How to Complete and Submit the Kansas Apostille Form DC: Fees and Shipping

To get a Kansas document apostilled, you submit Kansas apostille Form DC — the Secretary of State’s “Request for Document Certification (Apostille/Authentication)” — along with your original or certified document, a $10 fee per document, and return shipping materials. The office at the Docking State Office Building in Topeka processes mailed requests in three to five business days.¹ Form DC is a single-page PDF available at kssos.org, most recently revised February 27, 2026.

Before You Fill Out the Form

Form DC only works if the document underneath it qualifies. The Kansas Secretary of State can apostille any document carrying the signature or seal of a Kansas public official or a Kansas notary public.² In practice, that means a few recognizable categories.

Vital records — birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates — must be certified copies from the Kansas Office of Vital Statistics. Hospital-issued records, church certificates, and plain photocopies will be rejected. A certified birth certificate copy costs $20 from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.³
Private documents like powers of attorney, contracts, adoption paperwork, and diplomas must be notarized by a Kansas notary public first.²
Court documents must show the printed name of the signing official (deputy clerk, court clerk), and that official’s signature has to already be on file with the Secretary of State. A quick call to the Secretary of State’s office before you mail anything can confirm this.¹
Documents in a foreign language are fine, but the notarization itself must be in English.²

Send originals or certified copies. Plain photocopies will come back to you unprocessed.

Filling Out Form DC Section by Section

Section 1: Requestor Information

Fill in your full name, phone number, and email, then the return address where the office should ship your authenticated documents. The same address is used to return anything the office can’t certify, so write it legibly.¹

Section 2: Name of Court Official

Skip this unless you’re sending a court document. If you are, print the signing official’s name and title — “Jane Smith, Deputy Clerk,” for example. The office will match this against its records; if the signature isn’t on file, the document comes back.¹

Section 3: Destination Country

Name the country where the document will be used. This tells the office whether to issue an apostille, which works in Hague Apostille Convention member countries, or an authentication certificate for a country outside the Convention.

Section 4: Number of Documents

Enter the total count enclosed. Each document gets its own certificate and its own $10 fee, so four documents means $40.¹

Section 5: Payment Information

For credit card, enter the number, expiration date, and CVV. For check or money order, make it payable to the Kansas Secretary of State. Cash isn’t accepted.¹

Sections 6 and 7: Return Shipping

You must pick one of two return-shipping methods, and getting this wrong is a frequent holdup.

Option 1 is to enclose a self-addressed, prepaid envelope or a prepaid shipping label. This works for both domestic and international destinations. If you need documents sent overseas, this is the only route — include an international label with prepaid postage.

Option 2 is to have the office create a FedEx label charged either to the credit card in Section 5 or to a FedEx account number you provide in Section 7. You can select FedEx Standard Overnight or FedEx 2Day. Option 2 is limited to U.S. physical addresses; it won’t ship internationally.¹

Fees

The certification fee is $10 per document as of March 2, 2026, and it applies the same way to apostilles and to authentication certificates.² That covers the Secretary of State’s verification of the underlying signature or seal and nothing else. Notarization fees, the cost of certified vital records, and FedEx charges under Option 2 are separate. The Secretary of State’s website doesn’t list an expedited option; the three-to-five-business-day timeline applies to all mailed requests.

Where to Send It and What Happens Next

Mail or deliver your completed Form DC, original documents, payment, and return shipping materials to:

Kansas Secretary of State
Docking State Office Building
915 SW Harrison Street
Topeka, KS 66612²

The office phone is (785) 296-4564 and the email is kssos@ks.gov. Call ahead if you aren’t sure a document qualifies or whether a court official’s signature is on file.

Processing runs three to five business days from the date the office receives your package.¹ Once the signature or seal is verified, the apostille certificate is attached directly to the document or stapled to it on a separate sheet, and the package goes back to you by whichever method you chose in Section 6. If a document can’t be certified — expired notary commission, court official not on file, plain photocopy — it comes back to the Section 1 address with an explanation.

Why Requests Come Back Unprocessed

Most rejections trace to a short list of avoidable mistakes. Before you seal the envelope:

Photocopy of a vital record instead of a certified copy from the Kansas Office of Vital Statistics.
Private document sent without a Kansas notary’s signature and seal.
Notarization written in a language other than English, even when the underlying document can be.²
Court official whose signature isn’t registered with the Secretary of State.
No prepaid return envelope, label, or FedEx billing information — the office has no way to send your documents back.
Cash enclosed instead of a check, money order, or credit card.¹

When Form DC Is the Wrong Form

Two situations fall outside the Kansas Secretary of State’s authority under K.S.A. 53-401.⁴ Federal documents — FBI background checks, federal court orders, anything issued by a U.S. government agency — go to the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications on federal Form DS-4194, not Form DC.⁵ And if your destination country isn’t a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, an apostille alone won’t work; you’ll still start with the Kansas Secretary of State, but the document then has to pass through the U.S. Department of State and the destination country’s embassy or consulate before it will be accepted abroad.

1
Kansas Secretary of State. Request for Document Certification (Apostille/Authentication)
2
Kansas Secretary of State. Apostilles and Authentications
3
Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Birth Certificate
4
Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. Kansas Statutes 53-401 – Accession to Hague Convention; Procedure for Certification of Document
5
U.S. Department of State. Office of Authentications