The fifteen most common reasons
- Wrong office. A federal document sent to a state, or a state document sent to Washington, or a document notarized in one state sent to another. State or federal?
- Incomplete notarial certificate. Missing venue, date, wording, commission expiration or seal. The state verifies each element against the notary’s record.
- Notary not on file or commission expired at the time of the act.
- Copy of a vital record signed by a registrar whose signature is no longer on file. Order a fresh certified copy.
- Hospital or keepsake birth certificate instead of the registrar-issued record.
- Uncertified court document — a plain copy without the clerk’s certification and seal.
- Photocopy of a notarized document. The apostille attaches to the original notarization.
- Laminated documents. Most offices refuse laminated certificates because the seal cannot be verified.
- Missing destination country on the request form, or a country listed as Hague when it is not (or vice versa).
- County certification skipped in states that require it.
- Documents stapled or bound together when each needs its own apostille, or an apostille requested on a multi-document bundle the office treats as several documents.
- Alterations — white-out, handwritten corrections, highlighting or added stamps on the document.
- Wrong fee or payment method — personal checks where only money orders are accepted, wrong amount, expired card.
- No return envelope or an unpaid courier label.
- Federal document that is not the original — e.g. a photocopy of an FBI result or a naturalization certificate.
Mistakes that are not rejections but still cause problems
- Apostilling before the document is final — e.g. a school transcript before graduation, or a divorce decree before it is entered.
- Apostilling too early for a destination with a recency window.
- Translating before apostilling, leaving the apostille untranslated.
- Removing the apostille to photocopy the document, which voids it.
- Multiple apostilles on one document from different offices — unnecessary and confusing to the receiver.
How offices communicate rejections
Most states return the document with a form letter checking the reason; some email first. The fee is usually kept or partially refunded depending on state policy, and resubmission starts a fresh processing clock. The federal office keeps its $20 fee even when it returns a correspondence letter instead of a certificate, and resubmission adds weeks.
Prevention checklist
- Confirm the signer’s office and the correct competent authority.
- Inspect the notarial certificate element by element.
- Order new certified copies if the existing ones are more than a few years old.
- Fill in the destination country exactly as it appears on the office’s list.
- Pay the published fee by an accepted method and include return shipping.
- Keep documents unlaminated, unaltered and separate.
Services that review documents before submission exist precisely to catch these issues. For Florida documents, a Florida apostille service with offices across the state reviews each document before filing; for federal documents, a federal apostille service that files with the U.S. Department of State by mail does the same before submission to the Office of Authentications.
Frequently asked questions
Do I get my fee back if the request is rejected?
It depends on the state. Some retain the fee as a review charge; some refund it. The federal office’s $20 fee is nonrefundable even when a request is returned unprocessed.
My notary forgot the expiration date. Can it be fixed?
Only by the same notary, who may add the missing element and initial it in some states, or by re-notarizing the document. Do not write on the certificate yourself.
Can an office apostille a laminated birth certificate?
Usually not. Order a fresh certified copy from vital records instead.
