San Diego, CA - San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk (ARCC) Jordan Z. Marks saved hundreds of San Diego residents a trip to Los Angeles or Sacramento with in-person apostille services on Wednesday, June 11 at Marks’ Downtown San Diego waterfront offices at the County Administration Center.

An Apostille Pop-Up Shop event, held in partnership with the California Secretary of State, helped hundreds of people authenticate their international documents. Apostille is the process that certifies the authenticity of documents for international use, including birth, death and marriage certificates, educational documents for university students’ international travel, military documents and other documents required for business on the border. The authentication involves a signature by a public official.

Normally, in-person apostille services are available only at California Secretary of State offices in Sacramento and Los Angeles. Apostille services can be processed by mail, but there’s a chance of not correctly filling-out documents without review by a government worker. Plus, there’s a four-to-six-week wait time. Marks said the San Diego Apostille Pop-Up Shop on June 11 helped local residents avoid traveling to Sacramento or Los Angeles for in-person apostille services.

At the most recent Pop-Up Shop event, San Diego ranked No. 1 in processing apostille documents, highlighting the significant need for the Secretary of State to bring back these services to the county. The Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk’s office implements this fully functional program in partnership with officials from the California Secretary of State, who certify documents at the event. Marks said among the individuals helped on June 11 included a military member getting a driver’s license certified for a deployment overseas, several marriage certifications and international students getting diplomas verified before returning to home countries.

According to the California Secretary of State, 812 customers were served with a total of 2,478 apostilles issued on June 11. That’s an increase from the previous most-recent in-person apostille pop-up shop event held March 12, when 804 customers were served with a total of 2,083 apostilles issued. The percentage increase for apostilles issued between the two events held March 12 and June 11 was an impressive 18.96%.

“This event was a great success and we’re grateful for Jordan Marks and his staff who helped us serve the people of California in the best way possible,” said Dr. Shirley Weber, California Secretary of State.

Marks said, “As your elected advocate, I proactively sought out this great opportunity to partner with the Secretary of State and bring this Sacramento service to San Diego, so I can save San Diegans the tremendous expense in time and money from having to go to Los Angeles or Sacramento for this service.”

“Our Apostille Pop-Up Shop showed there is a huge demand for this Sacramento service in San Diego,” Marks said. “Secretary of State Dr. Weber and I were able to see this demand firsthand and together we can advocate for this to become a permanent service in San Diego to better serve our military, students, families and small businesses that do business on the border.”

This is the second year the Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk’s Downtown San Diego office has hosted apostille services provided by the California Secretary of State. Last year there were three pop-up dates where hundreds of people showed-up at the ARCC office. In 2024, the Secretary of State reported that 1,329 customers were served and a total of 2,854 apostilles were issued during three San Diego pop-up apostille events. 

📽️ Catch a behind-the-scenes moment from the pop-up event! Watch the quick video highlight here.

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The San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk (ARCC) Office, with more than 450 employees and five offices in San Diego County, oversees assessing the value of real estate and personal property, which in San Diego includes planes and boats. Property taxes constitute the largest share of revenue for the county. San Diego is the fifth largest Assessor jurisdiction in the U.S. Since his November 2022 election to a four-year term, Marks has ushered in an award-winning, marriage appointment service and systems that provide record-high, property tax relief for veterans, homeowners, and seniors. He also has modernized systems leading to more online services and reducing paper waste. . Marks was awarded the 2024 San Diego County Taxpayer Watchdog award for saving taxpayers millions of dollars in property taxes. Marks is a California Certified Property Tax Appraiser, a California licensed attorney and a certified cybersecurity executive from the University of San Diego. To contact the ARCC office, visit www.sdarcc.gov, or call 619-236-3771.