ship the set abroad with tracking. You follow it all in ApostilleDesk. Hablamos Español.

Our published prices cover Massachusetts: Economy $149.95, Express $199.95 and Rush $385.95 per document, with the state fee and return postage included. For a Maine degree we confirm the state’s fee and turnaround in the review and send one flat-rate quote before you pay. Ask us about a volume discount if you have several documents. See the pricing page or how it works.

We are a private document preparation service, not a state agency, and we do not control Augusta’s schedule or a school’s willingness to notarize. If a school refuses, we tell you early and explore the next route. Questions before you order? Call (978) 424-4629, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm Eastern.