The criminal history check foreign governments actually require — certified by FDLE, apostilled by the state. $250 per document, 5 business days. Serving Weston from our Fort Lauderdale office, by appointment.
Every week, FDLE background check apostille requests reach us from Weston households and businesses — a city of roughly 68,000 where international paperwork is a fact of daily life. 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 Weston residents, that means one handoff — at your door or at our office — and the apostilled original back in your hands on a defined timeline.
Every major teach-abroad destination — Korea, Japan, China, Spain, the UAE — requires an apostilled background check as a condition of the visa.
Portugal, Spain, Panama, Costa Rica, and other residency programs require apostilled police clearances covering your place of residence.
Naturalization processes abroad require apostilled criminal history covering years of U.S. residence.
Foreign adoption authorities require apostilled background checks for every adult in the household.
Weston is home to roughly 68,000 residents. Weston is famously home to one of the largest Venezuelan communities in the country — apostilled birth certificates, marriage records, and powers of attorney for use in Venezuela, Colombia, and Spain are among our most frequent requests from Weston families.
We serve clients throughout Weston's neighborhoods including Weston Hills, Savanna, The Falls, Bonaventure, and Emerald Estates, as well as nearby communities such as Sunrise, Davie, Southwest Ranches, and Pembroke Pines. Landmarks like the Weston Town Center, Cleveland Clinic Florida, and Markham Park's western edge put us on familiar ground — this is home-turf service, not a mail-order processor.
From Weston, our Fort Lauderdale office is about 30 minutes away — visits by appointment — and appointments are usually available same day or next day. Also serving FDLE background check apostille clients in nearby Pembroke Pines, Davie, and Sunrise.
For Weston residents, the requirements below decide whether a filing succeeds or bounces: 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 30 minutes from Weston — appointments usually available same day or next day.
Start with a two-minute call or the request form. We schedule your office appointment and confirm within one business hour.
Documents are inspected first: is the copy certified, is the notarization complete, does the destination country need something extra? Problems surface now, not later.
We hand-deliver your file to the Florida Department of State. In-person filing is the difference between five business days and several weeks.
Your apostilled originals are back in five business days — office collection or local delivery, and a phone call the moment they arrive.
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 Weston is home to one of the largest Venezuelan communities in the country, the FDLE background checks we apostille here are most often bound for Venezuela, Colombia, Spain, and Argentina. 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 Weston clients the most time.
Yes — we serve every city in Broward County, Weston 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 30 minutes from Weston. 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.
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.
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.
