Take the public document to a Notary Public in Tennessee and have it notarized.

View a list of accepted documents for Appostille or Authentication
 

Take the notarized document to the County Clerk of the County where the Notary Public was commissioned and have the Notary Public’s signature certified by the County Clerk.


 

Complete the Apostille or Authentication Request Form (ss-4504)

If you are unsure which type of document certification you need, please contact the Consulate of the receiving country or contact the United States Department of State Authentication Office. 

Download the Apostille or Authentication Form

Submit the request form, the public document, the county of certification and payment of the processing fee to the address listed below:

Office of Authentications Tennessee Secretary of State
Business Services Division
ATTN: ATS Section
312 Rosa L. Parks Ave – 6th Floor
Nashville, TN 37243

Fed Ex/UPS: If you wish to have your documents returned via express mail service, please enclose a prepaid return shipping label with your name as both the sender and the recipient. We cannot use a label showing the Tennessee Secretary of State as the sender as this causes billing problems with the express services. Documents received without the proper shipping label will be processed and returned via regular mail.

Customers may obtain Apostille or Authentication services in person during regular business hours which are Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. until 4:15 p.m. Central Time, with the exception of state holidays at our customer service desk at 312 Rosa L. Parks Ave – 3rd Floor, Nashville, TN 37243.  You must arrive at our office by 2:00 p.m. in order to receive same-day service.

 

The Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office will provide to the customer the executed Apostille or Authentication attached to the public document.

In the case of an executed Authentication, the customer must then obtain certification of the Tennessee Secretary of State’s signature by contacting the United States Department of State by mail at:

Office of Authentications
U.S. Department of State
CA/PPT/S/TP/AUT
1st Floor
1150 Passport Services PL
Dulles, VA 20189-1150
Telephone (202) 485-8000 Toll Free (800) 688-9889