Requirements for service of process abroad are complex. Please review applicable requirements, some of which may be accessed on the website for the U.S. Department of State via https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal-considerations/judicial/service-of-process.html. See also Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(f).

The Clerk’s Office is unable to give legal advice with regard to which rules, regulations, statutes, conventions, and/or treaties may apply in a particular case or whether documents you prepare and we issue at your request comply with international service requirements.

For service documents that require judicial approval, please file a request in the case record. For service documents that require the Clerk’s signature or action and need not be filed in the case record, please submit documents to the Clerk’s Office in the division in which your case is pending.

In all instances in which procedures require a Judge or the Clerk to affix an ink signature to documents that contain other ink signatures, please contact the Operations Assistance Team at 214.753.2240. You will be asked to hand deliver or mail the documents to the Clerk’s Office. The Operations Assistance Team will coordinate with the divisional manager or supervisor to ensure that any documents that are signed in ink by a Judge or the Clerk are returned to you in the original format. In instances in which applicable procedures require the Clerk’s Office to address and mail service documents, please bring documents to the Clerk’s Office in the division in which your case is pending in a suitable package with pre-paid postage applied in accordance with the rates of the U.S. Postal Service (or private courier, if you believe the use of such is appropriate) for international mailings (e.g., U.S. Postal Service international flat-rate packaging). Please also bring: 1) receipt of payment, 2) any return receipt cards and/or documentation that may be required by the applicable service of process procedures, and 3) any customs forms or other documentation that may be required for international shipping. A Clerk’s Office employee will affix addresses on the packaging and dispatch the package. If you do not feel your circumstance permits for pre-paid postage to be applied to your package, please contact the Operations Assistance Team at 214.753.2240 for further instructions.