Hawaii Marriage Certificate Apostille: Steps, Fees and Timing

Which route fits your certificate?

Look at the issue date on your certified copy. A copy issued after January 1, 2025 can take the direct route, and an older copy or no copy at all means the DOH route.

Neither office defines "issued". The Lieutenant Governor's main page says "issued after Jan 1, 2025", and its FAQ says "dated after January 1st, 2025". We read that as the date on your certified copy, because a copy is what you send. If you married before 2025 and hold a newer copy, email the office before you rely on that reading.

Can we get the apostille before we fly home?

Plan on no for a short trip, and expect to finish it from home. No state page we read promises a same-day apostille, and the steps below can easily outlast a short trip.

• The record comes first. Your performer has to file the ceremony before DOH has a record to copy, and we read the electronic temporary certificate as not counting.
• The DOH route takes weeks. Its apostille requests are mail-in only, and DOH quotes up to 3 to 4 weeks.
• The direct route isn't quick either. The Lieutenant Governor's office estimates 7 to 10 business days and says "No expedited services available". Its page makes no same-day promise, even for walk-ins.

Some guides promise same-day counter service. We found no official source for that, so don't plan a State Capitol visit around it.

A same-day certified copy is unconfirmed too. DOH's how-to-apply list shows only online and mail orders, its payment section still mentions "orders completed in person", and its booking page says to "Complete an order online before coming in". Ask DOH before you count on collecting a copy in Honolulu.

Start once your performer confirms the ceremony is filed. Before you travel, decide where the document should come back to and how you will pay, because you may be home by then. If an authority at home has a deadline, count back from the longest DOH case, up to about 10 weeks plus mail, and add time for any non-Hague steps.

Why do the DOH and Lieutenant Governor pages disagree?

Each page describes its own office's process, and DOH's page doesn't mention the direct route. The DOH apostille page says to follow its steps "for all countries" and states: "We do not accept previously certified copies of vital records."

The Lieutenant Governor's page says: "If you have a birth, death or marriage certificate issued after Jan 1, 2025, you may send it directly to our office for apostille."

Our reading is that both sentences are true for their own mailbox. DOH won't take a copy you mail to DOH, and the Lieutenant Governor takes a qualifying copy mailed to the Lieutenant Governor. Neither office says this in those words, and we haven't confirmed it with them.

If you are unsure, or a deadline is close, email before you mail anything:

• DOH certificates: doh.issuanceQuery@doh.hawaii.gov
• Lieutenant Governor: LTGOV.help@hawaii.gov

How do you use the direct route?

Use this route only if you already hold a copy issued after January 1, 2025.

1. Check the copy. It should bear the State Registrar's signature and an embossed DOH seal.
2. Apply on the state apostille portal. You can pre-pay by credit card, which the office says gives the fastest processing, or send payment with the document.
3. Print the "Application Document". It arrives by email, separate from your receipt.
4. Send or hand in the Application Document, your certificate and the fee if you did not pre-pay. Make any money order or cashier's check payable to the Office of the Lt. Governor.
5. Choose the return. The office mails documents by USPS to your application address unless you include a pre-paid envelope. If you select pick-up, it contacts you by phone.

On mail-in applications, the office asks that your name, phone number and reference number be clearly legible.

We read an electronic temporary certificate from the state's EMRS system as not counting as a copy, because the office asks for a signature and an embossed seal and no state page we read says it accepts one. If that is all you hold, use the DOH route below. Your record has to exist first, which depends on your performer filing the ceremony.

How do you order through DOH?

DOH asks for one mailed package. Don't use the online ordering site: DOH says "do not use the online process for apostille and authentication requests".

1. Complete the marriage record request form and write "apostille" and the country as the reason.
2. Sort out the apostille fee. Apply on the portal and pay by credit card, then print the application. Or complete the paper application and enclose a separate money order or cashier's check payable to the Office of the Lt. Governor.
3. Pay DOH separately. Enclose a money order or cashier's check payable to the Hawaii State Department of Health, in the exact amount.
4. Add ID. Include a photocopy of your government photo ID and, if it applies, documentation showing you are eligible. A person acting for you also needs your letter of authorization and copies of both IDs.
5. Add a return envelope. It must be pre-paid, stamped and self-addressed.
6. Mail it all to Hawaii Department of Health-Vital Records, P.O. Box 3378, Honolulu, HI 96801. The address is a P.O. box, so check with any courier before you use one instead of the postal service.

DOH then coordinates with the Lieutenant Governor's office, and the finished document comes back to you. The DOH website says these requests are mail-in only, while the instructions on its form still say "by mail or in-person", so email DOH before you plan a visit.

Living abroad adds two problems the state pages don't solve: buying a US-dollar money order and pre-paying a return envelope. Ask DOH by email what it accepts before you start. Our guide for international couples covers the rest of the paperwork from abroad.

What do you write on the forms?

The country and the reason are the fields that matter most. DOH's instructions ask for the country twice.

List each country that will receive the document, and ask the Lieutenant Governor's office whether you need a separate document for each. By signing the paper form, you certify the apostille "shall be used for presentation to the destination country named above, and for no other purpose".

What does it cost, and how long does it take?

