Cost and timing for a birth certificate

The price people argue about is usually the one we did not hide. Our filing fee is $125 for the first document and $65 for each additional document in that order. Rush filing is $199 and $85. The state line on this document is $10. Return shipping is a separate FedEx quote from Tallahassee to your address. An optional PDF scan is $20 a document, emailed the day the stamp is on the paper. The original still comes back by courier.

That is not a single “$125 includes the state and the shipping” offer. The state fee is the state’s. Shipping is the carrier’s, and it changes with the address. Prices is the page to read before you compare us to a flat number on another site that folded those costs in and then added them again at checkout.

For Mexico, paying rush does not change the treaty and it does not translate the document. It means we take a clean original to the counter on the next business day we have it in Tallahassee. Mexico has been in the Hague Apostille Convention since 1995.

A second document in the same envelope is the $65 line, not another $125, as long as it is part of the same order. A birth certificate plus a second Florida paper is the usual pair. Each one still needs its own state fee. Each one still has to pass the photo check.

Florida charges $10 for the apostille on this paper. Our filing fee is separate, and so is return shipping. If the clerk has to certify a court paper first, that clerk may charge you separately. That county fee is not our filing fee and not the state’s apostille fee.

From Miami, inbound shipping is yours to buy. Outbound is the FedEx option you pick at checkout. about two business days is a fair planning number for the trip to our desk. Do not leave a consulate appointment on top of the minimum. Add the state day and the ride home.

Upload the photo on the order form before you buy the label. A refusal after you have already shipped is a lost day, not a discount.

Here is the same job as a week in Miami, Miami-Dade County, not as a slogan. Monday, you already have the birth certificate in your hand, or you are still waiting on the issuer and you do not pretend otherwise. You upload the photo. We either tell you to mail it or tell you what is wrong with it. Tuesday you ship, with the order number on the label. Transit from Miami is about two business days. The paper reaches the desk, we compare it to the photo, and it goes to the Florida Department of State on the next business-day drop.

Mexico has been in the Hague Apostille Convention since 1995. The requests we actually see for Mexico tend to be dual citizenship registration, property purchases in Mexico, marriage registration at Registro Civil, school enrollment and credential validation. When the stamped original is back in Miami, that is the moment a translation can start, if Mexico asked for one. It is also the moment a PDF scan matters, if you bought the $20 copy so someone abroad can read the stamp before the courier arrives. The original is still the thing you carry to the appointment.

This week cannot start until the issuer has signed. Order a certified copy from Florida vital records. The decorative sheet a hospital hands parents has no registrar seal, so Tallahassee will not stamp it.

Can you apostille a birth certificate for Mexico without a trip to Tallahassee? Yes. You mail the original. We file it. It comes back to Miami with tracking. Mexico has been in the Hague Apostille Convention since 1995.

How long from Miami? Plan about two business days for the original to reach us, a business day at the state for a courier drop, and return shipping. Rush is for when that calendar is already tight and the paper is already clean.

Will Mexico accept a photocopy if the apostille is real? No. A hospital keepsake never becomes a stampable original. Get a new certified copy instead of paying twice.

The cover sheet can be plain. Your name, the order number, the destination, and a phone that you answer. Write Mexico on it so a second document in the envelope does not get paired with the wrong country. Do not include a narrative of the family history. The examiner does not read it, and it sometimes gets stapled to the document by accident.

Do not add a notary seal on top of this birth certificate to make it look more official. A registrar or a clerk already signed it. An extra notary makes the paper look altered. Papers that do need a Florida notary are on the power of attorney and affidavit pages.

Return shipping is part of the job, not a footnote. Pick the FedEx service that matches the date you told the foreign office, and remember that a business day at the state sits between those two rides. From Miami, about two business days inbound is only half of the travel. The label home is chosen at checkout so you see the number.

A photo review is a real review. We are not collecting pictures for a gallery. If the picture is dark, crooked, or missing the page with the seal, send another one before you buy a label. The seal page is the page. A beautiful first page with the seal cropped off tells us nothing.

Keep the certified copy flat in the envelope. Folding through an embossed seal cracks it. People then ask if the crack “still counts.” Do not find out. A rigid mailer costs less than a new certificate. Vital records are on security paper that shows a crease forever.

Tell the foreign office the truth about timing. “It is apostilled” means the certificate is attached and you have the original back. It does not mean you paid us this morning. Mexico will want to see the paper, not a receipt. If they need an advance look, add the $20 PDF on prices and still wait for the original before you travel.

One Florida document, one state fee, one apostille. There is no family rate at the counter that covers a spouse and a child on a single certificate. If three people need three birth records, that is three certified copies and three stamps. Set the order up that way. Several documents explains the invoice.

Read this together with Mexico, Florida birth certificate, Miami, Miami-Dade County, prices, how it works, the order form, all countries, Florida cities. Related guides: When the consulate appointment is already booked, Documents issued outside Florida, Hospital birth certificates cannot be apostilled, How to read a Florida apostille refusal. The phone is (855) 261-8500 and the email is floridafastapostille@gmail.com.

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