Apostille Order Terms

1. What you're ordering

You are hiring Oregon Fingerprinting (a DBA of The Notaryous LLC, “we,” “us,” “our”) to prepare, submit, track, and return your documents for apostille or authentication by the applicable authority: the U.S. Department of State for federal documents, or the issuing state's Secretary of State for state documents. The authority — not Oregon Fingerprinting — issues the apostille and decides whether a document qualifies. Our service is the expert handling of that process on your behalf.

Your order is placed when you submit the order form and complete payment through Square. By checking the agreement box on the order form, you confirm that you have read and accept these terms and our Refund Policy.

2. Non-refundable once processing starts

Your order becomes non-refundable the moment processing starts. Processing starts when we do any one of the following, whichever comes first: submit your documents to the U.S. Department of State or a Secretary of State; hand your documents to a courier for hand-carry submission; or pay a government or agency fee on your behalf.

Before processing starts, you may cancel for a full refund by calling or emailing us. After processing starts, government fees are not recoverable and our work has been performed, so no refund is available — except as described in our Refund Policy for rejections caused by an error on our part.

3. Turnaround times are estimates, and we are not liable for authority or carrier delays

The turnaround times on our website (for example, 7–10 business days for federal processing) are estimates based on our experience and the authority's current published processing times. They are not guarantees. Processing time is controlled by the U.S. Department of State, the Secretary of State, or other issuing agency, and transit time is controlled by the mail or courier carrier.

We are not liable for delays, holds, backlogs, closures, lost or damaged mail, customs holds, or missed deadlines caused by any government authority, agency, postal service, or carrier. Delays caused by a third party do not entitle you to a refund, credit, or discount. If your document has a hard deadline, tell us before you order so we can recommend the right speed and shipping.

4. Shipping labels you provide are at your risk

If you choose to supply your own prepaid shipping label (for example, for an international return or a specific carrier account), you accept full responsibility for that shipment. Once the package leaves our possession under your label, we are not responsible for delays, customs holds, duties, loss, damage, misdelivery, or label errors (including an incorrect address, insufficient postage, or an expired label). Claims for shipments under a client-supplied label must be filed by you with your carrier.

Shipping we arrange is covered by our Refund Policy, including our commitment to work with the carrier on any lost or damaged package.

5. Translation timing

If your order includes translation, the translation turnaround clock starts when you approve the translation quote and payment for the translation is received — not when you first place your apostille order. Translation is quoted per page and billed separately from the apostille fee.

When a translation must be completed before a document can be apostilled, the apostille processing estimate begins after the translation is finished and approved. Translation work, once started, is non-refundable.

6. Third-party systems and outages

Parts of this service rely on systems we do not control, including Square (payments), government filing portals and websites, carrier tracking systems, email providers, and our document-upload platform. We are not liable for delays, failed transactions, or lost communications caused by an outage, error, or change in any third-party system. If an outage affects your order, we will tell you promptly and work with you on the fastest path forward.

7. Your documents and your information

You are responsible for providing complete, genuine, and eligible documents and accurate information (including the destination country, which determines whether a document needs an apostille or an authentication). We review every order before submission and will contact you if we see a problem, but the authority makes the final eligibility decision. If a document is rejected because of the document itself — for example, an FBI background check older than the authority accepts, a photocopy where an original is required, or a document that does not qualify — the rejection is handled as described in our Refund Policy.

By placing an order, you authorize us to act as your agent for the limited purpose of submitting your documents to the applicable authority and receiving them back on your behalf.

8. Pricing and additional fees

The price shown at checkout covers the services selected on the order form. If your order needs anything extra, we'll tell you the cost before it's charged — for example, documents issued by a state other than Oregon or Washington (quoted individually), translation, notarization or certified copies needed to make a document eligible, expedited or international shipping, or a change you request after processing starts. We never charge an additional fee without telling you first.

9. Communication

By placing an order, you agree that we may contact you by phone, text message, and email about your order, including status updates, questions about your documents, and delivery notifications. Message and data rates may apply to text messages. You can ask us to stop text messages at any time.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total liability for any claim arising from an apostille order is limited to the amount you paid us for that order. We are not liable for indirect or consequential losses — such as missed travel, employment, immigration, academic, or legal deadlines — resulting from a delay, rejection, or loss outside our control. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.

11. Governing law and questions

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Oregon. If you have a question about any of this before you order, call or email us — we would rather clear it up now than surprise you later.

Oregon Fingerprinting (a DBA of The Notaryous LLC)
20001 SW Tualatin Valley Hwy
Beaverton, OR 97003
Phone: (503) 536-2326
Email: info@oregonfingerprints.com

Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. When we do, we will update the effective date at the top of this page. The terms in effect when you place your order are the terms that apply to that order.