Apostille Houston: Mobile Apostille Service Across Houston
We meet you anywhere in Houston and hand-file your documents in person in Austin.
✓ Rush: 1–3 business days
✓ Standard: about a week
What Is an Apostille?
By Albert Lee, commissioned Texas notary public and apostille agent · Updated October 2026
Here’s what surprises most people looking for an apostille in Houston: there’s no apostille office in Houston. Every Texas apostille comes from the Texas Secretary of State’s Authentications Unit in Austin. So you can mail your documents and wait about two weeks, drive three hours each way, or have someone do it for you. That’s us. We meet you anywhere in Houston, notarize the document if it needs it, hand-file it in Austin and bring it back.
An apostille is a certificate from the Texas Secretary of State confirming that the signature and seal on a Texas document are real, so a foreign government will accept it. Texas issues one universal apostille for every country. Countries outside the Hague Apostille Convention also need a U.S. Department of State authentication and embassy legalization.
Need a Texas vital record apostilled here in Houston? Our guides cover apostilling a Texas birth certificate and apostilling a Texas marriage certificate, and we can meet you at home or the office to notarize first.
Watch Our Introduction Video
Watch our instructional video about apostilles and the work that goes into getting them to the Secretary of State.
How to Get an Apostille in Houston
- Find out who issued your document. Houston birth and death certificates come from the City of Houston Bureau of Vital Statistics or Texas Vital Statistics. Marriage licenses come from the Harris County Clerk, and divorce decrees from the Harris County District Clerk.
- Make sure certified copies are recent. The Secretary of State only apostilles certified records issued within the past five years.
- Get private documents notarized by a Texas notary. That covers powers of attorney, affidavits, consent letters and diploma copies.
- Text us a photo and tell us the destination country and your deadline.
- We meet you in Houston, pick up the original and hand-file it with the Secretary of State in Austin.
- You get it back by hand delivery or shipping, or we send it straight to whoever asked for it.
Why Use Our Service?
Fast
Rush apostilles in 1–3 business days. Standard service in about a week.
Convenient
We meet you anywhere in Houston, or you mail us the document.
Handled With Care
We hand-file every document in person in Austin. It never sits in a mail pile.
Why Clients Use Us
Notary and Apostille Agent
If a notarization is the problem, we fix it and file the same document. No one else touches it in between.
We Check Before We File
A wrong notarial certificate or an old certified copy is the most common reason the state rejects a document. We catch it first.
Local to West Houston
We're based in Katy and cover Houston by appointment. Text us a photo and we'll tell you what your document needs.
How Our Houston Apostille Service Works
Review
Call or text a photo of your document. We check who issued it, when, and which country it’s going to, so you know it’s ready before you hand anything over.
Meet
We meet you at your home, office or a spot that works for you anywhere in Houston, or you mail us the original. If it needs a notary, we notarize it on the spot.
File
We prepare the request form and hand-file your document in person at the Secretary of State’s Authentications Unit in Austin.
Return
We hand-deliver your apostilled document or ship it to you, or straight to the embassy, school or agency that asked for it.
Recordable vs. Non-Recordable Documents
The Secretary of State sorts every document into one of two groups, and the group decides what you need.
Recordable documents are public records: birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, divorce decrees and court records. For Houston these come from the City of Houston Bureau of Vital Statistics, the Harris County Clerk or the Harris County District Clerk. You need the original or a certified copy issued within the past five years. A notary can’t fix an old or uncertified copy.
Non-recordable documents are private papers like powers of attorney, affidavits, contracts, diplomas and transcripts. These get apostilled through a Texas notarization, which we can do when we meet you. More detail on our Texas apostille page.
Documents We Apostille Most Often
Travel Consent
Consent letters for a child traveling abroad with one parent
Vital Records
Birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates
Power of Attorney
Powers of attorney and affidavits for property, banking or family matters abroad
Adoption Papers
Adoption paperwork, filed with the state’s adoption request form
School Records
Diplomas and transcripts for teaching, studying or working overseas
Business Documents
Contracts, company records and employment letters
Can I Walk In to Get an Apostille in Houston?
Not in Houston. The Secretary of State takes walk-ins only at its Austin office, on Mondays and Fridays, with a 10-document limit and waits that can run over an hour. Tuesday through Thursday is by appointment.
The state did hold a one-day, appointment-only apostille pop-up in Houston on August 26, 2026, the first time it offered apostilles outside Austin. Keep an eye on the Secretary of State’s site for future pop-ups. Otherwise, your options are the drive, the mail, or an apostille agent who hand-files for you.
Can a Notary Do an Apostille in Houston?
No. Only the Texas Secretary of State can issue an apostille. What a notary does is notarize your document correctly so the state accepts it. We handle both parts: the notarization and the in-person filing in Austin.
Be careful with anyone advertising as a “notario público.” In Texas that title is a red flag, and the state rejects documents where a notary acted outside their authority. See who issues apostilles in Texas.
