Order the proof your next transaction will ask for.

A certificate of status, a certified charter copy, and an apostille each prove something different. Select the document that matches the receiving party’s requirement.

Certificate of status

Good standing / existence

BREG calls the document a Certificate of Good Standing or Certificate of Compliance. The listed fee is $5.00, with a $10.00 expedited option, and the document can be ordered through the selected business record in Hawaii Business Express. Online availability and delivery depend on the July 2026 portal transition; email, mail, fax, or in-person requests are also accepted and can take longer.

Open certificate service ↗

Certified records

Charter and filing copies

BREG lists certification at $10.00 and reproduction at $0.25 per page; the State Archives preservation fee adds $1.00 where applicable. BREG's FAQ also describes a regular-copy flat charge for certain requests and says certified copies add $10.00, so the live document order should be used to distinguish a regular copy from a certified reproduction and calculate the exact total. Online purchase is available from the record's Buy Available Docs tab.

Ask the recipient whether it needs a plain copy, a certified copy, a long-form certificate, or a certificate of authority.

Choose the evidence

The document request should follow the transaction.

A certificate of good standing or existence typically confirms that the entity appears active or current in the state registry at the time the certificate is issued. It may be needed to open a bank account, qualify in another state, satisfy a lender, complete a merger, or support a commercial contract.

A certified copy reproduces a filed public instrument with the agency’s certification. This is the appropriate request when the receiving party needs to review the entity’s formation document, a charter amendment, a conversion, a merger, or a dissolution instrument.

Neither document should be casually described as tax clearance. A state registry certificate may not establish that the entity has paid franchise, income, employment, sales, use, local, or industry-specific taxes.

International use

Apostille path, without the guesswork.

Hawaii entity documents are first obtained as certified BREG records and then submitted for state authentication/apostille through the Hawaii Lieutenant Governor's Apostilles and Certifications service, not through the entity-search page. BREG's certification fee is $10.00 plus applicable copying and Archives charges; the apostille office's current fee, mailing address, and processing time were not established from the accessible BREG pages and should be verified at https://ltgov.hawaii.gov/the-office/apostilles-and-certifications/ before filing. The destination country determines apostille versus authentication.

01 · Confirm destination

Ask the receiving authority whether it requires an apostille, authentication, legalization, translation, or a recently issued certificate.

02 · Certify first

Many state authentication offices require a qualifying certified document before they can authenticate the signature or seal.

03 · Preserve the chain

Keep the original certificate, apostille, receipt, delivery record, and any translation together in the transaction file.

Before you pay for a document

Confirm the exact legal name and entity ID in the live public record.
Check whether the status is active and whether a delinquent report must be filed first.
Identify the required date window; some recipients will reject an older certificate.
Choose electronic delivery only if the recipient accepts a digital document.
Confirm whether the document must be certified, notarized, apostilled, or translated.

When the transaction is material, order the document directly from the designated agency or through its official system. Commercial document vendors may add a service fee for an item that the state makes available directly.