What Hialeah sends me
The requests that come most often from this part of Florida:
- Powers of attorney for property and family matters in Cuba.
- Sworn statements for consulates and foreign offices.
- Documents needing an apostille, or consular legalization for Cuba.
- Travel consent letters for children.
- Vehicle and business paperwork.
Worth knowing in Hialeah
Cuba is the detail that matters most here, because it is not part of the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille has no effect and the document goes through the longer consular chain instead.
That chain runs from the notarization to certification in Florida, then authentication by the U.S. Department of State, and finally legalization at the Cuban consulate, with its own fee and wait at each step.
Everything is explained in Spanish, and nobody has to bring a relative along to interpret, which is exactly what the notarial rules prefer anyway.
How an online session works
You book a time, and I send a secure link, usually for the same day or the next, and the platform then checks your identification and asks a few questions drawn from public records, before we meet on video, where I confirm you understand what you are signing and that nobody is pressuring you.
You sign electronically, I complete the notarial certificate, and you download the finished document with its seal and audit trail, all of which normally takes about fifteen minutes.
What you need
- A phone, tablet or computer with a camera and microphone.
- A current, government-issued photo ID.
- The document, complete and unsigned.
- Confirmation from the office receiving it that they accept an electronic notarization.
In person, honestly
I am based in Lakeland and travel inside Polk County, so I do not drive to Hialeah for a signing, so if your document has to be signed on paper in front of a notary, look for a mobile notary there, and if it can be done online, we can start today.
Frequently asked questions
- Do you travel to Hialeah?
- No, I travel inside Polk County only, and everything else is done in an online session, which is valid across Florida and carries the same legal weight as signing in person.
- Is an online notarization valid here?
- Yes, Florida authorized remote online notarization in 2020, and a document notarized this way has the same effect as one notarized across a desk, though the office receiving it can still ask for paper.
- Is an apostille enough for a document going to Cuba?
- No, and this is where people waste money, because Cuba is not part of the convention, so the document needs consular legalization instead of an apostille.
- Can the whole appointment be in Spanish?
- Yes, from start to finish, though the notarial certificate itself goes in English, as Florida requires.