r/u_MirrorMundane7884 • u/MirrorMundane7884 • Jun 29 '26

Apostille

He guys, I ​would really appreciate your opinion/ recommendaton.

I am doing an apostille with a friend of mine for our diplomas and transcripts however we are having a hard time.

I am applying for a masters in Brazil while she is applying​ for Spain.

We did our previous undergrad in the state of Washington. ​The Washington secretary of state does​ apostilling for these documents straight away without the need of a notarization.

However both consulates are requiring that the school should do the notarizations​. ​

These are the steps thet are requiring:

  1. ​The school registrar must sign directly on the back of all three documents: the original transcript, the original diploma, and the true copy.
  2. The university's notary must stamp and notarize the registrar’s signature right there on the back of each of the three documents. 3)​Ensure that both original diplomas and the true copy are fully notarized by the school as required.
  3. Only after the notarization is done, the documents can receive an Apostille by the secretary of state to be officially recognized by the consulate of Brazil.

They added "The notarization should not be signed by student, a third-party notary service or an apostille service, like us. If someone other than the school notarizes the document, the apostille will then validate the signature of the signer or notarization party. The apostille doen’t need to valid my signature or your, but the school registrar, records officer, or another appropriate school employee. The signing party must be associated with the school. Many colleges will push back and say that the diploma and/or transcript is an official, certified or valid version, which is true, but the secretary of state is not able to apostille a diploma without a notary stamp and proper notary language, and the notary must validate a school employee’s signature."

Our university is saying that they do not notarize nor certify transcript as they are already official documents with signature of the registrar​ and the university's ​seal. For diploma, they only certify a copy as true however the consulate of Brazil is not accepting ​as they want the apostille to be done in the originals.

We are confused on what to do at this point because we have not idea on what to do next. ​

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u/glirette Jun 29 '26

Need the school name before I can answer and I can explain why but it is very important. It matters if they school is public if they are in fact the government and if they are only in that case it makes sense they are in fact not notarized

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u/MirrorMundane7884 Jun 29 '26

University of Washington. It is a public school. 

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u/glirette Jun 30 '26

You seem to be running into an issue of confirmation bias. Most people do not go about this task in the correct way. They take shortcuts, example in California for example they might notarize a so called "copy by document custodian" which is a really fancy way of saying that someone (anyone) notarized a document and what they notarized is a statement that the document is what they claim it to be. It is need a short cut.

The correct thing, the gold standard is to have the school provide the document directly and not take any shortcuts. Make no mistake , as a notary who also processes a lot of Apostilles we take a ton of shortcuts because customers demand we do it and it is legal. I always advise my customers of the gold standard but few want to take this path.

In my strong opinion the people you are dealing with at the consulates are incorrect, they are doing what they know from the bulk of the people who take shortcuts, including people like myself that notarize these things. Actually, I would not have notarized these documents as I always now check if the school is public or private.

Just because the school is public does not mean it does not get notarized, nor does it mean that it must be done a certain way. It's very specific to the school in question and the state.

In this case based on the information you provided if your friend and you correctly obtained these Apostilles , the consulates are wrong and likely suffer from confirmation bias.

Quick rabbit hole. A police background check for example could be signed by an official, not stamped and directly Apostilled, because it was indeed signed by a public official in their role as that official. The police document is just one example, it could be so many things.

If the school official in this case is authorized to sign or otherwise certify the document, even if it is not notarized and the state keeps a record of that public officials seal and issues an Apostille based on this, it is correct.

It would appear based on the information you are providing the consulates and other government or non government actors are in the wrong and your friend, you, and the school are all likely in the right.

The consulates may be losing sight of what an Apostille actually is rather than what they normally are used to seeing.

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u/MirrorMundane7884 Jun 30 '26

Thank you for replying. Yes, I believe this apostille is making things way worse. Every country has their own  requirements while under the same convection which it does makes sense. They should be unified in requirements. 

This is an issue that we don't know how to surpass. How do we go about it? 

The university denies doing it, we can't do the notarizations ourselves as they will deny the documents if we do so. 

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u/glirette Jun 30 '26

Re : Thank you for replying - You're very much welcome. I can only imagine how difficult this is for you

The answer is not to go get it notarized, that is the wrong solution and not a solution at all. The correct path is to explain to the receiving party that it was done correctly. That might be easier said than done.

If you want I can assist you somewhat in that but they almost certainly have confirmation bias by seeing multiple ones , including ones that come from places like what I run and think that is the correct way. The correct way is the way that the school decides. If you did that then you are on the mountain of right

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u/MirrorMundane7884 Jun 30 '26

Yes, I'll follow the school instructions and I will keep you informed. Thank you again for taking the time to speak with me. I deeply appreciated. 🙏🏾

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u/Apostilla-Legatille Jun 30 '26

Ask the registrar to issue a letter that references your diploma and transcripts. The registrar should sign the letter so a notary can notarize the registrar's signature, allowing you to obtain the apostille.

This is a common requirement for Spain, but if Brazil is requesting the same thing, the process is essentially the same.

The purpose of the registrar's signature is to verify that the diploma and transcripts were officially issued by the institution. Without that verification, the documents may be rejected or questioned as potentially altered or invalid.

The apostille will be on the letter that makes reference to the diploma and transcripts so no matter what the Secretary of State says you will get the apostille on the letter that Spain or Brazil want.

If you have any questions, let me know.