The criminal history check foreign governments actually require — certified by FDLE, apostilled by the state. $250 per document, 5 business days. Serving Sunrise from our Fort Lauderdale office, by appointment.
For the 97,000 people who call Sunrise home, getting a FDLE background check accepted abroad comes down to one certification: the Florida apostille. Work visas, foreign residency permits, teaching contracts, and citizenship applications almost always include one line that stops people cold: 'criminal background check, apostilled.' For Florida residents, the state-level answer is the FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) criminal history check — and when it's certified by FDLE, it can be apostilled by the Florida Department of State.
The critical detail: only the certified version qualifies. The instant $24 online search result you can print at home cannot be apostilled. You need FDLE's certified criminal history record, and once you have it — or once we've walked you through ordering it — we file it in person and return the apostilled check in 5 business days. For Sunrise residents, that means one handoff — at your door or at our office — and the apostilled original back in your hands on a defined timeline.
Foreign adoption authorities require apostilled background checks for every adult in the household.
Medical, legal, and financial licensing bodies abroad include apostilled clearances in their character requirements.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Korea, Singapore, and most European work-visa programs require an apostilled criminal background check.
Every major teach-abroad destination — Korea, Japan, China, Spain, the UAE — requires an apostilled background check as a condition of the visa.
Sunrise is home to roughly 97,000 residents. Sunrise's Caribbean and Latin American communities — and the international workforce around the Sawgrass corporate corridor — keep us busy with apostilles for foreign employment, family petitions, and dual citizenship applications.
We serve clients throughout Sunrise's neighborhoods including Sawgrass, Sunrise Lakes, Welleby, New River Estates, and Sunrise Golf Village, as well as nearby communities such as Plantation, Tamarac, Lauderhill, and Weston. Landmarks like Sawgrass Mills, Amerant Bank Arena, and Markham Park put us on familiar ground — this is home-turf service, not a mail-order processor.
From Sunrise, our Fort Lauderdale office is about 20 minutes away — visits by appointment — and appointments are usually available same day or next day. Also serving FDLE background check apostille clients in nearby Plantation, Weston, Tamarac, and Lauderhill.
Most delays start here, so it is worth two minutes for Sunrise clients: Two different background checks serve two different purposes, and ordering the wrong one wastes weeks. The FDLE check covers Florida criminal history, is issued at the state level, and is apostilled by the Florida Department of State — that's the one we handle, and it satisfies many countries' requirements, especially when the requirement says 'state of residence police clearance.' The certified version is ordered directly from FDLE.
The FBI Identity History Summary covers federal/national history and cannot receive a Florida apostille — it requires federal authentication through the U.S. Department of State in Washington, or an apostille through an FBI-approved channeler workflow. If your destination country explicitly demands the FBI check, we'll tell you honestly and point you to the right path; if the requirement is flexible, the FDLE route is dramatically faster for Florida residents. When your FDLE background check is ready, bring it to our office — about 20 minutes from Sunrise — appointments usually available same day or next day.
Tell us what you need by phone or through the form. Your office appointment is confirmed within one business hour.
Each document passes a pre-filing review — certified copy, complete notarization, destination-country rules — because rejections cost weeks.
We file in person at the Florida Department of State. No mail-in backlog, no batching, no waiting on an envelope.
In five business days the apostilled originals are back and ready — office pickup or local delivery, with a call to let you know.
No hourly rates, no hidden charges, no surprise add-ons. The price you see is the price you pay — including the Florida Department of State filing fee.
All prices include the Florida Department of State filing fee ($10 per document), in-person filing at the Department of State, and full document handling. Notarization available as a separate service when your documents require it.
Download the Florida Department of State Apostille and Notarial Certificate Request Form. We can fill it out for you at your appointment — no need to complete it in advance.
Because Sunrise is a city whose Caribbean and Latin American families work alongside the international workforce around the Sawgrass corporate corridor, the FDLE background checks we apostille here are most often bound for Colombia, Jamaica, Venezuela, and Peru. That matters practically: each destination has its own quirks — whether a certified translation is required, whether the receiving registry wants a recently issued copy, and whether the apostille needs to be translated along with the document.
We handle those details as part of the job rather than leaving you to discover them at a consulate window. Tell us the destination country when you call and we’ll confirm exactly what your FDLE background check needs before anything is filed — including whether a translation should be ordered before or after the apostille, which is the sequencing mistake that costs Sunrise clients the most time.
Yes — we serve every city in Broward County, Sunrise included. Service is by appointment at our Fort Lauderdale office at 6750 N Andrews Ave, Ste 288E; requests before 2 PM are routinely scheduled the same day, and every request gets a confirmed time within one business hour.
We're at 6750 N Andrews Ave, Ste 288E in Fort Lauderdale — about 20 minutes from Sunrise. Office visits are by appointment, and same-day slots are usually available.
5 business days, drop-off to return — the same in-person filing timeline countywide. Rush handling is available when your deadline is tighter; call us and we'll tell you honestly what's achievable.
Through FDLE's certified criminal history request process — not the instant online search. The certified letter arrives with FDLE's seal and authorized signature, which is what the Department of State authenticates. We'll walk you through the order when you call.
No — the $24 instant search printout carries no certifying signature and will be rejected. Only FDLE's certified criminal history record qualifies. It's the single most common mistake we prevent.
Read your destination's wording: 'state police clearance' or 'certificate from your state of residence' means FDLE works. 'FBI background check' or 'federal criminal record' means the federal route. Read us the requirement and we'll interpret it — we do this daily.
Most countries require the check be issued within 3–6 months of your application. Order the FDLE check when your timeline is real, not months in advance.
Name-based FDLE checks can return possible matches for common names; the fingerprint-based certified check resolves it definitively. If your name is common, we'll recommend the fingerprint route up front.
