How to Get a Connecticut Apostille: Online Application and Processing

To get a Connecticut apostille, submit your request through the Secretary of the State’s online portal at sots.service.ct.gov/apostille, then mail the physical document with a $40 fee and a prepaid return envelope to the Authentications and Apostilles office in Hartford. Regular processing takes five to seven business days after the office receives your document; expedited orders are handled within 24 hours. The apostille certifies that the Connecticut official who signed your document is who they say they are, which is all a government in any of the 129 Hague Convention countries needs to accept it.

What Connecticut Can and Can’t Apostille

The Secretary of the State can only apostille documents signed by a Connecticut public official whose commission is on file with the state. That includes Connecticut notaries public, town clerks and their deputies, local registrars of vital statistics, clerks of the Superior and Probate Courts, commissioners of state agencies, and justices of the peace.¹

What that means in practice depends on the document:

Vital records (birth, marriage, death certificates) must be certified copies from the town clerk or registrar of vital statistics, bearing an original signature. A plain photocopy will not be accepted.
Diplomas, transcripts, and other educational records must first be notarized by a Connecticut notary.
Private documents such as powers of attorney, business contracts, and corporate records must also be notarized by a Connecticut notary, with the notary’s signature and commission expiration date in the acknowledgment.
If you are submitting a copy rather than an original, attach a sworn statement that it is true and accurate, signed before a Connecticut notary.¹

Two things the office will not touch. Documents signed by an out-of-state notary, or by an attorney acting as a Commissioner of the Superior Court, cannot be processed. And federal documents, such as FBI background checks or federal court records, must go to the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications in Washington, D.C. instead. Documents destined for Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or the Northern Mariana Islands do not need an apostille at all, because those territories are part of the United States.¹

How to Apply Through the Online Portal

Paper order forms are no longer accepted. Since September 2, 2025, every apostille request must start online at sots.service.ct.gov/apostille. You create an account, log in, and place your order. The system asks for the destination country, which determines whether the office issues an apostille (for Hague Convention members) or a certificate of authentication (for everyone else).¹

Once the online order is placed, mail the physical documents along with a printed copy of your order receipt. If you can’t print the receipt, write your APO Work Order number on the submission so staff can match it to your request. Use the correct address for your carrier:

FedEx, UPS, DHL, or hand delivery: Secretary of the State, Authentications and Apostilles, 165 Capitol Avenue, Suite 1000, Hartford, CT 06106
U.S. Postal Service: Secretary of the State, Authentications and Apostilles, P.O. Box 150470, Hartford, CT 06115-0470

The fee is $40 per document, reduced to $15 for adoption documents, paid by check or money order to the Secretary of the State.¹

Processing Time and Return Shipping

Regular orders are processed within five to seven business days after the office receives the documents. Expedited orders move within 24 hours. The portal shows real-time order status and lets you message the authentication unit through secure messaging.¹

Include a prepaid, pre-addressed return envelope or a prepaid shipping label with your submission. FedEx, UPS, and DHL labels are all accepted. Without return postage, the office will return your documents by first-class mail, which is slower and has no tracking. International returns require a prepaid shipping label.² The apostille is physically attached to the original document, and the finished package goes back by the method you provided.

Why Documents Get Rejected

The most common reason the office sends a document back is that the notarization or certification is more than 10 years old. Documents must have been notarized or certified within the past 10 years, with an original signature or seal still visible. A birth certificate certified in 2014, for example, will not qualify, and you’ll need a fresh certified copy from the town clerk.¹

Other frequent problems: submitting a plain photocopy instead of a certified copy, using an out-of-state notary, forgetting the prepaid return envelope, or failing to include the APO Work Order number when the printed receipt isn’t attached.

If Your Destination Isn’t a Hague Convention Country

For a country that hasn’t joined the Hague Apostille Convention, the Secretary of the State issues a certificate of authentication rather than an apostille. The state certificate alone isn’t enough. You then send the document to the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications for a federal-level authentication, which takes about five weeks by mail.³ Many receiving countries then require a final step at their own embassy or consulate in the United States. Rules vary by country, so confirm the full chain with the destination’s embassy before starting. The whole process can run several months.

1
Office of the Connecticut Secretary of the State. Authentication of Documents and the Apostille
2
Connecticut Secretary of the State. Making Apostilles Easy – Secretary Thomas Unveils New Online Tool to Streamline International Document Certification
3
U.S. Department of State. Office of Authentications