Apostille is a French word that means certification. It is commonly used in English to refer to "a form of certification for documents that are for use in countries in the Hague Convention. The apostille certifies the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document is serving, and identifies the seal/stamp, which the document bears." For more background information, see the Ohio Secretary of State web page.
Why You Might Need an Apostille
An apostille may be required for a diploma, degree/enrollment verification or transcript being sent to an entity in another country. That entity may refer to the required diploma, verification and/or transcript as needing to be “certified,” “notarized” or “authenticated.” If you plan to study, teach or work abroad, the country to which you will travel may require this extra step for certifying your educational documents.
Documents Available for Notarization
The documents listed below are available to be notarized for the apostille process. You may also make a copy of your own diploma; we will verify and notarized this as well. Documents available for the apostille process from the University Registrar's Office vary in cost and processing time:
- transcripts: $11.00 per transcript
- enrollment verifications: free
- degree verifications: free
- replacement diplomas: fee varies on delivery type selected
Requesting Notarized Documents
- Request notarized documents from our office by completing the Request for Notarization of University Documents form.
- Upload the form and any additional files via the submission page. We will contact you to confirm your information, provide the costs, and accept payment to complete the process.
- Once the documents have been notarized, we will return the documents to you for you to submit them to the Ohio Secretary of State to go through the Apostille process. See the Ohio Secretary of State website for more information.
- If the country that you are sending the documents to is not part of the Hague Convention, you will need to send the documents that have gone through the Apostille process by the Ohio Secretary of State to the United States Department of State, Authentications Office. See the United States Department of State, Office of Authentications website for more information.
Questions can be directed to registrar@case.edu.