The state fee and our fee are different charges

Two different offices get paid, and they should look like two different lines. Our filing fee is $125 for the first document and $65 for each additional document. Rush is $199 and $85. That pays for the review, the trip to the counter, and the handling. It does not pay the State of Florida.

Florida charges $10 to apostille most documents. If a county clerk certified the paper, the state charge is $20 because an incumbency certificate is added. That is the state’s price, published for anyone who files in person themselves. We do not mark it up and we do not bury it inside the $125. Prices shows the split.

Return shipping is a third number. It is a FedEx quote from Tallahassee to the address you type. It changes. A flat “shipping included” slogan would be a guess. We would rather show the quote.

The optional scan is a fourth number, $20 per document. It is easy to decline. Order it when a consulate asked to see the stamp before the original arrives, or when a relative abroad needs to start a translation. Decline it when the original is the only thing anyone asked for.

What is not included, on purpose: a new certified copy from vital records, a clerk’s own copy fee, a translator, a courier in another country, and any federal fee in Washington. If a quote you received from someone else is one round number “for everything,” ask them which of those they actually pay. The how it works page is the sequence. The price page is the money. They are separate because the work is separate.

Additional documents in one order are cheaper on our line because we are already going to the counter. They are not cheaper on the state’s line. Each document pays the state. A birth certificate and a marriage certificate in one envelope are two state fees.

If a page on the internet still shows an old bundled price for this brand, ignore it. The order form is the price. Start there after you have read the document guide that matches your paper.

If you are ready to file a Florida document after this, start an order with a photo attached. Prices split our fee, the state fee, and shipping. How it works is the sequence from photo to return label. Questions that do not fit the form go to contact or (855) 261-8500.

Country rules still differ after the stamp exists. Browse countries for the destination on your checklist. Cuba does not take this stamp. Most other destinations our clients name are Hague countries and do.

Picture a normal week. Someone in Miami, Miami-Dade County emails a photo on a Monday. We answer the same day if the photo shows the seal. They ship Tuesday. The envelope is on the desk after about two business days. We file it on the next business-day drop, and the stamped original is labeled home after that. Nothing in that week requires them to take a day off and drive to Tallahassee.

The week goes wrong when the photo was of the wrong paper and they shipped anyway. Then we are holding an original we cannot stamp, and they are waiting on a carrier to bring it back before they can order the right one. That is a lost week. The photo first, the label second.

People ask if they can skip the photo. You can, and then the first time we see the defect is when the original is already in Tallahassee. Use the photo.

People ask if a PDF of the finished apostille is the same as the paper. It is not. The $20 scan is a convenience. The original is the filing.

People ask if every Florida city has a different price. No. Prices are the same in Miami and everywhere else in the state. The carrier’s quote changes with the address. Our filing fee does not.

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.

If a lawyer, a translator, and a courier are all in the email thread, pick one person to receive our questions. Three replies that contradict each other are how the wrong paper gets shipped. Put that person’s phone on the cover sheet. (855) 261-8500 reaches us during the business day if the thread is stuck.

Do not send gifts, cash, or a second “just in case” photocopy clipped to the original. The extra sheet looks like the document. We have separated them, and we would rather not. Send the original you want stamped and the cover sheet. Make spare copies after the apostille exists so the spare shows the stamp.

Check the destination one last time against the country list. A relative may have said “the embassy” out of habit when the country has taken apostilles for years. Mexico is the page that matches this guide. Habit is how people buy embassy legalization they no longer need, or a Florida stamp they cannot use.

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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