Diploma/Transcript Notary Services

A notarized document is one which has been denoted with a stamp (or seal), indicating the signature on the document is legitimate. Notaries in the Registrar's Office witness the Registrar, or other authorized academic official, sign a statement attesting to the authenticity of a Texas A&M University document. Then the notary will sign and place his or her notarial stamp near a statement which acknowledges the notary witnessed the document signing. A notarized document helps to convey to the recipient that the document presented to them is official and authentic.

The following documents may be notarized:

• Official Texas A&M transcript from the Registrar's Office. The transcript must originate from our office to be notarized. Information on ordering a transcript can be found on the Official Transcripts page on our website.
• Original Texas A&M diploma. A duplicate diploma may be ordered if you do not wish the original to be notarized. Information on ordering a duplicate diploma can be found on the  Duplicate Diplomas page on our website.
• Good quality copy of a Texas A&M diploma. The Office of the Registrar cannot make copies; you must provide your own.
• Verification of Enrollment or Degree Verification Letters produced by the Registrar's Office.
• Other Texas A&M University documents and letters may be notarized by our staff.
  • However we recommend you contact our office prior to bringing these documents to our office.  We MUST witness the signature being written on the document, therefore the academic official signing the letter or form must also be present in our office for the notarization.

Yes.  In most cases the third party (e.g., business, foreign government, etc.) requires an additional security measure such as a notarization and possibly an apostille to attest to the authenticity of the document.  In order to obtain such a certification regarding the authenticity of the document, an authorized academic official must certify via signature that the document is a true, correct, and original diploma or transcript in front of a notary public.

1. Bring the Texas A&M University document(s) which need notarization to the Office of the Registrar.  Or you may obtain the document here in our office (i.e., official transcripts, enrollment/degree verification letters, etc.).
2. Tell our front counter staff you need notarization assistance.  They can direct you to one of the notary publics in our office to begin the notarization process.
   • If you need an official transcript notarized, you may purchase the transcript at the front counter and then after printing the transcript they can direct you to one of our notaries here in the office.
3. Present the document needing notarization and your picture ID to the notary public.
4. Our notary will then coordinate with any needed academic officials here in the office to research, certify, and sign the document in the presence of the notary.
   • If your document needs to be signed by another academic official on campus other than those in our office, please make sure to have made these arrangements in advance for the person to be present at this time to sign the document.
5. Once our notary has witnessed the academic official sign the document, he or she will sign and stamp the document, record it in our documentation, and then present the notarized documents back to you.

Yes.

• If you wish to mail the documents to our office for notarization:
  • Send the document to our office at either: 
    
     

    For mail delivered by the United States Postal Service use the deliver address below:	For mail delivered by FedEx, DHL, UPS, or any other courier (other than USPS and TAMU Campus Mail), use the delivery address below:
    Attn:  Notarization Texas A&M University - Office of the Registrar P.O. Box 30018 College Station, TX 77842-3018	Attn:  Notarization Texas A&M University - Office of the Registrar General Services Complex 750 Agronomy Road, Suite 1501 0100 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-0100

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
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  • Include a written and signed request for our office to notarize the enclosed documents and provide instructions regarding the return address the documents will need to be mailed.
    • If the documents will be too large to be sent in regular U.S. First Class envelopes, please also include postage paid, self-address packaging for the documents to be returned back to you.
    • Or you may request the documents to be returned to you via an express mail delivery service, however you must provide payment information (e.g., valid credit card number/expiration date/security code, or valid account number with the delivery service) to in which the shipping costs can be charged.
  • If you would like us to mail your documents to the Texas Secretary of State (see apostille information also) or another third party recipient, you will need to provide written authorization to allow us to release your notarized documents to the third party.
    • You may provide this written authorization by sending a letter or a signed copy of the Third Party Authorization form.  Either option will need to include the name and mailing address of the third party in which you authorize our office to receive the documents.
• If you would like to have your relative/friend bring the documents to the Registrar's Office for notarization:
  • Complete and sign the Third Party Authorization form.
  • Have your relative/friend bring the documents, the signed Third Party Authorization form, and valid photo identification for him/her to the Registrar's Office.
  • They will need to inform the staff in our office that they need assistance with notarizing documents and present one of the notaries in our office with all of the aforementioned required items.
  • The documents will then be notarized and released back to your authorized third party representative.

An apostille is an additional form of authentication issued to documents for use in countries which participate in the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization of Foreign Public Documents. The completed apostille certifies the authenticity of the signature of the notary. A document which has been certified with an apostille are to be considered acceptable for legal use in all Hague Convention participating nations. Apostilles may be obtained from the Texas Secretary of State (or the United States Secretary of State) confirming that the academic officials and notaries in the Registrar's Office are authorized to certify such documents in their roles as notary publics.

