Miami-Dade County, Florida

Apostille Services in Miami, FL

Florida apostilles are issued in Tallahassee and nowhere else — there is no counter for this in Miami-Dade. What we do here is notarize your document so it survives review, and run it up and back for you.

What it costs: $10 state fee per document ($20 if Clerk-certified) + $10 per notarial act + travel + courier
How fast: Notary at your Miami-Dade address usually same day

Speak with a Notary immediately Call or text (619) 746-1616

Where a Miami apostille actually comes from

An apostille is a certificate one government attaches to a document so another will accept it without further proof. In Florida exactly one office issues them: theFlorida Department of State, Division of Corporations — Apostille Section, at 2415 N. Monroe Street, Suite 810, Tallahassee, FL 32303. Not the Miami-Dade Clerk. Not a notary. Not a storefront on Calle Ocho.

That geography is the whole business. Tallahassee is the better part of 500 road miles from Brickell, and mailing a document into a state office without checking it first is how a two-week errand becomes a six-week one. The rejections we see are not exotic: notarial certificates missing a line, and public records somebody tried to notarize instead of ordering. Both are ours to prevent, at the signing table in Miami, before anything goes in a courier bag.

Get the right original

Certified copy from the custodian, or a document ready to be signed in front of a notary. Never a photocopy.

Notarize it correctly

Complete notarial certificate in English, original signature, stamp and seal. We come to you anywhere in Miami-Dade.

Submit to Tallahassee

Check or money order payable to the Florida Department of State, drawn on a U.S. bank. No cash, no credit cards. We prepare the submission and courier it both ways.

What your document needs, by document type

Requirements differ sharply by document, and mixing them up is the usual reason a file comes back. Below follows the Division of Corporations'accepted-documents guidance; the last column is what we see go wrong on Miami submissions.

Document	Who signs first	Notarized?	Issuing authority	Where it goes wrong
Florida birth, death, or marriage certificate	State Registrar (Bureau of Vital Statistics) or the Clerk of the County Courts	No	Florida Department of State	A notary cannot certify a copy of a vital record at all — § 117.05(12) puts it out of reach. Order the certified original from the custodian.
Out-of-state birth or marriage certificate	That state's vital-records custodian	No	That state's Secretary of State — not Florida	Common in Miami dual-citizenship files: a New Jersey birth certificate cannot be apostilled in Tallahassee, wherever the applicant now lives.
Power of attorney, affidavit, or declaration	You, before the notary	Yes	Florida Department of State	Needs a complete notarial certificate in English with the original signature, stamp, and seal. The row we control end to end — and where most rejections originate.
Public school or university transcript / diploma	The school registrar or issuing official, before a notary	Yes	Florida Department of State	You cannot print your own diploma and have it notarized. The registrar signs first. Budget for the school's turnaround, not ours.
Private school transcript / diploma	The student or the custodian of the record	Yes	Florida Department of State	The statement must attest the transcript is a copy and be signed by the student or custodian — different wording from the public-school route.
Court order, judgment, or divorce decree	The Clerk of the Circuit Court holding the case	No	Florida Department of State	$20 rather than $10, because a Certificate of Incumbency goes with the apostille. For a Miami-Dade case that certification comes from the Clerk downtown.
Corporate documents (articles, good standing)	The Division of Corporations itself	No	Florida Department of State	Order the certificate of status from Sunbiz first. A notarized copy of your own articles is a different document, and it comes back.
FBI Identity History Summary (background check)	The FBI	No	U.S. Department of State — not Tallahassee	Federal document, federal apostille. Sending it to Tallahassee costs the round trip — the most common misrouting we see.

Apostille or consular legalization? It depends where it's going

An apostille only works between two countries that have both joined the 1961 Hague Convention. Most destinations a Miami document travels to have joined, which is why the word gets used as though it covers everything. It does not — and the two exceptions on this list are, of all places, the two closest to us.

Apostille is enough

Hague Convention parties. One certificate from Tallahassee and the document is done.

