Many countries and international university may require Americans to get what is called an Apostille or Authentication of their Diplomas and other documents. If you are applying for a university abroad, a job internationally, etc. they will usually ask for your diploma and maybe a police background check as well. Initially, they will just ask you for a "photocopy" of the document, but maybe later they will want you to "authenticate the document" or include an Apostille. What does this mean exactly? What it means is that they don't trust your document precisely, in fact they don't trust anyone's documents. These countries are asking you for a "second-level" of security to make sure your document is not a fake or copy. It isn't enough these days to just get an original copy of your document and mail that to them. Now, they want your state and federal government to also attest to their validity. Basically, the international standard for "verifying the legality of documents" is to have the State and Federal government notarize or "certify them." This involves sending the original and a copy to your state department, then send that to the United States federal government, and sometimes then onto that foreign nation's embassy for a final stamp. Obviously, such a process is long and costly in terms of time and money. So many countries got together and signed an agreement that you can instead get a document called the "APOSTILLE." This document is given to you by your state department and does not require the federal or embassy steps. Much faster right? Sometimes -- not all countries actually follow that rule, and it kind of depends on your state. But regardless, you always have to start with this step - get the State Department to sign off on your document to prove it is legit. Below are links to the websites for each state where you can order document authentications and apostilles! 1. Alabama 2. Alaska 3. Arizona 4. Arkansas (Rules) 5. California 6. Colorado 7. Connecticut 8. Delaware 9. District of Colombia 10. Florida 11. Georgia 12. Hawaii 13. Idaho 14. Illinois 15. Indiana 16. Iowa 17. Kansas 18. Kentucky 19. Louisiana 20. Maine 21. Maryland 22. Massachusetts 23. Michigan 24. Minnesota 25. Mississippi 26. Missouri 27. Montana 28. Nebraska 29. Nevada 30. New Hampshire 31. New Jersey 32. New Mexico 33. New York 34. North Carolina 35. North Dakota 36. Ohio 37. Oklahoma 38. Oregon 39. Pennsylvania 40. Rhode Island 41. South Carolina 42. South Dakota 43. Tennessee 44. Texas 45. Utah 46. Vermont 47. Virginia 48. Washington 49. West Virginia 50. Wisconsin 51. Wyoming