Boston Vital Records Apostille: Which Office Issues the Copy and Which One Stamps It
A boston vital records apostille takes two different government offices. The City of Boston Registry at City Hall, or the state Registry in Dorchester, issues the certified copy. Only the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Commissions Section on Beacon Hill adds the apostille, for $6 a document. Here is how to tell which registry holds your record, what each charges, and where the process slows down.
Two registries can issue the copy, one office can apostille it
People often assume one counter does everything. It does not. The office that hands you a birth, marriage or death certificate is a records office. The office that attaches the apostille is a different part of government, in a different building, with its own line and its own rules.
The Boston Registry says so itself. Its birth certificate page tells readers to request a certified copy with a raised seal, then take it to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. It also says the Registry does not provide apostilles and does not hand-sign documents. So the order never changes: copy first, apostille second, translation last if the destination wants one.
The registry proves the event happened. The Commissions Section proves the registry’s signature is real.
The Commissions Section authenticates signatures it has on file. A registrar of vital records or a city or town clerk is on that list. A scan or a notarized photocopy is not.
Which registry holds your record?
Where you live now does not matter. The place of the birth, the marriage license or the death decides it.
| Your situation | Office that issues the certified copy | What to know first |
|---|---|---|
| Born in a Boston hospital or at home in Boston | City of Boston Registry, Room 213 | Copies from 1870 to the present. Earlier years go elsewhere. |
| Born in another town, but your parents listed Boston as home | City of Boston Registry, according to its birth page | Ask the Registry to confirm before you pay. |
| Born in another Massachusetts town | That town’s clerk, or the state Registry in Dorchester | The state collection runs from 1936 to the present. |
| Marriage license filed in Boston | City of Boston Registry, Room 213 | Where the license was filed decides it, not where the ceremony took place. |
| Married in Boston, license filed in Cambridge or Quincy | The clerk in the town that took the license | Boston will not have it. |
| Died in Boston, or listed a Boston home | City of Boston Registry, Room 213 | Check whether the copy is marked pending. |
| Divorced anywhere in Massachusetts | The Probate and Family Court of the county | Not a vital records office at all. |
The state Registry also issues most Massachusetts records, so it is the fallback when the town is unclear. The Commissions Section accepts either source. Our guide to getting a Massachusetts birth certificate covers the ordering side in more detail.
The City of Boston Registry: hours, fees and years covered
The Registry Division works from Room 213 at 1 City Hall Square, Boston 02201-2006. Its pages list the counter as open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed on holidays. Questions go to 617-635-4175 or registry@boston.gov. On holidays only online orders work.
Fees match for birth, marriage and death. A copy costs $12 at the counter. Ordering online costs $14 including shipping, plus a small card service charge. Ordering by mail also costs $14. Pay by check or money order payable to the City of Boston, and enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope and the completed request form.
The Registry says online orders are usually processed in two to three business days, before shipping. For a newborn, copies reach City Hall about two weeks after the hospital finishes its paperwork. A new marriage waits for the license to come back from the officiant, and then about ten days for online and mail orders.
Years the Registry can certify
Birth certificates are certified from 1870 forward. For births from 1841 to 1935 you can also request a certified copy from the Massachusetts Archives. Entries from 1630 to 1869 come only as non-certified copies from the Boston City Archives, which the apostille office cannot use. Deaths follow the same 1870 floor, and the online order page covers 1956 to the present.
Restricted records
If the parents were unmarried at the birth, only people named on the record can get a certified copy, with valid identification. A legal guardian needs a court order. A relative cannot simply order it for you.
The state Registry of Vital Records and Statistics
The statewide office sits at 150 Mount Vernon St., 1st Floor, Dorchester, MA 02125. Its phone is 617-740-2600. The Secretary of the Commonwealth’s own brochure points people to this number for birth certificates, alongside the local city or town clerk.
The mass.gov pages blocked our automated fetch in October 2026, so these figures come from search excerpts. Confirm with the Registry before you rely on them.
