How Do I Get an Apostille in Illinois?

In order to get an apostille in Illinois, you will need to get in touch with the Illinois Secretary of State and follow their exact process. Otherwise you risk your apostille not being filled out correctly and rejected by the foreign country you are sending it to.

Here are the guidelines for submitting an apostille in Illinois:

• Documents must be issued in the state of Illinois and signed and certified by a local/state registrar, notary public or circuit or county clerk.
  
• For vital records you need first a copy certified by the county clerk or issued by the
  local registrar at the Illinois Department of Public Health. For marriage license you only need a certified copy from the county clerk.
  
• In order to be acceptable for apostille, divorce certificates need to be certified by the clerk of the Circuit Court.
  
• Academic records and documents must be officially issued by the school registrar’s office, signed by a school official and properly notarized, with notary signature, affixed rubber stamp and an acknowledgment statement.
  
• Corporate business documents such as registration of trademarks, merger certificates, and business organization documents in file at the Illinois SOS need to be notarized in order to be submitted for apostille.
  
• You can also submit for apostille private documents such as adoption dossiers, deeds and other documents, if they are notarized as accurate copies of the original documents.

Making sure your Illinois apostille is legitimate

One of the main requirements is that the apostille must be notarized and obtained by the Secretary of State. Apostilles are generally needed whenever you need to send certified documents to another foreign country.

Failure to do so properly will invalidate your apostille and be rejected by the receiving country you are sending it to. We can’t emphasize this enough! Many try to get an apostille on their own without the help of a notary public and only end up in frustration and time wasted.

An apostille is a sensitive document that must comply with 961 Hague Convention Treaty in order to be accepted. In order to be properly accepted, the apostille must be:

1. Notarized by a commissioned notary in your state
2. All seals and signatures must be originals
3. If your documents are in a foreign language, they must be translated into English by a certified translator and notarized as a true translation

Easiest way to get an apostille is to use a notary public

As certified mobile notary publics in Illinois, we provide this service constantly. Many try to obtain an apostille on their own for the first time and end up wasting time and money. We obtain, deliver or mail out Illinois apostilles all the time so we know the process very well.

We have sent apostilles for Mexico, China, Canada, Philippines and many more. You can find the full list of the HCCH countries here.

Save yourself time and headache of dealing with the Secretary of State and request yours with us! We can get your apostille in a quick, timely manner ready for you to send abroad. Give us a call at (847) 489-7446 or order one below.