Colombia · Venezuela · Brazil · Argentina · Peru · Ecuador · Chile · Mexico · Dominican Republic · Honduras · Guatemala · Nicaragua · Jamaica · Spain · Portugal · Italy · Canada

Consular legalization required

Not Hague parties. The document is notarized here, certified by the Department of State as a notarial certification, then legalized by the destination's consulate or interests section.

Cuba · Haiti

The honest limitation

We control the notarization and the run to Tallahassee. We do not control any consulate and will not quote a turnaround for one. Miami hosts one of the largest consular corps in the country, and their requirements, hours, and appointment systems change without notice — including which are operating at all. Check with the specific consulate before building a timeline, and treat anyone promising a consular date as guessing.

Why Miami apostille packages come back

Six failure modes account for nearly everything we see, and five are decided before the envelope is sealed.

A photocopy instead of the original

Tallahassee needs the original wet signature, stamp, and seal. A scan of a notarized POA is not the notarized POA.

An incomplete notarial certificate

Missing venue, missing the identification relied on, missing the commission expiration — and the state cannot match the certificate to the commission record. Ours to prevent, at the signing table.

Somebody notarized a public record

Fla. Stat. § 117.05(12) bars a Florida notary from attesting a copy of a vital record. A notarized photocopy of a birth certificate is a guaranteed rejection, not a shortcut.

The wrong custodian certified it

A divorce decree must come from the Clerk of the Circuit Court holding the case — not another office, and not a printout from an online docket.

It went to the wrong government

FBI Identity History Summaries are federal: they go to the U.S. Department of State, not Tallahassee. This is the misrouting we see most on consular filings.

The signer signed their own diploma

For a public university transcript, the registrar or issuing official signs before the notary. A PDF you printed yourself cannot be rescued by a stamp.

The Miami files we see most

Dual-citizenship applications are the steadiest volume — Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Colombian files, all wanting apostilled U.S. vital records, none satisfiable with a notarized photocopy. Then property: apower of attorney signed in Miamiso a relative can close on an apartment in Bogotá, or a POA arriving from abroad for a Brickell or Sunny Isles condo. Then the Latin American corporate paperwork that follows from Miami being the region's head office.

The rest is what nobody plans for: crew documents out of PortMiami against a sailing deadline, and consent letters for a minor flying out of MIA — ourchild travel consent guidecovers what those contain. Both arrive with a hard date attached, which is why we answer at night. If the signer is abroad and only the notarization is needed,Florida's remote online notarizationmay fit — but ask the receiving authority first, because plenty of civil-law jurisdictions still expect wet ink behind the apostille.

Where in Miami-Dade we collect apostille documents

An apostille is a collection job, not a visit: we notarize at your address, then the document travels to Tallahassee and back. Where you are in the county changes when the courier bag closes — it never changes what the state charges. Here is every neighbourhood and ZIP we cover, grouped the way we actually dispatch.

Downtown & Brickell

30–60 min, business hours

Neighborhoods & cities: Bayfront · Brickell Business District · Brickell Village · CBD · East Little Havana · Edgewater · Edison · Government Center · Hadley Park · Lemon City/Little Haiti · Lummus Park · Miami Avenue · Morningside · Omni/PAC · Port of Miami · Roads · Santa Clara · Southeast Overtown · Vizcaya · West Brickell · Miami
ZIP codes (8): 33101 33127 33128 33129 33130 33131 33132 33137

Miami Beach & the barrier islands

60–120 min; longer at causeway rush hour

Neighborhoods & cities: Virginia Key · Bal Harbour · Bay Harbor Islands · Indian Creek Village · Key Biscayne · Miami · Miami Beach · Miami Shores · North Bay Village · Surfside · Unincorporated Miami-Dade
ZIP codes (6): 33109 33139 33140 33141 33149 33154

Coral Gables & Coconut Grove

30–60 min, business hours

Neighborhoods & cities: Douglas Park · Flagami · Shenandoah South · Silver Bluff · South Grove · South Grove Bayside · Coral Gables · Miami · South Miami · Unincorporated Miami-Dade
ZIP codes (5): 33133 33134 33143 33145 33146