- Counter hours of 8:45 to 4:45, Monday to Friday.
- $20 per copy at the counter, $32 per copy by mail.
- Mail orders listed at about 30 business days, with an expedited mail option around 7 to 10 business days.
- Online and phone orders through VitalChek at $54 for the first copy and $42 for each additional one, with next-day delivery as an option.
- Records from 1936 forward, with 1841 to 1935 held at the State Archives.
For a Boston-born person the City Hall Registry is cheaper. The state office makes sense when the birth was in another Massachusetts town and you cannot reach that clerk.
Birth, marriage, death and divorce in Boston
Each record has one habit that catches people out. Here is the Boston version of each.
Residence can pull a record into Boston
The Registry holds births from Boston hospitals and homes, and births where the parents listed Boston as their residence. Most people never check which rule applies. Ask for the long form with both parents named, which foreign registries often want. Our birth certificate apostille page covers what destinations ask for.
The license decides, not the church
A Boston copy exists only if the license was filed in Boston. If you married at the Old North Church on a license from Cambridge, Cambridge holds the record. The Commissions Section accepts a city or town clerk’s signature, so a copy from either place works. See the marriage certificate apostille page for foreign requirements.
A pending record can stall everything
The Registry marks a death certificate pending while the Medical Examiner’s findings are not final. It warns that some insurers and banks will not take a pending one. A foreign notary or probate court may refuse it too. Also, a certificate showing a Social Security number is released only to eligible requesters. Read the death certificate apostille guide before you order.
A court copy, not a registry copy
The Probate and Family Court in the county issues the certified judgment, and search excerpts of mass.gov list $20 for a judgment of divorce nisi or a certificate of divorce absolute. Whether a Register of Probate’s signature is accepted with no further step is unconfirmed. Our divorce decree apostille page has the longer story.
What the Commissions Section checks
The apostille office is the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Commissions Section, at One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston 02108. Its request form says it authenticates a document only when it carries the original signature of a Massachusetts notary public, justice of the peace, city or town clerk or assistant, court clerk or assistant, or registrar of vital records.
The form adds that Massachusetts does not authenticate federal or out-of-state documents, or notarized copies of government-issued documents. That explains most rejections. A scan, a notary-certified photocopy, or a copy of a Delaware or federal record all go back.
The fee is $6 per document, paid by check or money order payable to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The brochure advises against cash because lost cash cannot be refunded. You choose the return method on the form: first-class mail with a stamped self-addressed envelope, express with a prepaid label, or pickup at the office.
Walk-in and mail
Three offices take requests: Boston, Springfield at 436 Dwight Street, Room 102 (413-784-1376), and Fall River at 218 South Main Street, Suite 206 (508-646-1374). The form says to mail or hand deliver to any of the three.
On counter timing, read the sources exactly. The request form says that more than three hand-delivered documents must be left overnight and collected the next business day, no exceptions. A search excerpt of the Secretary’s apostille page says up to three documents per customer are handled at the counter, with drop-offs after 4 p.m. collected the next business day. We could not open that page directly. Phone 617-727-2836 and ask before you plan around it.
No official page we could read states a mail turnaround. Industry pages say two to three weeks. Treat that as typical, not published. Our office line, (978) 424-4629, can tell you what we are seeing this week.
How long the Boston route takes end to end
Add the stages. The slow part is usually the certified copy, not the apostille.
| Stage | Typical time | Source or note |
|---|---|---|
| Boston copy ordered online | 2 to 3 business days to process, plus delivery | City of Boston Registry pages |
| Boston copy ordered by mail | Not published, add mail time both ways | Ask the Registry |
| New marriage or new birth | About 10 days to two weeks after registration | City of Boston Registry pages |
| State Registry copy by mail | About 30 business days, expedited about 7 to 10 | Search excerpt, confirm |
| Apostille at the counter | Depends on the batch size and the hour, see the rules above | Phone 617-727-2836 |
| Apostille by mail | Not published, commonly 2 to 3 weeks | Typical, not official |
| Courier abroad | Several business days | DHL, FedEx or UPS tracking |
If you live overseas, add the time zones. The Registry counter opens at 9 a.m. Boston time, which is mid-afternoon in Lisbon and late evening in Seoul. A relative in Massachusetts can make the phone calls while you sleep. Our guides on turnaround times in Massachusetts and getting an apostille while abroad cover the courier side.
