Is Apostilled the Same as Notarised?

No, apostilled and notarised are not the same thing, and conflating them is an easy mistake to make when you’re going through this for the first time.

They’re different kinds of certification

An apostille is issued by the Colorado Secretary of State and is specifically what makes a document usable internationally, under the Hague Apostille Convention. Notarization is a separate act, typically performed by a notary public, that verifies a signature on a self-created document.

You don’t need to notarize your county-certified copy

Here’s the part that surprises people: your certified marriage copy from the county clerk does not need to be separately notarized before it goes to the Secretary of State. The SOS accepts a document that carries any one of the following:

• A Colorado notary’s signature, or
• Colorado Vital Records certification, or
• County clerk certification

These are alternatives to each other, not requirements to stack. A certified copy from the county clerk already satisfies this requirement on its own; you don’t need to also get it notarized on top of that.

When notarization actually matters

Notarization is relevant for a different situation entirely: self-created documents that aren’t already issued or certified by a government office. The clearest example in this whole process is the Social Security number affidavit, if you don’t have an SSN to put on your license application. See where to find a notary for that.

A certified marriage copy is already a government-certified document. Adding a notary stamp on top of it isn’t part of how the process works, and isn’t something the SOS is asking for.

The short version

• Certified copy from the county clerk → sufficient on its own for the apostille step.
• Notarization → only relevant for documents you create and sign yourself, like the SSN affidavit.

Don’t spend time or money getting your certified marriage copy notarized; it’s not what the apostille process requires.