Apostille for Out-of-State Documents When You Live in Massachusetts
You live in Boston, but you were born in Providence, married in Nashua and graduated in Hartford. Massachusetts cannot apostille any of those records. Each state authenticates only the documents its own officials signed. Here is how the rule works, what every New England state charges and how to get a mixed file done from one address.
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An apostille comes from the state whose official signed the document
The Hague Convention lets each state designate its own competent authority. In Massachusetts that is the Secretary of the Commonwealth. In Rhode Island it is the Secretary of State in Providence, in New Hampshire the Secretary of State in Concord, and so on through all fifty states. Each authority keeps a register of the officials whose signatures it can verify: its own notaries, town clerks, registrars and court clerks. A Rhode Island birth certificate carries the signature of a Rhode Island registrar, and only Rhode Island can look that signature up.
The rule follows the signature, not your address, and not where the document is going. Moving to Massachusetts changes nothing about a birth certificate issued in Connecticut. Neither does having the document notarized here. A Massachusetts notary can certify a copy of an out of state record, and the Commonwealth will apostille the notary, but many foreign offices refuse copy certifications of vital records and want the issuing state’s apostille on a fresh certified copy. Our state apostille service covers the other forty nine.
Where you live does not matter. Who signed the document does.
Fees, offices and turnaround for the six states
Figures are the state’s own fee per apostille as published in 2026. Confirm on the state site before mailing, since fees change without much notice.
Massachusetts
Secretary of the Commonwealth, Commissions Section, One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston. $6 per apostille. Walk-in, up to three documents same day. Mail two to three weeks. Our home office. See the Massachusetts service page.
New Hampshire
Secretary of State, 107 North Main Street, Room 204, Concord. $10 per apostille. Walk-ins are handled the same day. Vital records come from the Division of Vital Records Administration or any city clerk. We drive to Concord weekly.
Rhode Island
Secretary of State, Business Services Division, 148 West River Street, Providence. $5 per apostille, among the lowest in the country. Same day in person, about a week by mail. Vital records from the Department of Health, 3 Capitol Hill.
Connecticut
Secretary of the State, 165 Capitol Avenue, Hartford. $40 per apostille, and Connecticut requires requests to be submitted online through its portal before documents are mailed or dropped off. Vital records from the town of occurrence or the state Department of Public Health.
Maine
Secretary of State, Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions, 101 State House Station, Augusta. $10 per apostille. Mail only for most requests, ten to fifteen business days. Vital records from the town clerk or the Data, Research and Vital Statistics office.
Vermont
Vermont State Archives and Records Administration, 1078 US Route 2, Middlesex. $10 per apostille. Mail or in person by appointment. Vermont vital records are ordered through VSARA or the town clerk and are already certified for apostille.
The states our Massachusetts clients ask about most
New York
New York is the most common out of state request we see, because so many Boston residents were born there. New York adds a step: birth, marriage and death certificates from outside New York City need a Letter of Exemplification from the issuing registrar, and New York City records need one from the Department of Health, before the New York Department of State will apostille. Documents notarized in New York need county clerk authentication first in most counties. The state fee is $10. Plan three to four weeks by mail.
California
The California Secretary of State charges $20 per apostille and accepts mail at Sacramento and Los Angeles. Vital records must be certified copies from the county recorder or the state, not informational copies, which are stamped “not valid to establish identity.”
Florida and Texas
Florida’s Department of State in Tallahassee charges $10 per apostille and asks for the destination country on the request. Texas charges $15 and processes at the Secretary of State in Austin. Both accept mail and both take one to two weeks plus transit.
Delaware
Corporate documents from Delaware are a category of their own, and our Delaware guide covers certificates of good standing, certified formation documents and the $30 state fee.
Everywhere else
We maintain a routing table for all fifty states plus the District of Columbia, with the fee, the office, the notary prerequisites and the current turnaround. Send us the document and we tell you the route before you pay.
Out of state checklist
- Identify which state’s official signed each document.
- Order a fresh certified copy of any vital record older than a few years. Many countries want one issued recently.
- Check whether the state requires a county or exemplification step first (New York does).
- Check the state fee and payment method. Some accept only checks.
- Send everything to us in one envelope. We split and route it.
One family, four states: how a citizenship file comes together
An Italian citizenship application from a Boston family we helped last year needed a grandfather’s birth certificate from New York, a grandmother’s from Rhode Island, the parents’ marriage certificate from New Hampshire, the applicant’s own Massachusetts birth certificate, and a naturalization record from USCIS. Five documents, five authorities. New York took the longest because of the exemplification letter. Rhode Island and New Hampshire were done in person within a week. Massachusetts took five business days. The naturalization record went to the Department of State.
Sent one at a time by the family, that file would have taken a summer. Routed in parallel, everything was back in about six weeks and the sworn translations were done in the seventh. The Italy guide describes the packet the consulate expects.
What we do differently
We order vital records for you where the state allows a third party to do so, so you skip a trip to a registrar in a state you no longer live in. We drive to Concord and Providence rather than mailing. We hold the finished documents until every state has returned its apostille and send them to you together, in the order the foreign office lists them. And we check the certified copies before they go out, because a Rhode Island certificate signed by a deputy registrar whose commission lapsed will be refused in Providence and cost a week.
The validity guide explains why we time the oldest document first.
