An apostille is a certificate attached to a public document so that another country in the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention will accept it. It confirms only the signature and seal already on the document: a Texas notary's commission, a county clerk's certification, a state registrar's signature. For documents issued or notarized in Texas, only the Texas Secretary of State issues apostilles, through its Authentications Unit in Austin, at $15 per document. Federal documents, such as an FBI background check, go to the U.S. Department of State instead. No notary in El Paso issues apostilles; QWIK Mobile Notary gets your document eligible and carries it through that process for you.
A document becomes eligible in one of two ways. Documents that a person signs — a power of attorney, an affidavit, a consent letter — are notarized first by a Texas notary, and the Secretary of State certifies the notary's signature and seal. Public records such as birth, marriage and death certificates, divorce decrees and corporate filings are never notarized. You order a certified copy from the issuing office (Texas DSHS Vital Statistics, the El Paso County Clerk, the District Clerk), and the Secretary of State certifies that official's signature. A Texas notary cannot certify a copy of a birth certificate; a notarized photocopy of one is rejected in Austin.
How the mobile visit works in El Paso: you text or call (915) 302-0902 with the document and destination country. We quote the package: our service fee, the $15 Secretary of State fee per document and shipping. Then we come to your home, office or hospital room, notarize the document if it needs it, confirm it is eligible, complete the request form, prepare the payment and send the package to Austin with tracking. When the apostille comes back, we return the document to you. Mail-in requests typically take two to four weeks; expedited options are quoted. Evenings and weekends are available by appointment, in English or Spanish.
What we handle
- Powers of attorney (carta poder) for property, banking or inheritance matters in Mexico
- Texas birth, marriage and death certificates (certified copies from DSHS or the El Paso County Clerk)
- Divorce decrees certified by the District Clerk
- Diplomas and transcripts from UTEP, EPCC and El Paso high schools
- Single status affidavits (constancia de soltería) to marry abroad
- International adoption dossiers and home-study affidavits
- Corporate documents: certificates of formation, bylaws, resolutions
- Notarized affidavits, sworn statements and consent letters
- Translator's sworn statements (affidavit of translation accuracy)
- FBI Identity History Summary and other federal documents (U.S. Department of State path)
- Texas DPS background checks and other Texas state agency documents
Hague countries, non-Hague countries and federal documents
Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, most of Europe and well over a hundred other countries are parties to the Apostille Convention, so a single Texas apostille is all the receiving office needs; there is no consular legalization step. For a destination that has not joined the Convention, the Secretary of State issues a certificate of authentication instead, and the document then goes to that country's embassy or consulate for legalization. We handle the Secretary of State step, tell you which certificate to request and follow the recipient's written instructions for what comes next. We do not give legal advice about foreign requirements; the receiving office decides what it will accept.
Documents issued by a federal agency — an FBI Identity History Summary, a Certificate of Naturalization, a federal court record, an IRS letter — cannot be apostilled by Texas. They go to the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications, a mail-in process that takes several weeks. Certificates of Naturalization and Citizenship are generally not eligible at all, and we confirm that before you pay anything. State-level background checks from the Texas Department of Public Safety, by contrast, are Texas documents and go through the Secretary of State in Austin like everything else on this page.
Why El Paso sends so many documents to Austin
El Paso sits across the river from Ciudad Juárez, and most of the apostille requests we see are bound for Mexico: a carta poder so a relative can sell the family house in Juárez or a lot in Chihuahua, a Texas birth certificate so a child born at UMC or Providence can be registered at the Registro Civil for dual nationality, a UTEP diploma for a cédula profesional or a job in Monterrey, a single status affidavit for a wedding in Chihuahua. Fort Bliss families bound for Germany, Italy or Korea need marriage and birth certificates recognized abroad, and adopting families need whole dossiers.
The Secretary of State is more than 500 miles away, so the practical problem is logistics: getting an eligible, correctly notarized document to Austin and back without a wasted trip or a rejected request. That is the service. Your notary comes to you anywhere in El Paso County — the Westside, the Northeast, the Lower Valley, Horizon City, Socorro, Fort Bliss — with statutory notarial fees, a nominal $39 travel fee and a quoted package price for the Secretary of State handling. Texas only: we cannot notarize in Sunland Park, Santa Teresa or Las Cruces, and New Mexico records are apostilled by New Mexico.
What gets an apostille request rejected
The Authentications Unit returns requests it cannot process, and the fee and weeks are lost. The usual causes: a notarial certificate missing the venue, date, signature or seal; an expired notary commission; a notarized photocopy of a birth, marriage or death certificate; a vital record that is not a certified copy; the wrong destination country on the request; an affidavit signed before the notary arrived; and documents from another state or from Mexico, which Texas cannot certify. We check all of this before the package leaves El Paso. Once the apostille is attached, never remove staples or separate the pages; receiving offices refuse documents that look altered.
What to bring
- Unexpired government-issued photo ID for every person signing a document that must be notarized
- The complete document, unsigned if it needs a sworn statement (jurat) — you sign in front of the notary
- For vital records: a certified copy from Texas DSHS or the El Paso County Clerk, not a photocopy
- The destination country and any written instructions from the receiving office
- The name and address where the finished document should be delivered
- Payment for the quoted package: our fee, $15 per document for the Secretary of State, and shipping
How a mobile appointment works
Text or call to book
Text or call (915) 302-0902 with the document type and destination country. We confirm whether your document takes the notarized path or the certified-record path and quote the full package before anything is signed or shipped.
We come to you
Your notary meets you anywhere in El Paso County — home, office, hospital or a coffee shop — checks your ID, notarizes if the document requires it, reviews eligibility and completes the Secretary of State request form and payment.
Shipped, tracked, returned
We send the package to the Authentications Unit in Austin with tracking, follow up on its status and return the apostilled document to you or ship it to the recipient. Keep the apostille attached exactly as issued.