Corrections
What this industry gets wrong
Ten claims you will read on apostille websites, visa guides and forums, set against what the office that decides actually publishes. Every one of them is checkable. Each carries the source and the date we read it.
How to use this page. Do not take our word for it either. Follow the source link on each correction and read the sentence yourself. Consulates revise their instructions without notice, and a date on a claim is worth more than confidence.
Verified 2026-08-10
By destination
The category publishes one number per country. Requirements are set per consulate, and the consulates do not agree with each other.
Spain
What you will read
“Spain gives you 90 days from the date the FBI issues your report.”
What the source says
Six months. We read four Spanish consulates and all four say six months, three of them in those words. The 90-day figure is repeated across this industry without a source, and it pushes people into paying for rush handling they do not need.
4 consulates read on 2026-08-04 · see every quote and source →
Italy
What you will read
“Italy requires an apostilled FBI check issued within 90 days, for every elective residency application.”
What the source says
Neither half holds. San Francisco does require it and says six months, not 90 days. Miami and Chicago do not list it on their published elective residency instructions at all. Which consulate holds your jurisdiction is decided by where you live, and you cannot choose it.
3 consulates read on 2026-08-04 · see every quote and source →
Germany
What you will read
“Americans moving to Germany need an apostilled FBI background check.”
What the source says
Often not. The Federal Office of Justice issues the Führungszeugnis to anyone aged 14 or over, including people who have never set foot in Germany, for 13 euros. Any U.S. notary can certify your signature on the application. That is a cheaper, faster document in the language the authority reads, and it is frequently the one actually being asked for.
1 official source read on 2026-08-04 · see every quote and source →
Portugal
What you will read
“Ninety days is the rule for FBI checks across southern Europe.”
What the source says
It is the rule for Portugal, and we could not find a single Spanish consulate that applies it. Portugal is almost certainly where the figure originated. It then got copied onto Spain, where all four consulates we read say six months. One number, two countries, and it is only right for one of them.
1 consulate read on 2026-08-04 · see every quote and source →
South Korea
What you will read
“You bring your apostilled FBI check to the Korean consulate with your E-2 application.”
What the source says
Not to the consulate. Seattle’s published E-2 list contains no criminal record check at all, because by then Korean Immigration Service has already issued your visa issuance number — and the apostilled check is part of what produced it. The document is due at the start of the process, in Korea, not at the end of it in the United States.
3 official sources read on 2026-08-06 · see every quote and source →
New Zealand
What you will read
“Americans moving to New Zealand need their FBI background check apostilled.”
What the source says
Immigration New Zealand asks for a police certificate, not an apostille, and the word does not appear in either of the pages that set the rule. What it does set is a six-month window and a 24-month threshold, and for US applicants it names the FBI or an approved channeler as the issuer. An apostille on top of that is roughly three hundred dollars and three weeks spent on a stamp nobody asked for.
2 official sources read on 2026-08-06 · see every quote and source →
About the process itself
These four are not about where you are going. They are about how the federal apostille works, and getting them wrong costs weeks.
What you will read
“Send your FBI background check to your state Secretary of State.”
What is actually true
No state can apostille it. An FBI Identity History Summary is a federal document, so only the U.S. Department of State in Washington can attach the apostille. A state office will return it, and the round trip costs about a month.
What you will read
“You need the original paper report with the raised FBI seal.”
What is actually true
A printed electronic report is accepted. The Department of State takes the printed PDF that the FBI or an approved channeler issues to you. Services that insist on a mailed original are adding weeks you do not owe.
What you will read
“You can get a same-day federal apostille by appointment.”
What is actually true
There is no same-day route and no appointment system. Documents are dropped off and collected against a pick-up slip issued about two weeks out. Anyone promising same day at the federal level is describing a service that does not exist.
What you will read
“A courier can push through as many documents as you need.”
What is actually true
Fifteen documents per company per day. The cap is hard and it is enforced per company. Splitting one order across separate requests to beat it risks a permanent ban, so real capacity is about 315 documents a month per firm.
Why we publish this
We sell one thing: your FBI background check apostilled by the U.S. Department of State. We are not the cheapest way to buy that stamp and we do not pretend to be. Services advertise the same document for less, and some of them are perfectly good at it.
What we do differently is read the primary source and publish the date. Nobody in this category does that, which is why the same wrong numbers have been copied between websites for years. A wrong recency window costs somebody an appointment. That is worth more than a cheaper stamp.
If you find a source that contradicts anything on this page, send it to us. We will publish it, quoted and dated, and credit you.