Apostille and Authentication of an FBI Identity History Summary

A document issued in one country often has to be authenticated before an authority in another country will accept it. For documents issued by a United States federal agency, that authentication is performed by the U.S. Department of State's Office of Authentications. [1]

Apostille

A certificate issued under the 1961 Hague Convention that authenticates the origin of a public document for use in another Convention party. [3] It certifies the signature and capacity of the official who signed the document — not the truth of its contents.

Legalization

The older, multi-step chain used where the destination is not a party to the Apostille Convention. It typically involves authentication by the issuing country's foreign ministry followed by the destination country's embassy or consulate.

Also called Consular legalization · Embassy legalization

Competent authority

The body a Convention party designates to issue apostilles on its public documents. [3] For U.S. federal documents, that is the Department of State's Office of Authentications. [1]

Federal document

A document issued by an agency of the United States federal government. An FBI Identity History Summary is one; a state-issued birth certificate is not.

The Department of State authenticates documents that bear the signature of a federal official it can verify. [1] Three practical requirements follow.

1. The summary must be one the Department of State can verify as bearing an authorized FBI official's signature.
2. The destination country must be identified on the request, because the destination determines whether an apostille or an authentication certificate for legalization is issued. [4]
3. The applicable per-document fee must be paid to the Department of State. [1]

1. 1

   Step 1: Determine the destination's Convention status

   Check the HCCH status table for the receiving country. [5] This single fact determines the entire downstream path.

   Decision point

2. 2

   Step 2: Obtain the Identity History Summary

   The summary must exist before it can be authenticated. Requesting authentication is a separate submission to a separate agency.

   Prerequisite

3. 3

   Step 3: Submit to the Office of Authentications

   The request identifies the destination country and encloses the fee. [1]

   Department of State

4. 4

   Step 4: Apostille — or continue to legalization

   If the destination is a Convention party, an apostille is issued and the chain ends. If not, the Department of State issues an authentication certificate and the document proceeds to the destination country's embassy or consulate.

   Fork

5. 5

   Step 5: Translation, if required

   Many receiving authorities require a translation prepared by a translator they recognize. Whether the translation must itself be authenticated varies by country.

   Destination-specific

1. 1961-10-05

   The Apostille Convention is concluded

   The Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents replaces the consular legalization chain between parties. [3]

2. 2023-11-07

   The Convention enters into force for China

   Documents moving between the United States and mainland China become eligible for apostille rather than consular legalization. [5]

3. 2024-01-11

   The Convention enters into force for Canada

   Canada's accession takes effect, changing the authentication path for U.S. documents destined for Canada. [5]