How to Get an Apostille in North Carolina: Fees and Timeline
You get a North Carolina apostille from the North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State, Authentications Division, at 2 South Salisbury Street in Raleigh. The fee is $10.00 per document, in U.S. currency. Hand-delivered documents are processed while you wait, with no appointment needed, and mailed-in documents generally take five business days longer than hand-delivered ones.
A notary commission is not one business. It’s five.
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An apostille is a certificate a state office attaches to a document so another country will accept it. It exists under the Hague Apostille Convention, a treaty whose member countries agreed to accept each other’s certified documents. Countries outside the treaty need a different certificate, called an authentication, and that process runs through the U.S. Department of State. If the apostille concept is new to you, our apostille explainer for signing agents covers what the certificate does and who asks for one.
The Office and the Fee
The Authentication Office sits inside the North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State. Its public counter is at 2 South Salisbury Street, Raleigh, NC 27601, open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Mail goes to PO Box 29622, Raleigh, NC 27626-0622.
Every apostille costs $10.00 per document. One exception lowers the price: for adoption cases, a duplicate original of the same document costs $5.00 when you request it at the same time as the first. There is no published expedited service. Hand delivery is the fast path, and the office processes walk-in documents during the same visit.
A request needs four things: a cover letter, the original documents, a check or money order payable to “North Carolina Secretary of State,” and a prepaid return envelope or courier label. The return envelope is required, not optional, so include it the first time.
How Long It Takes
The office publishes its guidance as a comparison rather than a fixed number. Mailed-in documents generally take five business days longer than hand-delivered documents. Hand-delivered documents are finished the same trip. The office also posts a rolling current turnaround note on its front page, so check it before you promise anyone a date.
There is no published expedited fee. If a deadline is close, the walk-in counter is the only fast route the state offers.
Which Documents Qualify
North Carolina authenticates signatures it can verify: North Carolina notaries and North Carolina officials. Some document types skip notarization entirely. Documents from a Register of Deeds, a Clerk of Superior Court, the Department of Health and Human Services and NC Vital Records, the Department of Agriculture, the Attorney General’s Office, and Legislative Services go straight to the state. DMV documents qualify only from the Raleigh DMV office.
School records carry a trap. Transcripts and diplomas must be notarized by a North Carolina notary. A school seal alone, or a school official’s signature with no notarization, is not acceptable. If you need a copy of a document apostilled, the copy needs a notarized “true copy” affidavit rather than a plain photocopy.
State agency documents must be certified, and that rule applies to anything issued since April 1, 2000. North Carolina publishes no document age limit beyond that certification rule.
Federal Documents and Countries Outside the Treaty
An apostille from North Carolina works in treaty countries with no further steps. If the destination country is outside the treaty, the document needs further authentication from the U.S. Department of State after the state certificate. Federal documents, including FBI background checks, never go through any state office. They go to the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications in every state, North Carolina included.
North Carolina Apostille Quick Facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Issuing office | NC Department of the Secretary of State, Authentications Division |
| Fee | $10.00 per document; $5.00 for an adoption duplicate original requested at the same time |
| In person | 2 South Salisbury Street, Raleigh; Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. |
| Appointment | None needed |
| PO Box 29622, Raleigh, NC 27626-0622; generally five business days slower than walk-in | |
| Expedited service | None published |
FAQ
Can I walk in without an appointment?
Yes. The Authentication Office takes walk-ins during business hours, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and processes hand-delivered documents during the same visit.
How much does a North Carolina apostille cost?
$10.00 per document, payable by check or money order to “North Carolina Secretary of State.” An adoption duplicate original requested at the same time costs $5.00.
How long does it take?
Hand-delivered documents are processed the same trip. Mailed-in documents generally take five business days longer than hand-delivered ones. The office posts its current turnaround on its front page.
Does North Carolina apostille an FBI background check?
No. FBI background checks are federal documents, and no state office can apostille them. They go to the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications.
Does North Carolina apostille school transcripts?
Yes, but only if a North Carolina notary notarizes the transcript or diploma first. A school seal by itself is not acceptable.
When Someone Else Should Handle It
The expensive part of an apostille is rarely the fee. It is the round trip. A transcript notarized in the wrong state, a missing prepaid return envelope, a cover letter left out, a document headed to a non-treaty country with only half the chain done. Each mistake means the package comes back, gets fixed, and ships again, while the deadline in the other country stays where it was.
Apostille work is mostly catching those mistakes in advance. Someone who does this regularly knows which signatures the Raleigh office can verify and which documents need a notary before they need anything from the state. Our apostille training covers the process from intake to delivery, for one document or as a service you offer clients. If you are building the underlying skill, the North Carolina notary guide is where that commission starts.
