State of Illinois Apostille

Do you need an apostille for a document issued in Illinois? Depending on your particular situation, you may use our Illinois apostille services or follow the do-it-yourself guide.

Our apostille services:

Express apostille service obtain an apostille on a scanned photocopy of your document in 1 business day.
Regular apostille service obtain an apostille from the Illinois Secretary of State in Springfield.

Sample of an Illinois apostille

State of Illinois do-it-yourself guide:

Visit in person or mail documents to:

Illinois Secretary of State
Index Department
111 E. Monroe
Springfield, IL 62756
Phone (217) 782–7017

Chicago Office (Walk-in):

Illinois Secretary of State’s
Index Department
17 N. State St. Suite 1030
Chicago, IL 60602
Phone: (312) 814–2067

Price: $2 per apostille (payable to the “Secretary of State”).
Processing time: Same-day counter service or 7–10 business days for mailed orders.
Website: www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/index/apostilles.html
Download: Illinois Order form PDF and Brochure and Illinois Info guide

This is your best option if:

• You are able to travel to Springfield, Illinois to request your apostille in person.
• You are in no rush to obtain your apostille and want to mail your documents to the Secretary of State.
• You live in the United States or have a U.S. mailing address. Secretaries of State typically are not able to mail documents overseas.
• You can send a U.S. check or money order to pay the Secretary of State fees. Secretaries of State require payment in U.S. dollars.
• You are not interested in our free apostille translation service.

Guidelines for Illinois documents

The Illinois Secretary of State,Jesse White, with the assistance of the Index Department in Springfield and Chicago, issues Apostilles (for foreign use) on documents issued in the state of Illinois for documents signed and certified by a local/state registrar, notary public or circuit or county clerk.

Considerations for authenticating vital records:
For Illinois issued birth, death and marriage certificates first get a certified copy issued by the local registrar at the Illinois Department of Public Health or certified by the county clerk. A marriage license should be a certified copy from the county clerk only.

If you need to obtain a new copy of your vital record from Illinois prior to obtaining the apostille visit, www.vitalchek.com to order these if you need to order a copy.

Considerations for authenticating divorce documents:
The clerk of the Circuit Court should certify divorce documents in order to be acceptable for apostille with the Great Seal of the State of Illinois.

Considerations for authenticating School records:
Diplomas and transcripts issued by the University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Northern Illinois University, DePaul University, Illinois Institute of Technology and Loyola University Chicago among others must be official transcripts issued by the school registrar’s office, signed by a school official and must be properly notarized, signed, have an affixed rubber stamp seal and include an acknowledgement statement.

In most cases you should submit a written request to the school to issue a new copy of the diploma because it typically gets damaged during the Apostille process and will not be suitable for framing it again as it will show ink and stamp marks.

Considerations for authenticating corporate business documents:
Business documents such as certificates of merger, registration of trademarks, articles of incorporation among others and business organization documents in file at the Illinois SOS can be apostilled as long as they are notarized.

Considerations for authenticating personal private documents:
Documents such as adoption dossiers, deeds, criminal background checks by police and powers of attorney among others must be notarized as true and accurate copies.