We often receive questions about whether apostilles expire after a certain amount of time. We thought it would be beneficial to first explain what an apostille means before defining expiration requirements. Apostille means to certify or authenticate a document. It aims to simplify the legalization of documents to verify their authenticity in order to be valid internationally.
If you have questions around what type of apostille you need, please check out our blog.
The short answer to the question “does an apostille expire?” is no. An apostille does not have an expiration date. However, there are some additional details you must know about this question. Please keep in mind, in order to follow these guidelines, the countries you are using your apostille for must be part of the Hague Apostille Convention. The countries part of the Hague Apostille Convention may request your documents be recently issued with an apostille. For example, they may request it was issued in the past 30 to 90 days which is why you need more detail even though technically an apostille does not expire.
Our best advice is to make sure you are always checking with the country that is requesting these documents and their apostille process. It is important you know exactly how recent that country requires the apostille to have been issued. Make sure to do this before you mail your documents in to be processed. We often hear that background checks have the most restrictions when it comes to how recent the apostille service has been completed.
Also, please keep in mind that some states also have restrictions around this in addition to countries having guidelines around this. It is important that you recognize all these limitations when thinking through the apostille service.
Washington Express Visas is here for all your apostille service needs. We would love to help you through this process! Reach out to us today at 202-393-3030.
