How do you prepare a Missouri high school, college, university transcript for an apostille?
The transcript must be certified/signed by a school official (principal, registrar, counselor, etc.) The signature of the school official must be original. The registrar or other authority of the school must sign a statement, which is typed on the BACK of the diploma or transcript. The wording in this statement says that the diploma or transcript is either the original record issued by the school or a copy of the original document issued by the school and the date it was issued.
The signature of the school official must be notarized. The notary must use a notarial certificate, otherwise the document cannot be apostilled. The best notarial certificate would be the Acknowledgment (Missouri Notary Handbook):
Sample Individual Acknowledgment:
Other acceptable notarial certificates (Missouri Notary Handbook)
Sample Jurat:
Can a Missouri notary certify a copy of a transcript?
According to the Missouri Secretary of State (Missouri Notary Handbook, Section: School Documents), the registrar or other authority of the school must sign a statement... that the diploma or transcript is either the original record issued by the school or a copy of the original document issued by the school and the date it was issued. The signature of the school official is witnessed by a notary public. The notary states that he/she saw the school official sign the document.
Notaried copies of school transcripts, not certified and signed by a school official, might be rejected for apostilles.