Little Havana, Allapattah & Little Haiti

30–60 min, business hours

Neighborhoods & cities: Auburndale · Citrus Grove · Civic Center · Culmer · Edison · Hadley Park · Little River Central · Little River Industrial District · Melrose · North Grapeland Heights · Northwestern Estates · Santa Clara · Shenandoah North · Shorecrest · Southeast Overtown · El Portal · Miami · Miami Shores · Unincorporated Miami-Dade
ZIP codes (7): 33125 33135 33136 33138 33142 33147 33150

Doral, Hialeah & Sweetwater

60–120 min; Palmetto traffic dependent

Neighborhoods & cities: Flagami · Le Jeune Gardens · West Grapeland Heights · Doral · Hialeah · Hialeah Gardens · Medley · Miami · Miami Gardens · Miami Lakes · Miami Springs · Sweetwater · Unincorporated Miami-Dade
ZIP codes (14): 33010 33012 33013 33014 33015 33016 33018 33122 33126 33166 33172 33174 33178 33182

Kendall & west Miami-Dade

60–120 min

Neighborhoods & cities: Flagami · Coral Gables · Cutler Bay · Miami · Palmetto Bay · Pinecrest · West Miami · Unincorporated Miami-Dade
ZIP codes (16): 33144 33155 33156 33157 33158 33165 33173 33175 33176 33183 33184 33185 33186 33193 33194 33196

Aventura, Sunny Isles & north Miami-Dade

60–120 min

Neighborhoods & cities: Aventura · Biscayne Park · Golden Beach · Miami Gardens · Miami Shores · North Miami · North Miami Beach · Opa-locka · Sunny Isles Beach · Unincorporated Miami-Dade
ZIP codes (12): 33054 33055 33056 33160 33161 33162 33167 33168 33169 33179 33180 33181

South Dade & Homestead

Same day, window quoted at booking

Neighborhoods & cities: Cutler Bay · Homestead · Unincorporated Miami-Dade
ZIP codes (12): 33030 33031 33032 33033 33034 33035 33039 33170 33177 33187 33189 33190

That is all 80 Miami-Dade delivery ZIP codes. ZIP boundaries are postal routes and ignore city limits here — 33154 alone touches Surfside, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands and Indian Creek Village — so we list every place a ZIP meaningfully covers. “Unincorporated Miami-Dade” means an address inside the county but outside any city, which is most of Kendall and the Redland and changes nothing about a notarization. PO-Box and single-recipient ZIPs are left out on purpose: there is no delivery area behind them, so give us the street address instead. Response windows are business-hours estimates from where our notaries stage, not guarantees — you get a specific ETA by text once one is assigned.

The consular corps along Brickell Avenue and the Latin American head offices in Doral generate most of our international files, and those ZIPs are the easiest to collect from early enough to make the same day's outbound run. Homestead and Florida City are a genuinely different drive: we quote a same-day window at booking rather than name a pickup time that a courier cut-off would force us to break.

Miami apostille questions

The eight questions we answer most often, including the two that cost people the most money.

Can I get an apostille in Miami-Dade County?

No. There is no apostille counter anywhere in Miami-Dade, and no Clerk, notary, or courier company can issue one. Under Florida's arrangement the only issuing authority in the state is the Division of Corporations' Apostille Section at 2415 N. Monroe Street, Suite 810, Tallahassee, FL 32303 — the better part of 500 road miles and a seven-hour drive from Brickell. What a Miami apostille service actually sells you is two things: a notarization that will survive review in Tallahassee, and a courier run so you are not making that drive. Anyone advertising a same-day Miami apostille is selling you the courier, not the certificate.

How much does an apostille cost, and what do you charge on top?

The state fee is fixed and public: $10 per document, or $20 when a Florida Clerk of the Court certified it, because those need a Certificate of Incumbency too. The Department of State takes a check or money order drawn on a U.S. bank — no cash, no cards. Separately, the notarization is capped at $10 per notarial act by Fla. Stat. § 117.05(2)(a), travel within Miami-Dade is quoted before we dispatch, and the courier run is its own line. Four numbers, all of them told to you before anything moves.

