Before You Begin
To make the legalization process as easy as possible, you should ensure the document you wish to be legalized and your application for apostille meet several requirements. The document must be issued by the appropriate office or person and/or be properly notarized. You must also indicate on your application in which foreign country you wish to use the document.
Review your document
The RI Department of State issues apostilles for documents that were issued by a RI official or properly notarized by a RI notary public.
The RI Department of State CANNOT legalize any of the following documents:
- Birth, marriage and death certificates issued by RI cities/towns. Vital records for legalization must be issued by the RI Department of Health’s Center for Vital Records
- Public records issued by another state or country
- Documents that do not contain an original signature from a RI official or notary public (photocopies are not permitted)
- Personal documents that have not been properly notarized by a RI notary public
- Documents issued by any branch or agency of the Federal government (ex., naturalization records, federal background checks)
Before you submit your document, you should ensure it meets the requirements for legalization and was issued by the appropriate office or individual. Find your document in the list below to learn more about what you should look for. If you are unsure if your document is acceptable for legalization, you may send a scanned copy to [email protected] for pre-clearance.
Birth, marriage, and death certificates
All vital records including birth, death, and marriage certificates must be issued by the RI Department of Health’s Center for Vital Records and signed by the State Registrar or Deputy State Registrar. Vital records issued by a city or town CANNOT be apostilled by our office. Our office cannot authenticate the signature of municipal clerks or registrars.
Unacceptable – issued by City/Town
Acceptable – issued by Center for Vital Records
If you have questions or need assistance, contact the Center for Vital Records at 401-222-2811 or [email protected].
Single status certificates
Certificates of single status are used to certify that you are not legally married in RI. To order a certificate of single status, complete the Application for a Certified Single Marital Status Letter issued by the RI Department of Health, Center for Vital Records.
Older birth, marriage, and death certificates
Birth and marriage certificates older than 100 years and death certificates older than 50 years must be issued by the RI State Archives. If you have questions or need assistance, contact the State Archives at 401-222-2353 or [email protected].
Notaries public are not empowered to notarize or copy certify vital records.
Personal documents that may require legalization include powers of attorney, copies of passports, and last wills and testaments. To be considered for legalization, these documents must be properly notarized by a commissioned RI notary public. To locate a RI notary public, use our notary public lookup.
The Bureau of Criminal Identification within the Office of the Attorney General provides certified BCI records for customers’ use within the State of RI or internationally. Our office cannot legalize BCI records without the official seal and signature of the Attorney General's office.
To ensure the record you receive meets the requirements for legalization, you must indicate to the Office of the Attorney General that you are using the document overseas and that it must bear the signature and seal of the Attorney General.
If you have questions or need assistance, contact the Office of the Attorney General at 401-274-4400.
Divorce Decrees and Orders Granting Custody
Divorce decrees, orders granting custody, and other official documents related to family matters must be issued by the RI Family Court Clerk’s Office.
Other Judgments and Orders
Judgments, orders, or other official documents issued by any court in RI must be certified by that court to be legalized. You can request a certified copy of your record from the appropriate court.
Probate Records
Judgments, orders, or other official records must be certified by the probate court in the RI city or town where the probate action was taken.
Notaries public are not empowered to notarize or copy certify court records.
URI, RIC and CCRI
If your document is from URI, RIC or CCRI, you can submit the original signed record issued by the school (not a photocopy) for legalization. The record must be signed by an authorized official and include a school seal. The record does not have to be notarized as we have the registrars’ signatures on file.
All other elementary, middle and high schools and colleges and universities
Records issued by elementary, middle and high schools and colleges and universities must be properly notarized by a RI notary public. This may mean that a notary on staff at the school was present at the time the document was signed by an authorized official or that a notary copy certified the original document later. Notaries public may only copy certify an original document issued by an authorized official of the school.
Here are examples of acceptable educational records submitted for legalization.
Acceptable – notarized by a RI notary public
Acceptable – issued by URI registrar
The RI Department of State does not translate documents. If you are seeking to legalize a translated document, you should be aware of the following:
- The person who translated the document must physically sign the document attesting that they completed an accurate translation.
- A RI notary (not the translator) must properly notarize the translator’s signature. This means the translator must be physically in the presence of the RI notary at the time they sign the document.
- The notarial certificate must be in English.
- The document must bear original signatures of both the translator and notary (printouts and photocopies are not acceptable).