Why a Massachusetts notary is not a workaround
People ask whether they can bring a Connecticut diploma or a New York birth certificate to a Massachusetts notary, have the notary certify a copy, and apostille the notary’s signature in Boston. Technically the Commonwealth will do it. Practically, the receiving office often will not accept it. Civil registries in Italy, Spain, Portugal and most of Latin America want the issuing state’s apostille on a certified copy of a vital record, and many universities want the same for transcripts. A copy certification tells the registrar only that a notary saw a piece of paper. Save this route for private documents like contracts and letters, where it is exactly right.
The second shortcut is a federal apostille for a state document. The Department of State authenticates federal documents only. It returns state records unprocessed, and the round trip costs a month.
Apostille fees by state, quick reference
- Rhode Island
- $5
- Massachusetts
- $6
- NH, ME, VT, NY, FL
- $10
- Texas
- $15
- California, federal
- $20
- Delaware
- $30
- Connecticut
- $40
What an out of state apostille costs
State fees run from $5 to $40 as listed above. Our service starts at $149.95 per document and includes the state fee, review of the document before it ships, routing, our in person trips to Concord, Providence and Boston, tracked courier both ways for the other states and a single point of contact. Vital record ordering, translations and rush handling are quoted separately. Every quote is itemized before you pay. Fingerprints for the FBI check are taken at our sister office, Fingerprint Boston, in the same building.
See the full pricing page and the cost guide.
Get an itemized quoteFour out of state files and how each one was routed
Names and towns changed. The routing problems are the ones we see on most mixed files.
The exemplification letter was missing
A client in Brighton born in Brooklyn sent her birth certificate to Albany for an apostille and it came back unprocessed. New York City records need a Letter of Exemplification from the NYC Department of Health before the state will apostille them. We ordered the certificate and the exemplification letter together from the city, which took three weeks, then sent both to the Department of State in Albany. The apostille followed in ten days.
Connecticut only takes online requests
A client in Springfield drove to Hartford with a notarized copy of his UConn diploma and was turned away because Connecticut requires apostille requests to be submitted through its online portal before documents are mailed or dropped off. We filed the portal request, paid the $40 fee, mailed the document to 165 Capitol Avenue and had the apostille back in nine business days. The German employer accepted it with a translation by a beeidigter Übersetzer.
The certified copy was signed by a lapsed registrar
A couple in Attleboro had a 2019 certified copy of their Providence marriage certificate. The Rhode Island Secretary of State refused it because the deputy registrar who signed it no longer held the position and the state verifies current signatures. A fresh copy from the Department of Health at 3 Capitol Hill, apostilled the same afternoon for $5, solved it. Order vital records fresh. The copy in the drawer is usually the problem.
Notarized in Florida, mailed to Boston
A snowbird from Marblehead signed a power of attorney before a Florida notary while wintering in Naples, then mailed it to us for a Massachusetts apostille. The Commonwealth cannot verify a Florida notary. We forwarded it to the Florida Department of State in Tallahassee with the $10 fee and the destination country stated on the request, and the apostille arrived in twelve days. Had she signed before a Massachusetts notary on her return, it would have taken five.
What all four have in common
Every delay came from a state specific prerequisite: an exemplification letter, an online portal, a lapsed signature or a notary from the wrong state. None came from the apostille itself. Each state’s rules are short, but they differ, and the person who knows them saves you a round trip. Send us the document and ask for the route before you mail anything.
Plan the notary as well as the document
For private documents you sign yourself, a power of attorney, an affidavit, a consent letter, choose where to sign. A Massachusetts notary means a Massachusetts apostille in about five business days, in person. A notary in another state means that state’s fee and timeline. The notarization guide lists what the certificate needs, and the naturalization guide shows the federal routing for a USCIS document in the same file.
Frequently asked questions
Can Massachusetts apostille my Rhode Island birth certificate?
No. Only Rhode Island can, because the registrar who signed it is on Rhode Island’s register. We take it to Providence for you. The state fee is $5.
I live in Boston. Does that change where my documents are apostilled?
No. The apostille follows the signature on the document, not your address. A Connecticut diploma is apostilled in Hartford whether you live in Boston or Berlin.
Can I have an out of state document notarized in Massachusetts and apostilled here?
The Commonwealth will apostille the notary’s copy certification, but civil registries and universities abroad often refuse that for vital records and transcripts. Use the issuing state’s apostille for official records and save the notary route for private documents.
Which New England state is cheapest?
Rhode Island at $5, then Massachusetts at $6, then New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont at $10. Connecticut is $40 and requires an online request.
Why does New York take longer?
Most New York vital records need a Letter of Exemplification from the issuing registrar before the Department of State will apostille them, and notarized documents usually need county clerk authentication. Plan three to four weeks.
Can you order the certified copy for me?
In many states, yes, with your written authorization and identification. Some states restrict vital records to the person named or immediate family and we walk you through the order in those cases.
Do I need one apostille per document?
Yes. Each document gets its own apostille from its own state, and each is charged separately. A file with documents from three states has at least three apostilles.
What about documents from another country?
No U.S. state can apostille a foreign document. It must be authenticated in the country that issued it. Our guide to apostille vs legalization explains the options.
Related services and guides
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Every state, one order, one package
Send us the documents wherever they came from. We route each one to the right capital and return them together, apostilled and in order.
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