My document is going to Cuba or Haiti. Does an apostille work?

No, and this catches more Miami families than any other single issue. An apostille only has effect between countries that have both joined the 1961 Hague Convention, and Cuba and Haiti have not. Those documents are notarized here, certified by the Florida Department of State as a notarial certification rather than an apostille, then legalized by the destination's consulate or interests section. We can notarize correctly for that route and tell you what remains — but the consular stage is between you and that government, and we will not pretend we can shorten it.

Does my Spanish translation need an apostille too?

Usually the apostille goes on the underlying document rather than the translation, but the receiving authority decides and Spanish-speaking jurisdictions differ. Some Colombian and Spanish entities want a translator certified in the destination country, working after the apostille is affixed so the apostille itself gets translated. Others accept a U.S. certified translation with its own notarized translator's affidavit. A notary cannot translate your document or tell you which regime applies — ask the receiving office before you pay for a translation, because that order is expensive to undo.

Can you apostille a document that was notarized in another state?

Not through Florida. The Florida Department of State authenticates Florida notaries' commissions and Florida officials' signatures — nothing else. A power of attorney notarized in New Jersey has to be apostilled by New Jersey, even if the signer now lives in Aventura and the property is in Doral. If it has not been signed yet, sign it here in front of a Florida notary. If it is already executed elsewhere, you are shipping it to that state.

I need a copy of my Florida birth certificate apostilled. Can you notarize it?

No, and any notary who says yes is about to cost you money. Fla. Stat. § 117.05(12) excludes vital records from the copy-attestation a Florida notary may perform. The Department of State wants a certified copy from the Bureau of Vital Statistics or the county health department, signed by the State Registrar. Order that original and it goes to Tallahassee with no notarization in the chain at all. Same for marriage certificates, court documents, and student records: public records come from their custodian, not from a stamp.

I'm buying property in Colombia and signing the POA here. What order do things go in?

Sequence matters and it is not intuitive. First, get the wording from the receiving side — the attorney or notarial office handling the purchase — because a POA drafted to U.S. habits is often refused abroad for missing the specific faculties civil-law systems expect. Second, sign in front of a Florida notary with a complete notarial certificate. Third, the apostille from Tallahassee. Fourth, translation to whatever the receiving office requires. We own the second step only, and we will not draft or advise on the first — but knowing it exists is what stops this taking two attempts.

Other Miami notary services

Wrong page for what you're signing? Start at theMiami mobile notary hub, or go straight to the service you need. For the law as it applies outside Florida, ourpower of attorneyguide covers the national picture.

Power of attorneyUse this if you need a Florida POA signed. Florida wants two witnesses plus the notary — we bring the witnesses.Hospital & bedside notaryUse this if the signer is admitted, in rehab, in hospice, or in an assisted-living facility.

Get your Miami document apostille-ready

Tell us what the document is and where it's going. We'll tell you the chain it has to travel, notarize it correctly at your Miami-Dade address, and handle the run to Tallahassee.

Start my apostille Call (619) 746-1616

Sources for the rules on this page

Fla. Stat. § 117.05(12) — A notary may supervise the making of a photocopy and attest that it is a true copy — but not of a vital record, and not of a public record if the custodian can make the copy.
Fla. Stat. § 117.05(2)(a) — The fee of a notary public may not exceed $10 for any one notarial act.
Fla. Stat. § 117.05(5) — A notary must personally know the signer or rely on satisfactory evidence — a listed identification document, current or issued within the past five years, or sworn credible witnesses.
Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations — Apostille Section — issuing authority, fees, and accepted documents
U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications — authentication of federal documents
HCCH — status table for the 1961 Apostille Convention

Statutes change, and the party receiving your document — a bank, a consulate, a title company, the Miami-Dade Clerk — is the final authority on whether a particular signing is acceptable for a particular purpose. We check these citations against the current-year text on flsenate.gov when we revise the page.

Last updated: August 2026