Apostilles for business records

Generally, certified copies of business documents should meet certification requirements for other countries.

After checking with the country requiring documentation and determining that a certified copy isn’t what they require, you may request an apostille be created for certified copies of business records. This only applies to documents going to countries that are part of the Hague Apostille Convention.

Otherwise, you can send your documents to the U.S. Department of State (See below).

How do I get certified copies of my business document(s)?

It's free of charge on our website. We recommend printing in color if it's for official use.

To get a certified copy of business records:

1. Search our business database by entity name, entity ID, or transaction ID.
2. Once you have located the entity record, from the Summary page you can click on the “Get certified copies of documents” link.
3. You can either select individual documents from the history or click on the link to certify the whole record. You can also search for individual transaction IDs, and it will take you to the certified copies option for the associated record.

What does a certified copy include?

You can get a certified copy of a single document or all documents in the record. This includes a certificate naming the entity with a full copy of the document(s) and a page count; blank pages are included in the page count. The certificate will contain a confirmation number that can be verified by the receiving party. The certificate should be stapled to the front of the document.

How can I get authenticated certified copies of my business document(s) from the U.S. Department of State?

For certified copies of business records not going to countries that are part of the Hague Apostille Convention, you should send these requests to the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications. They can affirm that any documents signed and sealed by the Secretary of State are authentic. How to have a document authenticated through the U.S. Department of State

The U.S. Department of State will authenticate state records, including Articles of Incorporation and Certificates of Good Standing.