How to Apostille a Birth Certificate in New Jersey: Cost and Steps

To apostille a birth certificate in New Jersey, order a certified copy from the New Jersey Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry, then submit it with an application and a $25 fee to the Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services in Trenton. You can file online, by mail, by courier, or in person. Standard processing runs 12 to 20 business days; walk-in expedited service is handled by the next business day.¹ The apostille is a one-page certificate that makes the birth certificate legally valid in any of the 129 countries that are parties to the Hague Apostille Convention.²

Start With the Right Certified Copy

Not every birth certificate qualifies. The Division of Revenue authenticates documents signed by recognized public officials, which for a New Jersey birth record means a certified copy issued by the state Department of Health, Office of Vital Statistics and Registry.³ The state copy comes on official safety paper with a raised seal and the state registrar’s signature, which is what the Division cross-references before attaching the apostille.

Order directly from the state rather than relying on a copy from a local municipal registrar. Local copies sometimes lack the state-level signature the Division needs and can be rejected. To order, submit an application to the NJ Department of Health with proof of identity, the required fee, and proof of your relationship to the person named on the record.⁴ Certified copies typically cost around $10 to $15 each.

Make sure the certificate shows full parental names and the specific place of birth. Foreign authorities routinely require that level of detail, and a short-form abstract or computer-generated summary often won’t include it.

One boundary to note: for births before January 1, 1923, the Department of Health doesn’t hold the record. Those older vital records sit with the New Jersey State Archives, and you’ll need to request a certified copy from the Archives instead.³

File the Application

The most direct route is the Division’s online portal. You enter your contact information, describe the document (including the registrar’s name and the date of birth), select processing speed, choose a return delivery method, and pay by credit card or e-check.¹ The system generates a confirmation page. Print it and include it with the original certified birth certificate when you send the physical document in. The portal handles the application and payment; it does not handle the document itself.

If the birth certificate will be used in more than one country, submit a separate request for each destination. The portal also asks whether the destination is a Hague Convention member, because the Division issues an apostille for member countries and a different document, called a certification of the public official, for non-members.³ Selecting the wrong country produces the wrong authentication, so confirm this before submitting.

If you walk in instead, you fill out a Service Request and Control Receipt Form at the Customer Service Counter rather than using the portal.

What It Costs

The apostille fee is $25 per document.⁵ Expedited service costs an additional fee on top of the base. The online portal accepts credit cards and e-checks, and a convenience fee may apply.³ For mail-in requests without online prepayment, make checks or money orders payable to the Treasurer, State of New Jersey. Each apostilled copy requires its own $25 fee, and the certified birth certificate from the Department of Health is a separate charge.

Getting the Document to Trenton

After filing online (or preparing a mail-in request), the physical certified birth certificate has to reach the Division. Three delivery options:

USPS mail: Send to PO Box 452, Trenton, NJ 08646, by first-class, Priority, or Certified Mail. Include the printed confirmation page from your online order.¹
Courier or overnight: FedEx, UPS, and similar carriers go to 33 West State Street, 5th Floor, Trenton, NJ 08608. PO boxes don’t accept private carriers, so the street address is required for anything other than USPS.¹
Walk-in: Hand-deliver to the Customer Service Counter at 33 West State Street, 5th Floor. The lobby is open on weekdays, excluding state holidays.

Send the original certified copy, not a photocopy. The Division attaches the apostille directly to the original.

Processing Time and the Finished Document

Standard processing takes 12 to 20 business days from the date the Division receives your documents. Expedited requests are processed by the next business day, but expedited service requires in-person delivery to the Trenton office.¹ Next-business-day turnaround doesn’t include return shipping time if the Division has to mail the document back.

The apostille is a single 8.5 by 11 page carrying the Great Seal of New Jersey and the State Treasurer’s signature, stapled to the signature page of the birth certificate.³ Don’t remove the staple or separate the two pages. Foreign authorities expect to see them physically connected, and detaching them can invalidate the authentication.

If Your Country Isn’t in the Hague Convention

The apostille process only works for the 129 Hague member countries.⁶ For non-member destinations, the Division issues a certification of the public official instead. It looks similar, with the same Great Seal and Treasurer’s signature, but serves a different legal function.³

A state certification alone usually isn’t enough for a non-Hague country. The full chain is called consular legalization: state certification first, then federal authentication by the U.S. Department of State, then a final seal from the destination country’s embassy or consulate. The process can take significantly longer than an apostille, with some embassy legalizations stretching to several months. Contact the destination country’s embassy early to confirm its specific requirements.

Translation and Name Matching

An apostille authenticates the birth certificate; it doesn’t translate it. If the destination country’s official language isn’t English, you’ll almost certainly need a certified translation of both the birth certificate and the apostille, usually a complete line-by-line translation covering seals, stamps, and handwritten notations.

The sequence matters and varies by country. Some require the apostille first and the translation afterward; others want the translation notarized before the apostille is issued. Getting the order wrong is one of the most common reasons document packets are rejected abroad. Confirm the sequence with the receiving authority or that country’s U.S. consulate before you start. Name mismatches between documents, such as a middle name appearing on the birth certificate but not on a passport, are another frequent cause of rejection, and catching them before submission saves weeks.

1
New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services. Online Apostille and Certification Service
2
Hague Conference on Private International Law. Apostille Section
3
New Jersey Division of Revenue and Enterprise Services. Apostilles and Notary Certifications
4
New Jersey Department of Health. Vital Statistics – Order a Vital Record
5
Rutgers Office of Academic Services and Administration. Apostille Instructions
6
Hague Conference on Private International Law. Status Table – Convention 12