Our Apostille Blog Posts
Texas Secretary of State Apostille Walk-In: Days, Hours and Tips
Texas Secretary of State apostille walk-ins are Monday and Friday only. Here’s how appointments, the ten-document limit, payment and parking work at the Austin office.
How to Apostille a Texas Marriage Certificate
How to get a Texas apostille on a marriage certificate: which county record the Secretary of State accepts, the five-year rule, translations, and marriages from outside Texas.
How to Apostille a Power of Attorney in Texas (for Use Abroad)
How to get a Texas apostille on a power of attorney for use abroad: what the Secretary of State checks, what gets rejected, translation and online-notarization notes.
Can an Online Notarized Document Be Apostilled?
This question combines two of our favorite services, so I get it a lot. Someone needs a power of attorney
How to Apostille a Diploma or Transcript in Texas
If you’re planning to teach English overseas, go to grad school abroad, or get a work visa, you’re probably going
Apostille vs Authentication: What If Your Country Isn’t in the Hague Convention?
A lot of people call asking for an apostille when what they actually need is an authentication. They sound the
Get a quote for your Houston apostille
Answer a few questions about your document and destination country. We check it will be accepted, then send one all-in price.
FAQ
No, not one that issues apostilles. All Texas apostilles come out of one office in Austin: the Secretary of State’s Authentications Unit on West 15th Street. Most people in Houston either mail their documents there or make the roughly three-hour drive each way. We handle that trip for you and return the apostilled document to your home or office.
Yes. You need a certified copy issued within the past five years from the City of Houston Bureau of Vital Statistics or Texas Vital Statistics. Here’s how to apostille a Texas birth certificate.
Rush service is 1–3 business days. Standard service is about one week. Mailing it to the state yourself takes about two weeks plus mail time.
Yes. We meet clients across Houston by appointment, or you can mail us your document.
You’ll need an authentication path instead: the Texas apostille, then the U.S. Department of State, then the embassy or consulate. Here’s apostille vs. authentication.
The document (or a photo of it), the country it’s going to and your deadline. If it needs notarizing, bring a valid driver’s license, state ID or U.S. passport.
For recorded documents such as a marriage record or court record, yes. The Secretary of State apostilles certified copies signed by the official who issued them, such as the Harris County Clerk or District Clerk. A plain photocopy of a public record can’t be apostilled. We’ll tell you which office to request it from.
All of them, including River Oaks, the Heights, Galleria/Uptown, Tanglewood, West University Place, Bellaire, the Memorial Villages, the Energy Corridor and the Texas Medical Center. We meet you at your home, office or a public spot, then handle the Secretary of State filing.
Not in Houston itself. Same-day service is only available at the Austin office, which takes walk-ins on Mondays and Fridays and limits each visit to 10 documents. If you can’t spend the day in Austin, our rush service is the quickest option: we pick up in Houston, and most documents are back in 1–3 business days.
Our team
Albert Lee
Owner/founder
Mobile and online notary commissioned for the state of Texas. Owner and creator of Lee’s Mobile and Online Notary. Apostille Agent
Aimani Lawless
Co-Owner/Lead designer
Texas notary public, specializes in title packages and real estate documents via RON. Design lead.
How Long Does an Apostille Take from Houston?
Rush service takes 1–3 business days. Standard service takes about one week, including the trip to Austin. If you mail documents to the Secretary of State yourself, plan on up to two weeks of processing plus mailing time each way. Ordering a new certified copy first can add a day or two. Full breakdown: how long an apostille takes in Texas.
Tell us your deadline when you call, and we’ll work backward from it.
Apostille Service Across Houston Neighborhoods
Several Houston neighborhoods have their own pages: River Oaks, Tanglewood, Galleria/Uptown, Houston Heights, West University Place, Bellaire and Memorial Villages. Outside the city we cover Sugar Land and Fulshear. For everything about Texas apostilles in one place, see our Apostille Texas page.
Need a notary without the apostille? Try our online notary service.
Ready to get your apostille? Call or text 832-741-3190. Tell us the document, the country and your deadline.
Apostille Services Across Houston & Harris County
We pick up and deliver apostille documents in every corner of Houston and the greater Harris County area, so you never have to make the trip to the Texas Secretary of State in Austin yourself.
Houston neighborhoods: Downtown, Midtown, Montrose, The Heights, River Oaks, Galleria/Uptown, Memorial, Energy Corridor, Westchase, the Texas Medical Center and EaDo.
Nearby communities: Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland, Pasadena, Spring, Cypress and Bellaire.
ZIP codes we serve: 77002, 77006, 77007, 77008, 77019, 77024, 77027, 77056, 77057, 77077, 77098 and the rest of Houston’s 770xx ZIP codes.
Harris County records: Marriage licenses, birth records and other documents filed locally must be certified copies from the issuing office (such as the Harris County Clerk in downtown Houston) before they can be apostilled. We’ll help you get the right certified copy so your document isn’t rejected.
Ready to start? Fill out our apostille intake form and we’ll contact you with next steps.
Serving Houston
We offer apostille services to the Houston area.