Apostille for Alums

Apostille for Alums

An apostille is a form of authentication issued by the Secretary of the Commonwealth that verifies the authenticity of a document. A document that has been certified with an apostille is accepted for legal use in all nations that are members of the Hague Convention.

Alums often need to have their diplomas and/or transcripts authenticated in order to apply for graduate school and other programs or employment outside of the United States. The Office of the Secretary of the State of Massachusetts is the only office authorized to issue an Apostille or certification for a notarized document going to a foreign country for Hampshire College graduates. The Central Records Office will prepare a letter verifying the information on the diploma and/or transcript and have it notarized. This is where the Central Records Office’s service ends; you then follow the process outlined by the Secretary of State summarized below.

Per the Secretary of State's website, you must submit the notarized letter(s) along with the other outlined requirements to the Secretary of State either in person at one of their offices or by mail. They will Apostille* our letter (rather than attaching the Apostille stamp to the original document), certifying the signature of the Notary. You will then present that apostilled letter plus the original diploma or photocopy of the diploma to whichever foreign embassy or consulate required it. You will follow the same process for a certification of the document if the destination country does not participate in The Hague Convention Apostille agreement.
In order to begin this process, please email us at centralrecords@hampshire.edu with the following information:

• Your full name while you attended
• Your year of graduation
• Your complete address, telephone number, and email address
• The address where the letter will be sent

It should take between 5 and 10 business days to prepare your letter. Turnaround time depends on the availability of both the Director of Central Records and the Notary.

For further questions regarding the Apostille or certification process, it may be easier to reach the Springfield branch of the Secretary of State (413.784.1376) than the Boston branch. Be sure to specify the country to which you will be presenting the Apostille or certification. Procedures may vary.