How the Boston route plays out
These are typical situations, not named clients.
The old copy in the drawer
A couple married four years ago on a Boston license wants to apply for a non-lucrative visa in Spain. The Spanish consulate in Boston, according to its page as we read it in October 2026, asks for family documents issued within the last 12 months and apostilled. The copy in the drawer is too old, so they order a fresh one from Room 213. Read your own consulate’s current sheet.
The record that was still pending
A daughter in Dublin needs her father’s Boston death certificate for a property matter. The first copy comes back marked pending, because the autopsy results are not final. She waits for the final record before paying for an apostille. Phone the Registry to learn when it is final.
What our Tewksbury office does for a Boston record
We are a private document preparation and courier service at 1215 Main St, Suite 115, in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. We are not affiliated with the City of Boston, the Registry or the Secretary of the Commonwealth. We do not issue vital records.
What we do: review your certified copy for the raised seal, the registrar’s signature and the version your destination wants. We tell you if it is the wrong office or the wrong copy before anything is filed. We bring the set to the Boston counter, track the order in ApostilleDesk, and ship the finished apostilled documents to you, including to an address abroad. Where the registry allows an authorized third party to request a copy, we confirm that during the free review. We never promise more than the registry allows.
Massachusetts state apostille orders, per document with the state fee and return postage included: Economy $149.95, usually one to two weeks. Express $199.95, two to five business days. Rush $385.95, the fastest level, usually one to two days for Massachusetts and New Hampshire documents. Transit time is extra. For records from other states we confirm that state’s fee and speed during the free review and send one flat-rate quote before you pay. Read the pricing page and how it works.
Frequently asked questions
Does the Boston Registry give me the apostille?
No. The City of Boston Registry issues the certified copy only. Its own page says it does not provide apostilles. You take the raised-seal copy to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Commissions Section at One Ashburton Place, which charges $6 per document.
Which is cheaper, the Boston Registry or the state Registry?
For a Boston record, City Hall is cheaper. It charges $12 at the counter and $14 online or by mail. The state Registry in Dorchester was listed at $20 at the counter and $32 by mail in the excerpts we saw, so confirm those figures.
How do I get a Boston record apostilled from abroad?
Order the certified copy online or by mail from the Registry, send it to us in Tewksbury, and we file it at the Boston counter and ship the apostilled copy back. Restricted records can only be requested by the people named on them, so check that first.
What if my marriage was in Boston but the license came from another town?
Then the other town’s clerk holds the record, not Boston. The Boston Registry says a copy depends on where the license was filed, not where the ceremony happened. Contact the clerk in the town that issued the license.
Will a pending death certificate work for an apostille?
It may be refused abroad. A certificate is pending while the Medical Examiner’s findings are not final, and the Registry warns that some insurance and banking companies reject pending ones. Ask the Registry when the final record will be ready.
Is a notarized photocopy of my Boston certificate enough?
No. The Commissions Section request form says it does not authenticate notarized copies of government-issued documents. It wants a certified copy that carries the registrar’s original signature and the raised seal, issued by the registry itself.
Does my destination want a translation?
Some do. We can provide ATA certified translations that get notarized, but we are not a sworn translator and we do not arrange sworn translations. If your destination demands one, you hire a sworn translator there and we ship the apostilled set to them.
Related guides
From the registry window to a desk abroad
Tell us where the record was issued and where it is going. We review the copy, file it at the Boston counter and ship the apostilled set. Office hours are Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm Eastern.