Texas State Document
Apostilles

The Texas Secretary of State is located at 1019 Brazos Street in Austin, Texas (near the Capitol building). However, you don't need to go there in person—we handle the authentication process for you as part of our complete apostille services.

It depends who you use. Standard mail-in processing through the Texas Secretary of State typically takes 3-5 business days plus round-trip shipping — often 1-2 weeks total. But we're based near Austin and personally hand-deliver your documents to the SOS office, which means:

• Same-day turnaround available for most Texas state documents (birth certificates, marriage licenses, diplomas, notarized papers) when we receive your document by 9 AM on a business day.
• Next-day turnaround for documents received later in the day or requiring additional verification.
• Standard service (3-5 business days) at a lower rate if your timeline is more flexible.

There is no faster way to get a Texas SOS apostille. The mail-in option through the state takes weeks — we can have your document apostilled and back in your hands the same day. Call us at (281) 402-6399 for a same-day availability check.

An apostille is used for countries that are members of the Hague Apostille Convention (over 120 countries) — it's a single, standardized certificate. Authentication (also called "legalization") is the more traditional, more complex process required for countries that are NOT part of the Hague Convention: it involves certification by the U.S. Department of State followed by the destination country's embassy or consulate. Both serve the same purpose — verifying document authenticity — but an apostille is faster and uses a single certificate. See our Hague Convention guide for more details.

Yes. Only certified copies of vital records (birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, etc.) or original documents for things like school transcripts or corporate documents qualify. Photocopies are not acceptable. Learn more about document requirements.

Yes! While we're based in Texas, we serve clients nationwide. Every U.S. state has its own document authentication requirements, and I can help coordinate apostilles for documents originating in any state. For FBI documents, the process is the same nationally.