For more general information regarding apostilles, you may wish to read The ABC's of Apostilles brochure created by the Hague Conference on Private International Law's Permanent Bureau or visit their webpage regarding the Apostille Convention.  For specific information regarding the apostille process in Texas, visit the Texas Secretary of State's Apostilles/Authentication of Documents webpage.

1. Bring or send the documents which must be notarized to our office.  The documents must be notarized first before the apostille can be obtained.

2. Once the documents are notarized, you may take or mail the documents to the Texas Secretary of State to acquire the apostille.

 

For mail delivered by the United States Postal Service use the deliver address below:	For mail delivered by FedEx, DHL, UPS, or any other courier (other than USPS and TAMU Campus Mail), use the delivery address below:
Texas Secretary of State Authentications Unit P.O. Box 13550 Austin, TX 78711-3550	Texas Secretary of State Authentications Unit 1019 Brazos, B-13 Austin, TX 78701

 






 

• Documents needed by the Texas Secretary of State for apostille processing:
  • You will need Form 2102, which can be found at: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/authinfo.shtml.
  • A $15.00 fee is required by the Texas Secretary of State for each document which needs an apostille attached. Fees may be paid by personal checks, money orders, LegalEase debit cards, or Master Card/ Visa/or Discover credit cards. Checks or money orders must be payable through a U.S. bank or financial institution and made payable to the Secretary of State. If paying by credit card, fees are subject to a statutorily authorized convenience fee of 2.7 percent of the total fees, and Form 2101 must also be included. Form 2101 may be found at: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/statdoc/statforms.shtml#CPF

3. The Secretary of State will attach the apostille and will then forward the documents. According to the Authentications Unit's webpage states to please allow at least 10 business days apostille processing for any mailed documents.  If you are mailing the documents to the Texas Secretary of State's Authentications Unit, a postage paid, addressed envelope must be provided for them to return the documents to you or your intended recipient.

If you would like us to mail your documents to the Secretary of State, we require a written authorization to allow us to release your notarized documents to a third party. We will fill out the Request for Official Certificate or Apostille (Form 2102) and send this form with your document(s) to the Office of the Secretary of State.

1. Bring or send the documents which must be notarized to our office.  The documents must be notarized first before the apostille can be obtained.  The following items must be sent to us:
   • Documents needed by the Texas Secretary of State for apostille processing:
     • Written and signed request for Texas A&M to notarize and then assist with the apostille, or you may send a signed copy of the Third Party Authorization Form which will need to include the following:
       • the complete address, phone number and email of the student/former student who is requesting the apostille
       • the country in which the document is to be presented
     • You may also complete section 1 of Form 2102 and enclose it with the documents to be notarized. The form can be found at: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/authinfo.shtml.
        

       For mail delivered by the United States Postal Service use the deliver address below: For mail delivered by FedEx, DHL, UPS, or any other courier (other than USPS and TAMU Campus Mail), use the delivery address below: Texas Secretary of State Authentications Unit P.O. Box 13550 Austin, TX 78711-3550 Texas Secretary of State Authentications Unit 1019 Brazos, B-13 Austin, TX 78701

     • A $15.00 fee is required by the Texas Secretary of State for each document which needs an apostille attached. Fees may be paid by personal checks, money orders, LegalEase debit cards, or Master Card/ Visa/or Discover credit cards. Checks or money orders must be payable through a U.S. bank or financial institution and made payable to the Secretary of State. If paying by credit card, fees are subject to a statutorily authorized convenience fee of 2.7 percent of the total fees, and Form 2101 must also be included. Form 2101 may be found at: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/statdoc/statforms.shtml#CPF
     • A second postage paid, addressed envelope must be provided for them to return the documents to you.
2. Once the documents have been notarized in the Registrar's Office, we will send the documents to the Texas Secretary of State's Authentications Unit (providing all of the necessary items were sent to our office).
3. The Secretary of State will process and attach the apostille and will then forward the documents.   According to the Authentications Unit's webpage states to please allow at least 10 business days apostille processing for any mailed documents.

If you have any questions, or need assistance in getting the notarization and apostille processing completed in a more expedited fashion, please contact registrar@tamu.edu for additional information or  assistance.

• Please contact the country where your documents are to be presented to verify what is required before placing your request.
• The notarization process takes approximately three to five business days. The apostille requires another ten business days. These times do not include the transit.
• Overnight shipping may be available at your expense to/from the Secretary of State Office through the carrier of your choice.
• The U.S. Postal Service is the ONLY mail carrier able to deliver an express mailing to a P.O. Box.  If your documents need to be sent back to you or another recipient through a P.O. Box, then you will need to use provide postage paid packaging from the USPS.
• If you choose to use the US Postal Service, please be advised we cannot process envelopes or packages parcels over 13 ounces that have postage stamps. These must be handled by a retail service associate at a Post Office due to US Postal security regulations.