Utah becomes 1st state to fully launch digital apostille program for international documents

Utah has become the first state in the nation to fully launch a digital apostille program — enabling Utahns to use an electronic platform to get international authentication for important legal documents for adoption, marriage, missionary service, education abroad or other needs in countries across the world. 

“Now instead of bringing papers to the Capitol or waiting for the mail, Utahns can choose to send documents and receive their apostille certificates digitally,” Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson said. “Our state is leading the nation in offering this fully-encrypted method of delivery, making the process more convenient and secure.”

Henderson, flanked by two rows of international flags, made the announcement in the Gold Room of the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. 

“This is many years in the making,” she said, calling it a “big deal.” 

An apostille is an official authentication, similar to a notarization, that verifies the authenticity of a government document like a birth, marriage or death certificate so they can be legally recognized in other countries. They’re often needed for businesses looking to expand globally, families managing personal matters overseas, or students or missionaries traveling abroad. 

Apostille certificates are usually issued by designated governmental authorities like secretaries of state — or in Utah’s case, the lieutenant governor — and allow documents to be accepted across more than 125 countries under the terms of the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. 

The Hague Conference has worked for nearly 20 years to make digital apostilles a reality. 

“We’re really proud to be the very first state to do it,” Henderson said. 

Christophe Bernasconi, secretary general of the Hague Conference on Private International Law, congratulated Utah in a prepared statement. 

“By combining electronic issuance with reliable online verification, Utah is helping to make the international use of public documents more efficient, secure and accessible, while strengthening the trust on which the Apostille Convention depends,” Bernasconi said. 

In recent years, Utah has been among a handful of states — including Washington, Montana, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, and Minnesota — to join a pilot program with the City University of Seattle and @Gov, Inc., a company based in Virginia, to make digital apostilles possible. 

As part of that pilot program, Utah issued more than 1,200 digital apostilles with a 100% acceptance rate, according to the lieutenant governor’s office. 

Now, Utah is moving to fully implement its digital apostilles for travelers, contracting with @Gov to use its ApostilleXpress platform, which the company describes as an “all-inclusive web-based platform designed to streamline the issuance of apostilles” for states and other authorities. 

Now, through an online verification portal on the lieutenant governor’s office’s website, Utahns can opt to receive their apostille certificate digitally. And starting this week, on Thursday, they can also choose to submit documents electronically. 

Utahns can still request paper authentications, at the cost of state fees that can range from $5 to $20 depending on the type of document, plus optional shipping costs. Digital authentications will cost about $75, including a $69.95 charge from the vendor and $5 in state fees. 

The state’s contracted vendor, @Gov, charges $69.95 for the digital delivery of the apostille as payment for its service, while the platform itself is “free to the state,” Chris Jackson, CEO of @Gov, said during Tuesday’s news conference. 

That cost is oftentimes cheaper than international paper delivery abroad, which can cost hundreds of dollars and often take three to five days, Jackson said. He also noted that a digital apostille can be used multiple times, and “technically it’s valid for life.” 

“So the savings are incredible to the constituents,” Jackson said. 

Henderson told reporters that over the past six years, demand for apostilles have increased by about 250%, from 18,000 in 2020 to more than 45,000 in 2026. In light of that growth — and in the spirit of an initiative her boss Gov. Spencer Cox launched last year to increase government efficiency and improve customer service, Henderson said she’s “proud” that Utah will be launching the program. 

“Until now, Utahns had to … make an appointment, travel in person to the capital, or mail their sensitive documents to my office to obtain their apostilles,” Henderson said. 

But now, the digital authentication platform is expected to reduce processing time by an estimated 80%, according to the lieutenant governor’s office.

Jonathan Freedman, president and CEO of World Trade Center Utah, applauded the new digital program, saying it will help solve a “real significant problem” for people, including Ukrainians who have come to Utah to work but run into obstacles when trying to obtain document authentication when they aren’t able to travel in-person to the Utah Capitol.

“(Worth) far more than the price of $75 … is the convenience, and it’s just such a huge barrier to getting this done,” Freedman said. “It’s really, really important to our foreign nationals here in Utah.”