Texas
Secretary of State
COVID-19 Status

Texas Secretary of State Seal

Texas
Secretary of State
COVID-19 Status

Apostille Texas is open and still able to provide you or your company same day expedited Texas apostille documents services and Texas authentication document services on any type of legal documents.

On March 18, 2020 the Texas Secretary of State officially closed down their office building to the general public because of the coronavirus.

From March 26th-April 7th, 2020 the Texas Secretary of State office shut down completely and our company (or any Texas apostille company for that matter) was not allowed to rush file documents on our customers behalf during that twelve day lockdown. 

Texas Secretary Of State Shutdown To Public

(Screenshot from TXSOS website)

Please be aware that it’s our belief that the Texas Secretary of State will continue to shut down without warnings in the future (they shut down for 3 1/2 business days without notice in June 2020 and 6 business days in February 2021) based on future COVID lock down measures, severe winter weather, or more widespread rioting and looting.

With this information in mind please take the appropriate actions and immediate steps to mail or drop off your legal documents to us so we can rush apostille or authenticate them while we still can. Because of how unstable and unpredictable everything is with both the Texas Secretary of State and United States Department of State offices.

Also, use FedEx or UPS and NEVER the United States Postal Service to mail your important time sensitive one of kind documents to us or the prepaid return shipping label we require from you. USPS is losing (possibly your documents) and delaying shipments constantly.

United States
Department of State
COVID-19 Status

United States Department of State Seal

United States
Department of State
COVID-19 Status

On March 20th, 2020 the United States Department of State Office of Authentications in Washington, D.C. shut down their offices and walk in counter service to the general public as well as to all federal apostille agents like Apostille Texas.

This meant our (any apostille or courier company) standard expedited rush federal apostille certificate and federal authentication certificate service turnaround times could no longer be offered by any company or person in the world at that time.

Office of Authentications Delays

(Screenshot from USDOS website)         

 

It was taking from 3-4 weeks (fastest) to 13-14 weeks (slowest) time between 2020-2024 for the U.S State Department to process and issue federal apostilles and federal authentication certificates on documents once they were submitted to their office in Washington, DC in the post-COVID world. 

The United States Department of State announced that beginning October 1st, 2024 they will finally (thank the apostille gods) reopen their doors for rush walk-in services after being closed to the public for over 4 1/2 years!

The new U.S Department of State three rules start October 1st, 2024 will be as follows:

  1. Each apostille services company or apostille agent will only be able to submit 15 documents per day.
  2. The USDOS working days are now reduced to being open from Monday through Thursday excluding all federal holidays.
  3. Apostilled or authenticated issued documents can be picked up 7-9 business days after they have been hand-submitted to the U.S Department of State.

The U.S Department of States does not give us or anyone updates of any kind so we cannot give you any type of order status updates once you place your order with us (welcome to the completely broken federal government system since COVID).

Only on the day the State Department finally issues a federal apostille certificate or authentication certificate on your documents will they notify us and then we will notify you by email. 

U.S Foreign Embassies
COVID-19 Status

United States of America Embassy Seal

U.S Foreign Embassies
COVID-19 Status

Most U.S foreign embassies and consulate offices located in Washington, D.C. have closed their buildings to the general public.

The vast majority of Washington DC foreign embassy and consular offices have also implemented reduced hours and days that they’re open to receive phone calls and emails.

Foreign embassy’s located in Washington D.C. are still allowing Apostille Texas to provide rush walk in services and hand file documents on our customers behalf to receive expedited document legalizations and document attestations certifications.

Please let us know what country you need legalization of documents and attestation of documents for and we’ll let you know the current U.S foreign embassy status for that country.

Right now everything is day to day since both the US Department of State (USDOS) and Texas Secretary of State (TXSOS) buildings have already been closed down completely to the general public.

We know how important getting personal, business, and corporation documents apostilled, authenticated, attested, and legalized are to our international clientele.

Please know Apostille Texas is doing everything we can to continue to guide and help people and companies during these trying times that we are all experiencing. 

Thanks and stay safe.