Utah becomes first state to roll out digital platform for authenticating documents

SALT LAKE CITY — If you've ever conducted business transactions, adoptions or done missionary service overseas, you've likely needed an apostille certificate to prove the authenticity of documents across international borders.

In Utah, apostilles are issued by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, which this week will begin offering digital authentication, becoming the first state in the nation to do so. The new program, which kicks off Thursday, comes as Utah has seen exponential growth in the demand for apostilles in recent years, according to Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson.

The office authenticated about 18,000 documents — including diplomas, birth certificates, marriage certificates, corporate paperwork or court records — in 2020. That number jumped to more than 45,000 in the last fiscal year, which ended at the end of June.

The new online authentication carries the same legal weight as traditional methods in the more than 100 countries that have signed on to a 1961 treaty on apostilles. Henderson said the method will "offer a secure, faster" option for Utahns, who previously had to travel in person to the Capitol or mail their sensitive documents to her office.

"People can now enjoy secure, instant transmission," she said Tuesday. "There's no delay. There's no concern about sending valuable official documents through the mail and hoping nothing gets lost or destroyed. Now, people can choose to keep vital records safely in their own possession while electronic transmissions travel seamlessly around the world."

A pilot program for digital authentication has been in the works for years, but Utah will be the first state to roll out digital apostilles statewide. Digital services aren't available for vital records like birth certificates yet, but the company behind Utah's digital program said it's working with agencies in the state to hopefully make that happen.

"We cannot use a digital for a birth record or death record, primarily because those records are printed upon security paper," said Chris Jackson, CEO of @Gov, who noted that security paper reads "void" if photocopied, making digital authentication difficult. "Typically, countries aren't going to accept a digital apostille when the underlying document says 'void.' ... We are working with vital records officers in actually bridging that gap because they too would like to try and figure ways to go digital."

Jackson compared the encryption of the documents his company does to seals on medicine bottle caps, which verify to document recipients that the authenticated version has not been tampered with.

"We have a tremendous number of security features embedded into the document itself," he added.

Digital apostilles will be more costly than traditional ones. They include the typical service charge for the state plus $70 charged by the vendor. Henderson said the options reflect a "free market approach" where Utahns can choose which service they are willing to pay for.

"As we look at how to modernize government, make it more efficient, we're the leading edge of that," she said. "We've been very careful. We didn't just roll this out. It took several years. ... But it is a big deal, and now that Utah has done it, a lot of other states ... are wanting to do it as well, which I think is just going to benefit everybody."

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