How to Get an Apostille in North Carolina: Documents and Submission

To get an apostille in North Carolina, send the properly certified or notarized document to the Secretary of State in Raleigh with a completed Authentication Office Cover Letter, a $10 fee per document, and a prepaid return envelope. You can also walk the package into the Raleigh office. There is no online submission.

What the NC Secretary of State Will Apostille

The office authenticates public documents that carry the signature or seal of a North Carolina official or an actively commissioned North Carolina notary. In practice that covers four groups:

Vital records — birth, death, and marriage certificates issued as certified copies by NC Vital Records or a county Register of Deeds. Photocopies are not accepted.¹
Educational documents — diplomas, transcripts, and report cards from a North Carolina school, but only after a North Carolina notary has notarized them. A school seal on its own is not enough.¹
Notarized private documents — powers of attorney, affidavits, and commercial agreements bearing a valid NC notary signature and seal.
Court documents bearing the seal of a North Carolina court.

Documents issued or certified before April 1, 2000 are generally not eligible, and everything you send must be legible and undamaged.

What the NC Office Cannot Handle

Federal documents do not go through Raleigh. An FBI background check, a federal court order, or anything signed by a federal official has to go to the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications in Sterling, Virginia, at $20 per document.²³ This catches people out with criminal background checks: an NC State Bureau of Investigation check is a state document and belongs in Raleigh; an FBI check is federal. Documents issued in another state must be apostilled by that state.

Prepare the Document First

Most rejected requests fail before they ever reach the Secretary of State, because the underlying certification or notarization was wrong. The office only verifies that the signature or seal on your document belongs to a real, active North Carolina official or notary. If that foundation is missing, the apostille cannot issue.

Vital Records

Order a certified copy from NC Vital Records or your county Register of Deeds. It needs an official signature and a raised or stamped seal. A printout from an online portal without proper certification will not qualify.¹

Diplomas and Transcripts

Ask the school’s registrar to have the document notarized by a North Carolina notary. Many university registrar offices keep a notary on staff or can point you to one on campus.⁴ You need a notarial certificate with the notary’s signature and seal attached to the document — the school’s institutional seal alone will not do.¹

Powers of Attorney and Other Private Documents

Have the document notarized by a commissioned NC notary whose commission is active on the day of signing. The notarial certificate must state the type of act (acknowledgment or jurat) and include the notary’s signature and official seal. If you only have a copy of the original private document, you can submit it with a notarized affidavit attesting that it is a true copy. That workaround does not apply to vital records or court documents.¹

North Carolina caps notary fees at $10 per signature for in-person notarization, $15 for electronic notarization, and $25 for remote online notarization.⁵ Banks and shipping stores often offer notary services cheaply or free.

Submit the Request

You can mail the package or bring it in. There is no electronic filing option.

By Mail

Your package needs four things:

The NC Authentication Office Cover Letter, downloaded from sosnc.gov, listing the destination country, your contact information, and return instructions.⁶
The original certified or notarized documents, not photocopies.
A check or money order for $10 per document, payable to the NC Secretary of State.¹
A self-addressed prepaid return envelope or shipping label. Size it for an 11-by-14-inch document if you are returning a diploma. Packages without a prepaid return envelope go back by regular mail to U.S. addresses only.⁶

Send it to:

NC Secretary of State
PO Box 29622
Raleigh, NC 27626-0622⁶

In Person

The walk-in counter is at 2 South Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC 27601. Bring the same items. In-person requests are typically processed faster than mail, sometimes the same day, though the office does not guarantee a turnaround.

How Long It Takes

Mailed requests generally take five to ten business days to process, plus mail time both ways. Walk-in requests are faster. An incomplete package or wrong fee amount comes back unprocessed, which can add three to four weeks to your timeline.¹

Why Requests Get Rejected

The recurring reasons for a returned package are all preventable:

The notary’s commission had expired on the date of notarization, making the notarization invalid.
The notarial certificate is missing, or a signature appears without the official seal.
A photocopy was submitted in place of a certified copy of a vital record or court document.¹
The document was notarized in another state or signed by a federal official.
The cover letter is missing, or the fee is the wrong amount.

If the Destination Country Is Not in the Hague Convention

An apostille only works in countries that have joined the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention.⁷ For a non-member country, you need an authentication certificate from the same office, obtained through the same process and at the same fee. After that, the destination country’s embassy or consulate will usually need to legalize the document further. Contact that embassy before you begin, since some non-Hague countries impose their own rules on document age, format, or translation.²

1
Iredell County, NC. Apostille
2
U.S. Department of State. Apostille Requirements
3
U.S. Department of State. Request for Authentications Service
4
University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Notary and Apostille
5
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 10B-31 – Fees for Notarial Acts
6
University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Notary and Apostille – Section: Mail-In Instructions
7
HCCH. Convention of 5 October 1961 – Status Table