If you live in Texas and receive a pension from Nicaragua's social security institute, the INSS, you must periodically certify that you are still alive so payments are not suspended. And if a Nicaraguan relative has passed away and you are entitled to a survivor's benefit, you may need to send a US death certificate to Nicaragua in a form the INSS will accept. In both situations, a Texas document usually has to be apostilled before it carries legal weight in Nicaragua.

When a relative dies in Texas leaving a bank account in China, or when you need to operate or close a Chinese account from the United States, the bank will require US documents that carry an apostille together with a certified Chinese translation. A Texas death certificate or power of attorney has no effect in China until it is authenticated. This page explains the apostille and what Chinese banks expect.

Losing a relative who held a bank account in Honduras leaves a Texas family with a practical hurdle: the bank will not release the funds until it sees who the heirs are and confirms the death, and it needs those documents in a form Honduras will accept. That process begins in Texas with an apostille and a Spanish translation.

When a relative dies in Texas leaving a bank account in Vietnam, or when you need to settle a Vietnamese account from the United States, the bank will require authenticated US documents. A Texas death certificate or power of attorney carries no weight in Vietnam until it is legalized and translated. This page explains how authentication works, including the important date on which the apostille takes effect.

If you live in Texas and receive a pension from China, you must periodically verify that you are still alive and qualified to keep the payments coming. And if a relative in China has passed away, you may need an apostilled US death certificate to claim a benefit or a share of the estate. This page explains China's online verification system, when an apostille is useful, and how the Texas process works.

If you are an overseas Vietnamese (Viet Kieu) living in Texas and a relative in Vietnam has passed away, you may be entitled to an inheritance, a benefit, or a share of an estate. To claim it, US documents such as a death certificate, birth certificate, or marriage certificate usually have to be authenticated for use in Vietnam and translated into Vietnamese. This page explains how the process works from Texas and what changes in September 2026.

If you live in Texas and need to buy, sell, or manage real estate in mainland China, you will usually need a power of attorney so a relative or agent there can act on your behalf. The good news is that the process changed dramatically in late 2023. Older guidance that says "an apostille is not recognized in China" is now outdated. China joined the Hague Apostille Convention, and consular legalization for documents like yours has been abolished.

If you live in Texas and need to buy, sell, or inherit real estate in Mexico, you will almost always need a power of attorney so that someone in Mexico, often a relative or a local attorney, can act on your behalf. A Texas power of attorney does not automatically work south of the border. Before a Mexican notario público will honor it, the document has to be authenticated and then folded into the Mexican notarial system. Getting the order of operations wrong is the most common reason a real estate closing in Mexico stalls.

If you live in Texas and receive a Social Security System (SSS) retirement pension from the Philippines, you must confirm every year that you are still alive to keep your pension active. And if a relative has died and you are entitled to a survivor pension or a share of an estate, you may need an apostilled power of attorney so someone in the Philippines can act for you. This page explains where an apostille helps, where it is not needed, and how the Texas process works.