Apostille Services in Miami, FL
Few American cities send as much paperwork abroad as Miami does, and the two destinations that come up most here — Colombia and Venezuela — are both parties to the Hague Apostille Convention. That is why South Floridians hear the word "apostille" far more often than the national average, and why so many of them arrive already knowing the term. What catches people out is where the certificate comes from. It is never issued in Miami. A Florida record is authenticated in Tallahassee, and a federally issued record — an FBI Identity History Summary, a naturalisation certificate, an IRS letter — is authenticated only by the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC.
Getting fingerprinted for an FBI background check in Miami
Miami applicants who need an FBI Identity History Summary have two routes, and neither of them is a government counter. Fingerprints can be rolled onto an FD-258 card — several Miami-Dade and Broward police departments still do this for a small fee — and mailed to the FBI in West Virginia, or they can be captured electronically at an FBI-approved Channeler's enrollment centre, of which South Florida has many. The Channeler route is what most people here use, because the card route adds weeks of mail time before the clock on the report even starts.
Fingerprinting is the only step that has to happen in Miami at all. What follows it — the report, the authentication, the certificate — is paperwork moving between offices, and none of those offices are in South Florida. That whole lane is written up on the FBI background check apostille page.
Miami documents that need a federal apostille
For Miami the federal court is the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida — Miami Division, at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse downtown, and anything it signs goes to Washington rather than to Tallahassee. The test is always who signed the document — never where the person holding it lives.
| Document | Lane | Authenticated by |
|---|---|---|
| FBI Identity History Summary · naturalization and citizenship certificates · records from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida — Miami Division, at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse downtown · IRS, FDA and USDA letters | Federal | U.S. Dept. of State, Washington, DC |
| Birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates issued in Florida | State | Florida Department of State |
| Diplomas, transcripts, powers of attorney and anything notarized in Florida | State | Florida Department of State |
Filing a U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida — Miami Division, at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse downtown record into Tallahassee — or a Florida record into Washington — is the most common rejection there is, and it costs the whole turnaround a second time. The Florida half is covered on the Florida apostille services page.
Where Miami documents are headed
From South Florida the destinations that come up most often are Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Italy — every one of them a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, which is why a single certificate is enough. Between member states the Convention replaced consular legalisation outright: once the apostille is attached, nothing further is asked of you in Miami or at the other end.
Miami hosts consulates for Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Spain, Italy, France, Mexico and Dominican Republic among others, and they are a common source of wasted trips: a consulate in Miami cannot authenticate an American signature or issue an apostille for a US document. It receives documents that already carry one. An instruction from one of them to "get an apostille" points at Tallahassee or Washington — not back across town.
Getting documents from Miami to the U.S. Department of State
Miami to our Washington, DC intake is a single overnight leg on any of the major carriers, and South Florida has late pickup times because of the airport's cargo schedule — a package tendered at a staffed location in the afternoon is normally at intake the next business morning. Ground service from Miami runs roughly two to three business days each way, which is why the cheaper shipping choice usually costs more calendar time than it saves in postage.
Nothing in that asks you to travel. Documents leave Miami, we file them over the counter in DC, and the secure scan reaches you in South Florida the day the apostille is issued — well before the originals are back.
Serving South Florida
Every apostille is filed in Tallahassee or in Washington, so the part of South Florida you happen to be in changes the courier leg and nothing else. Not the fee, not the process, not the date it lands back in Miami. We work with residents and employers across Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties, including:
| Brickell | Downtown Miami | Coral Gables | Coconut Grove |
| Wynwood | Little Havana | Doral | Hialeah |
| Miami Beach | Aventura | Kendall | Pinecrest |
| Key Biscayne | North Miami | Miami Lakes | Homestead |
| Sunny Isles Beach | Fort Lauderdale | Hollywood | Weston |
- Miami-Dade hosts one of the largest consular corps in the United States, but a consulate does not issue apostilles. It receives documents that have already been apostilled.
- Florida's authenticating authority sits in Tallahassee, roughly 470 miles up the state from Miami, and it handles only Florida-issued or Florida-notarised records.
- Venezuela is itself a party to the Apostille Convention, so a US document bound for Caracas takes the apostille route rather than consular legalisation.
- Documents issued by the Southern District of Florida are federal documents. Being able to see the courthouse from your office does not put them in the Tallahassee lane.
- Colombia, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic are all Convention parties — a correctly apostilled US document needs no further step for any of them.
- A Florida marriage certificate is issued by the Clerk of Court in the county where the licence was filed, so a Miami-Dade certificate and a Broward certificate come from two different offices before either reaches Tallahassee.
Miami apostille questions & answers
Is there anywhere in Miami I can walk in and get an apostille the same day?+
No. There is no apostille counter in Miami, or anywhere else in Florida outside Tallahassee. Florida-issued and Florida-notarised documents are authenticated by the state's authenticating office in Tallahassee; federal documents are authenticated only by the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC. Every Miami apostille involves the document travelling, whether you send it yourself or we do it.
My document is going to Colombia. Do I need the Colombian consulate in Miami?+
Almost certainly not. Colombia is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, which replaced consular legalisation between member countries. Once a US document carries an apostille, the Colombian consulate has no further role to play with it. The consulate matters for Colombian-issued documents and for visa and civil-registry business, not for authenticating American paperwork.
I need an FBI background check apostilled for a Venezuelan process. Where does that go?+
To Washington, DC. An FBI Identity History Summary is a federal record, so the U.S. Department of State is the only office in the country that can apostille it — the Florida authenticating office cannot touch it, and neither can a Miami consulate. Venezuela is a Convention party, so the apostille is the complete authentication.
Does living in Miami-Dade make a Florida apostille faster than living in Tallahassee?+
It makes no difference to the fee or to the state's own processing time — one office serves the whole state on the same schedule. Distance only changes the transit leg, which is the part we handle. See our Florida apostille page for the current state turnaround.
My birth certificate was issued in Cuba, not Florida. Can it be apostilled here?+
No. An apostille only ever comes from the country that issued the document, so a Cuban-issued record cannot be apostilled by any US authority. Cuba is also not a party to the Apostille Convention. What can be apostilled here is a US document — for example a notarised translation prepared and sworn in the United States, which is a different document from the original.
Both my documents are from Miami — one from the county and one federal. Can they go together?+
They travel together to us, but they split after that: the Florida-issued one goes to the state authenticating office and the federal one goes to the U.S. Department of State. They are two filings on two separate clocks, and they usually come back on different days. We track both and send a scan of each as it is issued.
Is a Miami notary enough to make a document apostille-ready?+
For the notarised true-copy lane, yes — a Florida notary's acknowledgement is what the state authenticates. What a Florida notary cannot do is make a certified copy of a vital record; those must be ordered as certified copies from the issuing agency, which is why that lane is priced separately.
What it costs from Miami
| Notarized true-copy apostille | Flat $149/document · government fees included · keep your originals |
| Vital records & state-issued documents | From $300 · original certified copy ships to our intake center · custom quote |
| FBI background check (federal) | Fingerprints taken in Miami · apostilled in Washington · same-day scan |
Apostille guides for other metro areas
- Apostille services in Atlanta, GA
- Apostille services in Houston, TX
- Apostille services in Dallas–Fort Worth, TX
- All metro areas
Federal Apostille™ is a private, independent courier and document-processing service operating nationally. We do not maintain an office, counter or staff in Miami, and we are not affiliated with the Florida Department of State, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida — Miami Division, at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse downtown, or any government agency or consulate named on this page.