The Official Web Site of the State of South Carolina

Did you know that as of January 1, 2024, the Corporate Transparency Act enacted by Congress requires many companies to report beneficial ownership information to the US Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)? Beneficial ownership information (BOI), as defined by FinCEN, is identifying information about the individuals who directly or indirectly own or control a company. Please review the BOI links on our website to see if you are required to report to FinCEN.

Mark Hammond

Apostilles

An Apostille or authentication is a state certification of the signature of an official who has signed a public document. Therefore, the public document must be signed by an elected or appointed official or an authorized staff member whose signature is filed with the Office of the Secretary of State. Additionally, documents that have been notarized by a commissioned South Carolina Notary Public may be certified with an Apostille or authentication.

Submit the following information to the Secretary of State’s Office for an apostille:

  1. South Carolina Authentication Cover Letter (PDF)
  2. Self-addressed stamped return envelope;
  3. Personal or company check or money order made payable to the Secretary of State’s Office or cash in the amount of $5.00 for each document; and
  4. Documents to be authenticated.

Documents should be mailed to or sent by UPS/FedEx or hand-delivered (between the hours of 8:30 am and 4:30 pm) to:

SC Secretary of State's Office
Attn: Authentications
1205 Pendleton Street, Suite 525
Columbia, SC 29201

Apostille Notes

  • Be sure to check your documents for correctness before calling, and also check again for correctness before leaving the Secretary of State’s Office.
  • Documents that appear to be contrary to state or federal law, interest or policy will not be certified. 
  • Only documents that will be sent to a foreign country can receive certification. The destination country must be provided in order to determine if the document requires an Apostille or authentication certificate.
  • All documents in a foreign language must be signed, notarized, and accompanied by an English translation signed by the translator with the translator’s signature notarized. When a foreign language translation of an English document requires an Apostille or authentication, the foreign translation must be signed by the translator and notarized.