Think of an apostille as an "international notarization".  Many notarizations are valid only within the country where the notarization is performed.  A document notarized in the U.S. may  be valid only within the U.S.  A document notarized in Mexico may be valid only within Mexico. And so on...

But let's say a document must be notarized in the U.S., then sent to an official in Mexico. Because the document is crossing international boundaries, the Mexican authority might not accept the U.S. notarization as valid.  An additional step may be required to authenticate that the  notarization is legitimate.  The solution is usually an apostille, and here's how it's done:

First, the document is notarized by a notary public.  Second, the notary's signature is verified  by the Clerk-Recorder's office in the county where the notary is commissioned.  Third, the Secretary of State's office performs the apostille.

A few other things you should know:  The apostille process can be somewhat expensive and time-consuming, and must be followed precisely.  In addition to notary fees, the Clerk-Recorder charges $5 for each verification, and the Secretary of State charges $20 for each apostille, plus a $6 handling fee.  After being notarized, the documents are hand-delivered to the Clerk-Recorder, where the verifications can typically be done within about fifteen to thirty minutes.  They are then either mailed to the Secretary of State (with a turnaround time of approximately two weeks), or hand-delivered to the Secretary of State, in which case the apostille is done while you wait, usually within around one to two hours.  You can do all this yourself, or, if you wish, the notary can handle the entire process for you at an additional charge. Our Fee to complete the whole transaction is $149(including travel fees), but if you call right now-WE WILL REDUCE OUR PRICE TO $99 (including travel fees) and we will hand deliver it to you within 24 hours ( Monday-Friday only)