An apostille costs $3, or $5 from January 1, 2027, and takes 7 to 10 business days direct or up to 3 to 4 weeks through DOH, possibly longer. Only the DOH route adds certificate fees: $10 for the first copy, $4 for each extra copy and a $2.50 administration fee for up to 5 copies.

Any postage is extra. Neither office says its time includes mail, so allow for it in both directions. A non-Hague country can cost more, as the certification section below shows.

Treat the DOH figure as uncertain. DOH quotes "up to 3-4 weeks" for apostille requests and "up to 4-6 weeks" for certificate orders, without saying whether the first replaces the second. If a date matters, allow for both, which is up to about 10 weeks plus mail. An Oahu officiant's April 2026 podcast also talks of a wait of three months or more for mail requests through DOH; we found no official source for that figure.

Requests near New Year need care. The rule charges the fee "for the issuance" of an apostille and doesn't say what happens to a request sent in December and issued in January. A wrong amount can stall a request: on its own orders, DOH warns that a payment "under or over, may be returned". Check with the Lieutenant Governor's office before you buy a money order in late December.

Do you need an apostille or a certification?

It depends on the country that will receive the document. Countries in the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention get an apostille, and others get a non-apostille certification. Both come from the Lieutenant Governor's office at the same fee, and DOH's steps are the same for both.

Use the HCCH Apostille Convention status table to check your country. The links on the state pages lead elsewhere:

• Lieutenant Governor's page: its status table link opens the table for the 1965 Service Convention, a different treaty.
• DOH's page: its link opens the HCCH member list. Membership isn't the same as joining this treaty. Egypt, Malaysia and Qatar are members but aren't on the Apostille table, and Fiji and Pakistan are on the table but aren't members. On November 6, 2026, eight HCCH members were not on the Apostille table, and 43 parties to the Convention were not members.

Check the entry-into-force column too. Thailand joined on June 30, 2026, but the Convention takes effect there on February 28, 2027. The table had 130 contracting parties at its June 30, 2026 update. An A** in its Type column means someone objected to that accession; the only US objection in the 21 entries we read, to Liberia, was withdrawn on May 20, 2015.

For a non-Hague country, Hawaii's certification is often not the last step. A January 2026 notice from the US Embassy in Eswatini gives the chain for a US document going to a country outside the Convention: the state, then "the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications", then the embassy of the country of use, which "will place the final authentication". The US Embassy in Thailand describes the same order. In Hawaii, the state step is the Lieutenant Governor's certification, and neither Hawaii office's apostille page mentions the later steps.

The federal request goes on form DS-4194, at "$20.00 per document, not per page", payable to the U.S. Department of State. That fee, any embassy fee and the extra mail come on top of the cost table above, so a certification on the direct route starts at $23 ($25 from January 1, 2027). We couldn't open travel.state.gov, because it blocked our browser, so we give no federal processing time.

The United Arab Emirates is a current example. It isn't on the Apostille table, and its embassy in Washington says: "All personal documents must be attested by The U.S Dept. of State Authentication Office before sending them to VFS." VFS Global has handled the embassy's attestation since August 21, 2025. The embassy's page doesn't name marriage certificates or list a fee, so ask the receiving country's embassy or consulate to confirm the whole chain before you order.

An apostille doesn't decide whether a country accepts your marriage. Under Article 5 of the Convention, it certifies the signature, the signer's capacity and the seal. Acceptance is up to the receiving authority, so ask it what it needs, including any translation and any limit on the certificate's age, before you order.

Which mistakes cost weeks?

Payment and paperwork errors can cost you weeks, because a package that has to be redone goes back through the mail.

• Personal or business check. DOH refuses both, and the Lieutenant Governor refuses personal checks.
• Ordering online for the DOH route. A copy ordered online won't come with an apostille, because DOH handles those requests by mail only. Neither office says whether you can order a fresh copy online now and then send it direct. Our reading is that the Lieutenant Governor's wording appears to allow it, because that copy would be issued after January 1, 2025, but the same page sends anyone without a copy to DOH. Email before you order.
• No country on the form. DOH wants "apostille" and the country as the reason, and again in the mailed request.
• Mailing an old copy to DOH. DOH doesn't accept it.
• One payment for both offices. DOH wants separate payments, each to its own payee.
• The wrong amount. From January 1, 2027, a $3 payment will be short under the rule, even if a form still says $3.
• Paying online and forgetting the printout. The printed application must go with your certificate or DOH order, and it shows you pre-paid.
• Too few copies. Fees are non-refundable, and extra copies after you submit need a new request. Our guide to certified copies of your marriage certificate shows how many to order if one of you is also changing your name.

What changed, and when?

Hawaii's process has changed several times since 2025, so older guides may be out of date.

How we checked this page

On November 6 and 7, 2026 we read the DOH and Lieutenant Governor apostille pages, the DOH certificates and booking pages, both Hawaii forms, Hawaii Administrative Rules Chapter 2-3, the HCCH tables and Apostille Handbook, GOV.UK's guidance for British people abroad, form DS-4194, two US Embassy pages and the UAE Embassy's page, and compared the HCCH member list with the Apostille table.

We did not contact DOH or the Lieutenant Governor, so the reconciliation above is our reading of the published text. We could not open travel.state.gov, so the federal steps rest on the form and the embassy pages. This page is a guide, not legal advice, and My Hawaii Wedding is independent of the State of Hawaii.