Apostille Glossary: Terms from Official Sources
Apostille terms explained from official state sources: County Clerk certification, certified copy, State Registrar, notarial certificate, e-Apostille.
The rules for apostilles are written in a vocabulary of their own. A request can come back not because the wrong office was chosen, but because a term on the official page was read too loosely: a photocopy sent where a certified copy was required, a certificate signed by a former registrar, a notarial certificate without the required wording.
How these entries are built
Each entry explains one term and then shows where it appears in the official sources we have verified, with the office and a link to its page. The examples are concrete. New York requires certain certificates to be certified by the County Clerk first. Kentucky and Alabama require the signature of the current State Registrar. New Mexico states that notaries may not make photocopies of birth, death or marriage certificates. Pennsylvania requires the notarial certificate in English. The United Kingdom and New Zealand issue e-Apostilles, alongside paper ones in the UK.
The entries only cover terms that appear in several official sources; a term used by one office is explained on that office's page instead.
The sworn Turkish translation of an apostilled document is made in Ankara, and the Turkish office that receives it decides whether it is accepted.