Where to Get an Apostille in California: In Person or by Mail

You can get an apostille on a California document in three places: the Secretary of State’s Sacramento office, the Secretary of State’s Los Angeles office, or by mail to the Notary Public Section in Sacramento. Both walk-in offices offer same-day service with no appointment. The fee is $20 per apostille, with a $6 per-signature surcharge for in-person requests.

In-Person Locations

Both offices take walk-ins on a first-come, first-served basis and process requests the same day.¹

Sacramento: 1500 11th Street, 3rd Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814²
Los Angeles: Ronald Reagan Building, 300 South Spring Street, Room 12513, Los Angeles, CA 90013³

In person, you can pay by Visa, Mastercard, check, or money order. The Los Angeles office does not take cash.³ Expect a $6 special handling fee for each different public official’s signature being authenticated, on top of the $20 per apostille.⁴ If you’re on a tight deadline, the premium pays for itself in avoided mailing time.

By Mail

Send mail requests through the U.S. Postal Service to:

Notary Public Section
P.O. Box 942877
Sacramento, CA 94277-0001³

Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope so the office can return your processed documents. Pay by check or money order made out to “Secretary of State.” The $6 per-signature fee does not apply to mail submissions.⁴

Mail requests are handled in the order they arrive, and the wait moves with the office’s volume. Rather than relying on a general estimate, check the Secretary of State’s Current Processing Dates page, which shows the exact received date currently being worked on.⁵ As of early 2026, processing ran roughly three to four weeks behind the received date.

What to Include With Your Request

Whether you walk in or mail it, your submission needs three pieces:

The document. It must be an original or a certified copy, either notarized by a California notary public or certified by a California public official such as a county clerk, county recorder, court clerk, or the state registrar. Photocopies are not accepted.³
A cover sheet naming the destination country. You can download the official Apostille Mail Request Cover Sheet from the Secretary of State’s website or write your own, as long as it identifies the country where the document will be used.³
Payment of $20 per apostille. Add $6 per signature for in-person requests.⁴

Which Documents the Secretary of State Can Apostille

The California Secretary of State can apostille any document notarized by a California notary or certified by a California public official. That covers most of what people need: birth, marriage, and death certificates; academic transcripts and diplomas; corporate filings; powers of attorney; and court records like divorce decrees.

Birth and Death Certificates Need Extra Preparation

This is where applications get rejected most often. If your birth or death certificate was issued by a city or county agency and carries the signature of a health officer or local registrar (sometimes titled “Registrar of Vital Records”), the Secretary of State will not apostille it as-is. You first need the county clerk to certify it, or you need to obtain a fresh certified copy from the county recorder or the California Department of Public Health. Certificates already signed by a county clerk, county recorder, or the state registrar can go straight to the Secretary of State.⁴

Federal Documents Go to Washington, Not Sacramento

The California Secretary of State only handles state-level documents. FBI background checks, federal court orders, and records from agencies like the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office must be apostilled by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications instead.⁶ Sending federal paperwork to Sacramento is one of the most common mistakes people make, and it costs weeks.

Why Requests Get Rejected

The office will return your package without an apostille if any piece is off. The usual causes:

Submitting a photocopy instead of an original or certified copy.³
Sending a vital record signed by a health officer or local registrar without first getting it re-certified by the county clerk or replaced with a copy from the county recorder or Department of Public Health.⁴
Notarization formatting errors. California applies strict standards to notary acknowledgments and jurats, and small deviations from the statutory language, including extra printed text below the notary’s signature line, can trigger an automatic rejection. If you’re having a document notarized specifically for apostille purposes, confirm your notary uses the exact California statutory wording with nothing added.
Missing cover sheet or wrong payment amount.

If Your Destination Country Isn’t in the Hague Convention

An apostille only works in countries that belong to the Hague Apostille Convention. Several major destinations, including China, Canada (as of this writing), the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait, are not members. For those countries you need authentication and legalization instead: a state-level certification from the California Secretary of State (not an apostille), verification by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications in Washington, D.C.,⁶ and then legalization by the destination country’s embassy or consulate.

Each step carries its own fee and processing time, and skipping or reversing a step invalidates the chain. Check the destination country’s embassy website for its specific requirements, since some require in-person appointments and some accept mail. A few countries also want recently issued documents, such as a birth certificate no older than six months, so confirm the age rules before you start.

1
California Secretary of State. Los Angeles Office
2
California Secretary of State. Contact Information – Notary Public
3
California Secretary of State. Request an Apostille
4
California Secretary of State. Apostille Frequently Asked Questions
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California Secretary of State. Current Processing Dates
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U.S. Department of State. Office of Authentications