For adoption agencies
A dossier is never one document. We handle the paperwork half of it.
Both parents need an FBI background check with a federal apostille. The birth certificates and the marriage certificate need apostilles too, from a different office. Families get this wrong constantly, and every wrong envelope costs about a month while the dossier waits.
The mistake we see most. A family sends the FBI check to their state Secretary of State. It is a federal document, so the state returns it unprocessed. Weeks gone, and nobody told them until the envelope came back.
Verified 2026-08-10
Which office takes which document
This is the part that trips people. Two different offices, and they are not interchangeable.
| Document | Apostilled by | Price |
|---|---|---|
| FBI background check, both parents | U.S. Department of State | $299 each |
| Birth certificates, both parents | The issuing state | $149 each |
| Marriage certificate | The issuing state | $149 |
| A two-parent dossier, all five documents | Both offices | $1,045 |
Government fees are inside those prices. The $20 federal fee is charged at cost and itemised on the receipt. Home studies and anything notarised follow the same state route as the certificates; ask us and we will tell you which office it goes to.
The timing rule that expires dossiers
Every recency window we have read runs from the date the FBI issued the report. Not the date the apostille was attached. Not the date you submit the dossier.
So a slow apostille does not refresh the clock. It eats it. A family that orders the report in January and gets the apostille in March has burned two months of a six-month window before the dossier even leaves the country.
The order that works: book the timeline backwards from your submission date, have both parents order their reports in the same week, and start the apostille the day they arrive. We check those dates for you before you pay anything.
What we will not claim
- We cannot obtain the FBI report. Federal rules release it only to the applicant
- There is no same-day federal apostille and no appointment system
- Nothing beats about two weeks at the Department of State, for anyone
No referral fee, on purpose
We pay a commission to relocation firms and recruiters. We do not offer one to adoption agencies. You are Hague accredited and a per-family payment from a vendor reads badly however it is meant.
Put us on your vendor sheet and we look after your families directly. If you would rather bill the family yourself, we have a wholesale price. See the terms →
Questions
Do you handle the state documents as well as the FBI check?
Yes. The FBI check is federal and goes to the U.S. Department of State in Washington. Birth certificates, marriage certificates and diplomas are state documents and go to the state that issued them. We handle both. State documents are $149 each.
Both parents need one, so is the second one cheaper?
No, and be careful of anyone who says it is. Each parent has their own report, and each report is a separate document at the Department of State with its own government fee and its own slot in the daily limit. Two parents is two full orders.
Can you get the FBI reports for our families?
No, and neither can anyone else. Federal rules release an Identity History Summary only to the applicant or their attorney. Each parent orders their own report through an approved channeler, which usually takes a day or two, then passes it to us.
How long does the federal apostille take?
About three weeks end to end. Roughly two weeks of that is the Department of State itself, which nobody can compress. There is no same-day route and no appointment system, whatever you may have been told.
Our programme wants the check to be under six months old. Does the apostille reset that?
No. Every recency rule we have read runs from the date the FBI issued the report, not the date the apostille was attached. A slow apostille eats the window rather than refreshing it. That is the single most common way a dossier document expires.
Do you pay agencies a referral fee?
We do not offer one, on purpose. You are Hague accredited and a per-family payment from a vendor reads badly, whatever the intent. Put us on your vendor sheet and we look after your families directly. If you would rather bill the family yourself, we have a wholesale price.
What happens if a document is wrong?
We check it before it goes to Washington. Wrong document type, unreadable scan, or an issue date already outside your programme window, we tell you before anything is submitted. Catching it at that point saves about two weeks.