Texas Secretary of State
Document Authentication

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 authenticated 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). An authentication is a more traditional certification required for countries that are NOT part of the Hague Convention. Both serve the same purpose—verifying document authenticity—but use different certificates. See our Hague Convention guide for more details.

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

Yes! While we're based in Texas, we serve clients nationwide. Each state has its own Secretary of State or similar authentication authority, and we can help coordinate apostilles for documents from any U.S. state. For FBI documents, the process is the same nationally (U.S. Department of State in D.C.).