For Countries Not on the Above List
If the country you need is not on the above list, it is not a party to the 1961 Hague Convention, and an apostille cannot be issued. However, a "Notarial Certification" can be issued instead.
Formally named “Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents,” the Hague Convention of 1961 established a way for nations to authenticate public documents without having to enact legislation. In short, public legal documents must be notarized in order to be accepted by international bodies. The procedure usually takes a long time, so for that reason, the Hague Apostille was introduced to speed up and simplify the legalization and acceptance of international documents, which is especially helpful for international business and trade.
If the country you need is not on the list, the Florida Secretary of State cannot issue an apostille. Instead, they will issue a document called a, "Notarial Certificaiton." - Typically documents "certified" for non-Hague countries will require the additional step of being authenticated through the U.S. Department of State in Washington DC. The catch here is that the U.S. Department of State does not accept documents for authenticaiton that have been signed via remote online notarization (RON). If your document were notarized by a traditional in-person notary, they can be sent for US DOS authentication. This process is taking between 4-6 months with no way to expedite it.
You should consider the above before proceeding. Questions? Please call John Bayne at 386-218-2523.