Before we get into eAPP, let us explore what an Apostille in USA is.
Simply put, it is a certificate with a special seal, usually provided at a Secretary of State level, that authenticates the validity of the notarial officer’s commission who notarized the document (s) that will be used OCONUS (Outside the Continental United States).
The electronic Apostille or eAPP was launched in 2006 in order to promote and assist in the implementation of technology under the Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (Apostille Convention). This is a treaty drafted by HCCH; the Hague Conference on Private International Law - Conférence de La Haye de droit international privé. The Hague is a beautiful city located in the Netherlands. I lived in the Hague for a while during my young adult years. The rides on my bike took me to places where I was able to see the Peace Palace and other amazing places.
By the year 2012, the word pilot was removed from the eAPP program. The believe is that by implementing an electronic Apostille, money and time will be saved when compared to the often long and costly legislation process of issuing a single Apostille Certificate.
The first country in the world to implement the eAPP was Colombia (HCCH.net), country where the beautiful and best paid Hispanic actress, Sofia Vergara, is from. if you do not know who Sofia Vergara is, watch an episode of America's Got Talent. She is one of the judges. Then other countries followed.
2007 Colombia
2008 Spain
2009 New Zealand
2013 Republic of Moldova
2015 Austria, Bahrain, Slovenia
2016 Chile
2017 Denmark, Estonia
2018 Belgium
2019 Argentina, Bolivia, Latvia, Türkiye, Venezuela
2020 Bulgaria, Dominican Republic, Georgia, USA/MT
2021 Armenia, Brazil, Guatemala, Israel, Peru, UK
2022 Kazakhstan
27 countries have implemented the eAPP after the Apostille Convention in 2006. There are 195 countries in the world (worldometers.info) from which 124 were contracting parties to the convention mentioned earlier (HCCH.net).
I am impartial in the subject of electronic Apostille at this time even though my company specializes in training Remote Online Notaries, service that has facilitated processes and saved customers thousands of dollars in paper, hours in traffic, and many dollars in fuel for transportation. Moreover, Remote Online Notarizations are done from the safety and comfort of home or office.
Another point worth mentioning here is the existence of electronic registers or eRegisters. The eRegisters are used to verify the validity of an Apostille.
In the United States of America, as of 2022, the State of Montana is the only state that has implemented the eAPP service program.
Well, I can only give you an overview to the world of Apostille. There is a colleague of mine who is an expert in the subject. Her name is Judi Lawrence. If you would like to start an Apostille-related service that will help you and your State, take Judi’s Master course on Apostille.
Here is the link to it.
After registering and taking the course, send me a note.