Official links
Every official link you might need — California Secretary of State, apostille, county recorders, and consulate services.
Everything here goes to a government or official source. Better to send you to the real thing than to paraphrase it.
Useful today, whether or not you wait for us to open.
California Secretary of State — notariesLink to this section
The office that commissions and regulates every notary in California.
- Notary Public home
- Notary Public FAQs — the state's own answers
- Notary Public Handbook — the full rulebook, free PDF. The actual law every California notary follows.
- Forms and fees — official acknowledgment and jurat forms
- Notary public listing — check any notary is real and current
- File a complaint
- Customer alerts — including the state's warning about invalid webcam notarizations
- Become a notary
- Contact the Notary Public Section
ApostilleLink to this section
An apostille is issued only by the California Secretary of State — not by a notary. Get your document notarized first, then submit it to the state yourself.
- Request an apostille — official instructions, addresses, fees
- Apostille FAQs
- Current processing times — check before posting anything
- Verify an apostille
By mail (USPS): Notary Public Section, P.O. Box 942877, Sacramento, CA 94277-0001 By courier (FedEx/UPS/DHL): Notary Public Section, 1500 11th Street, 2nd Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814 In person, same day: Sacramento — 1500 11th Street, 3rd Floor · Los Angeles — 300 South Spring Street, Room 12513
Addresses and procedures change — confirm on the official page before travelling or mailing anything.
County offices — certified copies and recordingLink to this section
A notary cannot certify a copy of a birth, death or marriage certificate. These offices can.
Alameda County — Pleasanton, Dublin, LivermoreLink to this section
- Alameda County Clerk-Recorder — vital records, marriage licences, deed recording
- Order online and collect at their Dublin office, not just Oakland
Contra Costa County — San Ramon, DanvilleLink to this section
- Contra Costa vital records
- Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder — marriage licences, recording
StatewideLink to this section
- California Department of Public Health, Vital Records
Consular servicesLink to this section
IndiaLink to this section
- Consulate General of India, San Francisco — covers California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Hawaii and Guam
- Attestation of documents — official guidance on notarization and apostille
- Passport-related services
- Passport FAQs
- VFS Global — Indian consular services — where passport, OCI and attestation applications are submitted
Notary help for India documents →
Other countriesLink to this section
Every consulate has its own rules and they change. Search for your country's consulate in San Francisco and check directly.
FederalLink to this section
- US Department of State — Office of Authentications — for federal documents such as FBI background checks, which California cannot apostille
LocalLink to this section
Government sites move pages. If a link here is broken, say so and it will be fixed. This page is checked every three months.