[David Merrill]

Originally Posted by palani

The apostille makes the document valid in other countries for the pitance paid of $5 per country. It does this under the auspices of the Hague Convention of 1963. I suppose if one were to travel through 20 or more countries in one trip the cost would add up quickly. In addition there would most undoubtably be the necessity of clearing your travel documents with the countries visited ahead of time and applying for visa's.

As to what constitutes a public document and to rebut Bernie, here is what the UN says


I would guess that, if an apostille can be produced for a document, that would be pretty good evidence in itself that the document is a public document. I don't think the State Department of a state would lie about something as serious as this.

And here is what the UN says about the apostille itself


Since the notary is a public officer (most probably under the executive branch) I generally place the term "FOREIGN AGENT" under the signature line for the notary. This sometimes causes them to blink rapidly before executing but they never seem to want to refuse.

Impressive. Thank you!