Below are some of the requirements from FLORIDA Secretary of State to Apostille documents or issue a Certificate of Authentication:
Vital Records: Birth Certificates & Death Certificates must be signed by the State Registrar.
Please see the below list of State Registrar’s, whose signatures can be Apostille.
Ken Jones
C. Meade Grigg
Oliver Board
Charles Mahan
Edward Williams
If the Birth or Death Certificate you have isn’t signed by one of the State’s Registrars listed above, then you likely have a County Level Birth Certificate. County Level, Birth and Death Certificates, do not qualify for apostille.
Two types of Marriage and Divorce certificates exist. The two types are distinguished as either a State level or County level document. Either type maybe Apostilled as long as its printed on printed on mostly blue paper.
Court Documents: Any Criminal History or Criminal Back-Ground Check issued by a Florida Police, Sheriff or F.D.L.E. (Florida Department of Law Enforcement.) Must be notarized by a Florida Notary first.
Corporate Documents: Corporate document like Articles, or Certificate of Good Standing must be Certified copies issued by the Florida Division of Corporations to get it Apostilled.
Educational documents: The original Diploma or a photo copy of a Diploma may be Apostilled. Any Florida notary can notarize a copy of the Diploma by using Attested Copy notary form. If you have to have an original diploma Apostilled then Original Diploma would have to be notarized by the school registrar. You would have to request a notarized original from the school. Also GED Certificates must be signed by the schools registrar and the registrars signature must be notarized.
Foreign Language Documents: documents can be in foreign language but the notarization must be in English. No need to have an English translation with the document requiring Apostille.
All other documents: Any document that is not a state or county certifiable document must be notarized by a Florida notary before qualifying to be Apostilled. Notarized documents must have a notarial wording and not just a stamp and a signature.