US document notarization may be necessary when you are buying or selling property, or doing business, in the United States (US). However, if you are located outside of the US, you will not be able to readily access a US Notary. This article explains how to easily obtain the notarization of your US document and what steps are required to ensure your document will be accepted.
How to notarize your US document?
Whether you have a power of attorney, an agency agreement, a grant deed, or another document that needs to be signed and sent to the US, the document will need to be notarized by a US notary. How can you sign the document with a US notary if you are not located in the US? Good question!
You can certainly travel to the US to sign the document with a US Notary. However, that is not a practical solution in most circumstances. What is an alternative to travelling to the US? The alternative is to sign the document in front of a Canadian Notary Public which will typically be much more convenient and cost effective.
Once you have signed your document in front of a Canadian Notary Public, you will need to take your notarized document through the document apostille process before it will be recognized in the US. The apostille is a crucial step to ensure that the Canadian Notary Public’s signature will be acceptable.
What is a document apostille?
The document apostille process is a way to confirm the authenticity of a document, so that the document will be officially recognized in other countries. Any country that has signed the Hague Apostille Convention, including Canada and the US, will issue apostille certificates and recognize apostille certificates issues by other countries.
An apostille is an official certificate that is applied to the document to confirm the authenticity of an official document, such as a vital certificate or government issued document, or the notary’s signature on a notarized document.
What is the US Document Apostille Process?
The following process will outline the steps required to apostille a notarized document outside of the US. However, if you have an official US document, such as a birth or marriage certificate, FBI check, or University degree, it will need an apostille from the US. For more information about obtaining a US apostille on an official US document, you may review our services here: US document apostille services
Documents that will be signed in Canada instead of the US will need to go through two specific steps of the document apostille process:
- Notarization: You will need to sign your document in front of a Canadian Notary Public. The Notary Public will witness your signature on the document and then add their own signature and notarial seal to your document. The notarization must be done with wet ink signatures and must include the notary’s embossed seal.
Once notarized, the document is ready for the next step of document apostille.
- Document apostille: A document apostille can be issued by either by Global Affairs Canada, or by a provincial office from where your documents originate; the provincial offices are located in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario. These offices function on a jurisdictional basis depending on where the documents were issued or notarized.
Once you determine which office is the appropriate office for your documents, you will need to research how to prepare and submit your documents, as each apostille office has their own unique procedures, requirements, fees, and timelines. You can click on the links above to access the websites for each office.
Then, send your prepared documents to the designated apostille authority along with any required forms and fees. Once apostilled, your documents are ready to use in United States.
How can we help with US document apostille?
We provide expert assistance with the US document apostille process. As Canada’s leading experts in the document apostille process, we will manage all aspects of the apostille for you, rapidly getting your documents back to you, ready to use.
Contact us for a no obligation consultation. We’ll explain the process, determine the specifics of your situation, and answer your questions.
Are you ready to proceed? Phone us today at 1-888-433-1011, or fill out our brief contact form and we will get right back to you! Fill out our brief contact form and we will get right back to you.
