Apostille and Certification Services through the Office of the Iowa Secretary of State

Apostilles and Certificates are authentications that will certify and confirm that the notary or elected official who signed a document in Iowa was able to do so at the time of signing (i.e. that they were commissioned or actively serving on that date).

As of 2025, Iowa has moved to a Single Certificate format. This means our office will certify the origin of public documents destined for any country, regardless of whether that country is a member of the Hague apostille convention or not. There is an indicator at the bottom of the document that will clarify to a receiving country that the issuance of the certificate does not necessarily make it an "apostille" and can be used in countries that are not members of the Hague convention.

PLEASE NOTE The Single Certificate format is different than what was issued in the past. This new format has required language on it that expands the length of the document and restricts it from being issued on our gold seal paper any longer. The paper you received from our office is the legitimate certification even though it is not on the certificate paper. If the receiving country is questioning the validity of the apostille/certification, they are welcome to call our office, and we can look up the certification number in our system.

How to Request a Certificate

To request a certificate to accompany your document out of the country, you will fill out the Apostille or Certificate Request Form and provide us with a copy of your document.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Unless a prepaid shipping label is provided to us, we will be sending the document(s) and certificate out via USPS. If you would like faster shipping, please have that label provided with your request.

We provide same-day walk in service from 8:00AM-3:30PM, Monday through Friday* or you can provide the required information using one of the following methods:

Mail

You can mail in the request form and a copy of your document to our office at

Iowa Secretary of State
321 E 12th Street
Lucas Building, First Floor
Des Moines, IA 50319

PLEASE NOTE: If you are mailing documents, it is strongly recommended that you make a copy of the document and send us the copy you made while you hold onto the original. If the apostille were to get lost in the mail, it would be much easier to provide a replacement certificate rather than you try to obtain a new document.

Upload

You can use our document Fast Track Filing System to submit your request electronically. You will need to login to your account and under the Business Filings tab, you can select Paper Filing Upload. You will need to have your request form as well as all documents scanned into a 1 multi-page PDF. By using this portal, you will receive a tracking number that will confirm our office has received the document and will be reviewed and issued in date order. We will mail the certificate back to you when completed.

*Excluding observed holidays