Apostille | Certification  Authentication  Legalization.

These are different processes, depending on the document type and destination country.

• What about an FBI Background Check?

• Federal documents such as FBI background checks cannot be apostilled by Ohio Secretary of State office. Instead, we will process them for you with the United States Department of State in Washington, DC.

• Do my documents need to be translated?

• Depends, If your document is in a foreign language and is going to a hague country then it would not need to be translated for the Secretary of State however if you are sending your documents to a non-hague country your documents will need to be translated into english for the US department of state. We can help with this process and offer this service in all foreign languages.

• Federal docs go straight to D.C. Private docs require state-level certification first Some states require county clerk certification first

• Myth All docs go to the Secretary of State You can start with D.C. All state-level documents are treated the same Apostille, Authentication, and Legalization are not interchangeable “Itʼs all the same processˮ When Apostilles Arenʼt Accepted Non-Hague Countries) Letʼs clear it up:

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Overview: The Process Flow When sending documents to non-Hague countries, youʼll follow this process: 

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Full 3Step Process: 

✅ Certification – by the Secretary of State (some states may also require county-level certification) 

✅ Authentication – by the U.S. Department of State Washington, D.C.) 

✅ Legalization – by the embassy or consulate of the destination country