Massachusetts Apostille Service

Our Massachusetts apostille service takes a document issued or notarized in Massachusetts, prepares it to the standard the Secretary of the Commonwealth expects, submits it to the Commissions Section in Boston, and returns it to you with the apostille attached. The state fee is $6 per document. Our service fee is quoted before we start, based on how many documents you have, where they are going and how fast you need them. We handle the notarization of private documents first when that step is required, and we review every page before it goes to the state so it is not sent back.

Hanson Webb has been a Massachusetts Notary Public since 2007, is NNA certified, and has completed 1,190+ signings from the office at 1215 Main St, Suite 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876. Call (978) 424-4629 or (978) 851-0199, or book an appointment online. If you prefer to start with the written request, use our Massachusetts apostille application form and we will reply with a quote and a plan for your specific document and destination country.

If the destination country is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, you need an apostille, and the Massachusetts step is the last one. If the destination country is not a member, the Secretary of the Commonwealth issues a certification instead, and that certification must then be authenticated by the U.S. Department of State and legalized by the destination country’s embassy or consulate in Washington, D.C.

The Massachusetts fee is the same $6 per document for either an apostille or a certification. The difference is everything that happens after Boston. A non-Hague chain adds two federal and consular steps, each with its own fee, its own forms and its own processing window, so the total timeline is measured in weeks rather than days.

Common Hague destinations we see from Massachusetts clients

• Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and most of Latin America
• Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom
• India, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan
• Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
• Canada and China, both of which joined the Convention recently, so older guidance that lists them as non-Hague is out of date

Common non-Hague destinations

• Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt
• Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Taiwan
• Several African and Caribbean nations

Membership changes. Several countries have joined in the past few years, and a country’s accession can take months to enter into force. Before you tell a university or a consulate which certificate you are bringing, check the current status list at hcch.net or call us and we will check it with you. Because Hanson works in English, Arabic and French, we can also read instructions sent by consulates and institutions in those languages, which saves a lot of back and forth on Middle Eastern and francophone files.

You tell us the document, the destination country and your deadline; we tell you whether notarization is needed, what it will cost and how long the state step takes; then we notarize if required, submit to the Secretary of the Commonwealth and return the finished document to you. Most clients never travel to Boston.

1. Intake (day 0). Call (978) 424-4629, book online or submit the application form. Tell us what the document is, who issued it, which country will receive it and when you need it. Send a photo or scan so we can check the signatures and seals before you ship anything.
2. Country and path check (day 0). We confirm whether the destination is a Hague member, so you know up front whether you are getting an apostille or starting a longer certification chain. We also check whether the document was issued in Massachusetts, because an out-of-state or federal document has to go elsewhere.
3. Obtain the right copy (day 0 to day 5, depending on the issuer). For a public record, you (or we, with your authorization) order a fresh certified copy from the clerk, court or Corporations Division. For a private document, we schedule the notarization, either at our Tewksbury office for $45 per notarial act or as a mobile visit to your home, school or business.
4. Pre-submission review. We check the notary’s name against the commission, the completeness of the certificate, the presence of original signatures and the condition of the document. Anything that would be rejected is fixed before it leaves our hands.
5. Submission to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. We deliver the packet to the Commissions Section at One Ashburton Place in Boston, with the $6 per document state fee and the country of destination noted, or mail it with a prepaid return envelope when time allows. In-person submissions are processed the same day for up to four documents; mailed submissions take about 10 business days once received.
6. Quality check and return. When the apostille comes back we confirm the certificate number, the named official and the destination country, then return the document to you by the method you chose: pickup at 1215 Main St, Suite 115 in Tewksbury, USPS Priority Mail, FedEx domestic or FedEx International Priority straight to the receiving party overseas.
7. Federal and consular steps when required. For non-Hague countries and federal documents, we prepare the Department of State authentication request and, where the embassy permits third-party submission, the legalization request. We give you the embassy’s own fee schedule and timeline so there are no surprises.

Requests are returned unprocessed when the state cannot match a signature to its records, when the notarial certificate is incomplete, or when the document is not a Massachusetts document in the first place. Every one of these problems is visible before submission, which is why we review each page before it goes to Boston.

The rejection reasons we see most often, in rough order of frequency:

1. Notary name does not match the commission. Initials, a missing middle name, a married name not yet updated with the Secretary, or an illegible signature with no printed name beneath it.
2. Incomplete notarial certificate. A blank venue line, a missing date, no commission expiration, or a certificate that does not state how the signer was identified. Massachusetts certificates under M.G.L. c.222 s.15 have required elements and the state checks for them.
3. Photocopied signature. The state authenticates original ink. A scan of a notarized affidavit, however good, cannot be apostilled.
4. Uncertified or expired copy of a public record. A hospital-issued birth certificate, an old certified copy signed by a clerk no longer in office, a wallet-sized abstract, or a plain photocopy of a court order.
5. Document issued outside Massachusetts. A New Hampshire birth certificate must be apostilled by New Hampshire. A federal document must go to the Department of State.
6. Wrong or missing destination country. The state needs the country to decide between an apostille and a certification and to print it on the certificate.
7. Wrong fee or payment type. Cash, a card, or a check for the wrong amount.
8. Notary commission not active on the date of notarization. The certificate must show a date within the notary’s commission term.

When a document we did not notarize fails one of these checks, we will tell you whether it can be fixed (a new certified copy, a corrected certificate from the original notary) or whether the simplest path is to re-execute it before Hanson so it can be submitted correctly the first time.

Federal documents are authenticated by the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications in Washington, D.C., not by Massachusetts. This includes FBI Identity History Summaries, Social Security Administration letters, Department of Veterans Affairs records, USPTO documents and records from federal courts.

For an FBI report, the usual path is: order the Identity History Summary with the FBI seal and signed cover letter, and send it to the Department of State with its request form and fee. The Department issues an apostille for Hague countries or an authentication certificate for non-Hague countries. We prepare and ship the packet, track it and forward the result to you. The Department of State sets its own fees and processing times, which we quote at intake.

A common mix-up: a Massachusetts CORI report is a state record, not an FBI report. If a foreign employer asks for a “police certificate” and will accept a state record, a notarized CORI with a Massachusetts apostille is usually faster than the federal route. Ask the receiving party which one they want before you order either.

Last reviewed October 15, 2026