Where to Get a Georgia Apostille and What It Costs

Authentication is the step that makes a Georgia document usable by a foreign government, and it is a different task from the one covered in Georgia vital records and which office issues each document. Getting the record in your hand is step one. This article covers step two: which Georgia agency certifies it for use abroad, what each document has to look like before it is submitted, what the process costs, and how long it takes.

Which Georgia office issues an apostille

Georgia divides document authentication between two agencies, and the destination country decides which one applies. The Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority is the only state agency authorized to issue apostilles for documents originating in Georgia, and its Atlanta office is the only location that issues them. Documents bound for a country outside the Apostille Convention take the other track: the Secretary of State’s Elections Division issues a Great Seal certification at $10 per document, with a current published timeline of three to five business days.

The apostille itself is a single sheet of paper in an internationally agreed format, bearing the state seal of Georgia and attached to the document. It authenticates the signature and seal of the issuing public official or notary public. It says nothing about whether the contents of the document are true, and it has no effect on a document used inside the United States, its territories, or its possessions.

A third certificate exists and is easy to confuse with the first two. A certification of notary public, sometimes called a certificate of authority, confirms that a notary held a commission during a particular term. It is used for documents staying within the United States, a U.S. territory, or a U.S. embassy, and it is not used together with an apostille.

Documents the Clerks’ Authority can and cannot apostille

Two families of Georgia documents qualify, and they have opposite preparation rules.

Publicly recorded documents must arrive as official certified copies carrying the signature and seal of the issuing Georgia state or county official. Per the GSCCCA’s apostille requirements, these are never notarized: adding a notary block to a certified birth certificate breaks it. This family covers birth, death, and marriage certificates, divorce decrees, court documents, filings held by a county Clerk of Superior Court, and certified corporate records from the Secretary of State’s Corporations Division. Certified copies of Georgia vital records come from the Department of Public Health’s Vital Records office or from the county probate court or health department where the event was recorded.

Notarized documents are the second family: powers of attorney, affidavits, translations, diplomas, school transcripts, and private corporate paperwork. These must be notarized under Georgia law before they reach the GSCCCA. Notarized documents do not need a separate county certification first, which is a change from how the Great Seal track works.

Several categories are outside the office’s authority entirely:

• Documents issued by another state (that state authenticates its own records)
• Federal documents signed and sealed by a federal agency or federal court, including a consular report of birth abroad
• Plain photocopies, unless a Georgia notary has properly certified the copy
• Documents issued by a foreign government
• Documents headed to a country that is not a party to the Apostille Convention
• Documents that will be used inside the United States or its territories

Preparing each type of document

Preparation is where most rejections happen. The requirements below come from the GSCCCA’s published instructions.

1. Confirm the destination country and the certificate type

   Check the destination against the Hague country list before anything else. A country on the list takes an apostille from the GSCCCA. A country off the list takes a Great Seal certification from the Secretary of State. Embassies and consulates follow the rule of the country they represent, not the country they sit in.

2. Order a fresh certified copy for public records

   For a birth, death, or marriage record, order a certified copy from the Georgia Department of Public Health or the county probate court or health department. For a divorce decree, warranty deed, or court order, order the certified copy from the county Clerk of Superior Court. The copy must carry an original signature and seal of the issuing official, and it must not be notarized.

3. Have private documents notarized correctly

   The notary completes a notarial certificate identifying the act performed, signs by hand exactly as the name appears on the commission, and applies a seal showing the notary’s name, commissioning county, the words “Notary Public,” and the state. The exact date of notarization goes on the certificate. Under O.C.G.A. § 45-17-8(e), the notary confirms the signer’s identity from a government-issued photo ID or from personal knowledge.

4. Use copy certification where the original cannot be surrendered

   Diplomas, passports, professional licenses, driver’s licenses, and vehicle titles are apostilled through a notarized copy. The document holder signs an affidavit before a Georgia notary stating the attachment is a true and exact copy. O.C.G.A. § 45-17-8(a)(6) limits notary copy certification to original documents that are not public records and are not publicly recorded, which is why a birth certificate cannot be handled this way.

5. Handle translations as a separate notarized affidavit

   A translator signs an affidavit before a Georgia notary attesting to fluency in both languages and to the completeness of the translation. The same person cannot serve as both translator and notary. The GSCCCA does not require the underlying document to be in English; the apostille certifies the notary’s signature and seal, not the language of the text.

School records have their own path. A transcript or grade report is signed by a school official in the presence of a notary, and only Georgia schools’ records can be apostilled in Georgia. A criminal record check from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is ready for the apostille if a GBI official signed it before a notary; an FBI check signed and sealed by an FBI official goes to the federal government instead.

Fees, hours, and how to submit the request

Documents must be originals, and they can be delivered in person or mailed. Per the GSCCCA’s fee schedule, an apostille costs $3.00 per document and a certification of notary public costs $2.00 per document. Walk-in service runs 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday at 1875 Century Blvd., Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30345, and no appointment is needed. The office reserves the right to cap how many documents it will process while you wait.

Walk-in requests typically take under twenty minutes depending on volume. Mailed requests are normally processed in one to two business days, plus transit time in both directions. Walk-in payment options include cash, a personal or company check with a pre-printed name and address, a money order payable to GSCCCA, or a credit card; mail-in requests take a check, a money order, or a credit-card pre-payment voucher generated in advance.

A mailed package needs four things: the original documents, payment, a cover letter naming the destination country and giving daytime contact information, and a pre-paid self-addressed envelope or return airbill. Return airbills for FedEx or UPS must be computer generated, because the office will not accept handwritten ones. Mail goes to GSCCCA, Attn: Notary Division, 1875 Century Blvd., Ste. 100, Atlanta, GA 30345.

Non-Hague countries and federal documents

When the destination country is not a Convention member, the request goes to the Secretary of State’s Elections Division authentications desk at 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive SE, Suite 802, Floyd West Tower, Atlanta, GA 30334. That office charges $10 per document, quotes three to five business days, and takes walk-ins from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. without appointments. Its preparation rules are stricter in one respect: a notarized document must first be certified by the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where the notary is commissioned, and the dates on the document, the notarization, the clerk’s certificate, and the state certificate must run in chronological order.

Federally issued documents follow a third route regardless of destination. An FBI background check, a federal court record, a certificate of naturalization, an IRS residency certification, or a USDA export certificate is authenticated by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications, which requires Form DS-4194 with the fee and the documents. That office also warns that notarizing an original federal document invalidates it.