Texas Secretary of State
Document Authentication

The Texas Secretary of State is located at 1019 Brazos Street in Austin, Texas (near the Capitol building). However, you don't need to go there in person—we handle the authentication process for you as part of our complete apostille services.

Standard processing at the Secretary of State is typically 3-5 business days, plus shipping time. We offer expedited options depending on your timeline needs. For FBI documents that require U.S. Department of State authentication, we offer our 7-10 business day guaranteed service.

An apostille is used for countries that are members of the Hague Apostille Convention (over 120 countries). An authentication is a more traditional certification required for countries that are NOT part of the Hague Convention. Both serve the same purpose—verifying document authenticity—but use different certificates. See our Hague Convention guide for more details.

Yes. The Secretary of State will only authenticate certified copies of vital records (birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, etc.) or original documents for things like school transcripts or corporate documents. Photocopies are not acceptable. Learn more about document requirements.

Yes! While we're based in Texas, we serve clients nationwide. Each state has its own Secretary of State or similar authentication authority, and we can help coordinate apostilles for documents from any U.S. state. For FBI documents, the process is the same nationally (U.S. Department of State in D.C.).