Birth Certificate Apostille

If you need to present your Canadian birth certificate outside of Canada, you may need to have your certificate apostilled. To confirm whether this is necessary, you will need to consult with the person or organization to whom you are sending your birth certificate. They are the authority on what processing is required before they can accept your document. Note that they may tell you that you need to have your birth certificate “apostilled” or “attested” or “authenticated and legalized“.

If you have any questions about the apostille of your birth certificate don’t hesitate to contact our friendly staff for advice.

Yes! We specialize in managing the document apostille (or authentication and legalization) process for people and organizations just like you. We assist you in the preparation process to ensure that your birth certificate will meet the criteria of the process. You send your document to our Ottawa office and we handle the apostille (and the legalization at the embassy or consulate of the destination country, if applicable).

Contact our friendly specialists for more information on how we can assist you with the apostille of your birth certificate and other documents. Call us toll-free at 1-888-433-1011 or send us an online enquiry.

We are commonly asked how long it takes to apostille a Canadian birth certificate. To use your birth certificate abroad, it may need to go through the apostille process. This can be handled yourself by mail (in most cases), or you may hire an apostille service like ours.

The timeline will depend on the destination country and their requirements. You should note that if you make a mistake in how you prepare and submit your birth certificate, it is possible that your document will be returned unprocessed.

If you use IDC to apostille your birth certificate, we will save additional mailing time and our experts will work with you to ensure that everything is in order before your certificate is processed. Contact one of our friendly specialists to get more information on how long the apostille of your birth certificate is likely to take.

Yes! They are wallet size, file size, long-form, and the certified copy of the birth registration.

The standard format for a birth certificate issued by a Canadian province is called a “file size” certificate. The file size certificate contains the basic information of a birth certificate and is about the size of a 5 x 7 photo.

Long-form certificates contain the parental information in addition to the basic birth information. They can range from “file size” to a larger certificate about half the size of a 8 x 11 sheet of paper.

A certified copy of the birth registration can also be issued by your province of birth. This type of certificate contains all the details used to register the birth, such as the citizenship of the parents and their address at the time. This format of birth certificate is the largest and is printed on a 8 x 14 size paper.

In the past, there have been other formats of certificates issued, such as wallet size certificates. Wallet size certificates cannot be processed as they are too small to apply the required stamps of the apostille process.

In Canada, only original file size, long-form, and certified copy of the birth registration formats can go through the apostille process.  If you do not have a long-form birth certificate, you can order one from the province. If you have questions about this process, don’t hesitate to contact our friendly staff.

If your birth certificate is destined for an apostille signatory country, it will need to go through the apostille process in the country of origin. More below on this process.

If your birth certificate is destined for a country that has signed the Hague Apostille Convention, then you will need to have the birth certificate apostilled.

The apostille process requirements will depend on the origins of your document. Some provinces have their own apostille offices (AB, BC, ON, QC, SK), and others do not. Those that do not have their own provincial offices will fall under the jurisdiction of Global Affairs Canada.

If your birth certificate is destined for a country that has not signed the Hague Apostille Convention, it will need to go through the steps to authenticate and legalize a Canadian birth certificate. These steps are document preparation,  document authentication, and document legalization.

Step 1) Document preparation is the initial step of determining whether you have the correct format certificate and if it meets the criteria of the subsequent steps.

Step 2) Document authentication is done through Global Affairs Canada of the appropriate provincial office. They authenticate the original signature on the certificate.

Step 3) Document legalization is the final step and is done at the embassy or consulate of the destination country.

How you decide to proceed may depend on your deadline and budget. You can manage the process yourself by mail, or hire a service like ours to handle on your behalf. Feel free to contact our friendly specialists for a free consultation to discuss your specific document needs.

Preparing a birth certificate for the apostille process means verifying the format and requirements in advance. Unlike many other types of documents, birth certificates Do Not need to be notarized first. Original Vital Statistics documents can be apostilled on the original.

It may be possible for you to apostille a copy of your birth certificate (a certified true copy made by a Notary Public). However, that will depend on the recipient’s requirements (do they accept copies) and the place of origin (which determines the jurisdiction of the apostille office).

For more specific information on how your birth certificate needs to be prepared contact our friendly specialists for a free consultation, or alternatively you can consult Global Affairs Canada and the relevant embassy or consulate of the destination country.

With many documents, notarization is required before they can be apostilled. However, original long-form birth and other vital certificates (death, marriage) do not typically need to be notarized. They can be submitted for an apostille as is. Additionally, Global Affairs Canada does not accept notarized copies of vital certificates, like birth certificates. Original official long-form certificates issued by the province are required.

Contact our friendly specialists if you have any questions about notarization and birth certificates.

If you do not have your birth certificate, or your birth certificate is not in the correct format, you can easily order a new one. Most provinces provide an online service for ordering new vital statistics documents. Many of our clients also have their new certificates sent straight to our office to save time and additional shipping fees. Here are the websites that provide information on ordering certificates in your Province or Territory:

• Alberta 
• British Columbia  
• Saskatchewan
• Manitoba 
• New Brunswick
• Newfoundland and Labrador
• Northwest Territories
• Nova Scotia
• Nunavut
• Ontario
• Prince Edward Island
• Quebec
• Yukon

If you have any questions about ordering your birth certificate, don’t hesitate to contact our friendly staff for assistance.

We can certainly help you determine how to order a new birth certificate. However, in most cases, we cannot order it for you because we do not have the authority to handle it on your behalf.

Once you have determined which format of birth certificate you require for the destination country, it can be ordered from the appropriate province. Here is a helpful list of provincial websites to order your birth certificate.

• Alberta 
• British Columbia  
• Saskatchewan
• Manitoba 
• New Brunswick
• Newfoundland and Labrador
• Northwest Territories
• Nova Scotia
• Nunavut
• Ontario
• Prince Edward Island
• Quebec
• Yukon

 Contact us to discuss the specifics of the situation and how we can be of assistance.

Birth certificates issued by Canadian provinces can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks to arrive, depending on the issuing province and the type of certificate ordered (i.e. standard certificates or copies of the birth registration). In some circumstances, the delivery of a newly ordered birth certificate can be expedited for an additional fee.

For information on whether your province offers expedited birth certificate delivery check their website, or contact your friendly IDC specialist.

Many of our clients choose to have their newly ordered birth certificates delivered directly to our office in Ottawa, saving valuable time. When having it sent directly to us, we will confirm when it arrives and can begin the apostille process as soon as it arrives. To do this, have the birth certificate delivered to our address as follows:

[Your Name]
903 Carling Ave, Suite 200
Ottawa, ON  K1Y 4E3

Make sure to let us know that your birth certificate will be sent directly without a workform number on the package. If you have any questions about how to have your birth certificate delivered directly to our Ottawa office, contact one of our friendly specialists.

In Canada, the terms apostille and attestation both refer to the process of having your document submitted and approved by the competent government authority in Canada.

Around the world, different terms are used to describe the process of certifying a document for use in another country. If you have been told you need to have a birth certificate with an apostille, or authentication and legalization, or attestation, they refer to the country of origin’s process of document verification.

Once you have confirmed that you have the correct format birth certificate and you know the requirements of the destination country, you can start the process.

The process itself will be determined by where the birth certificate was issued.

Feel free to contact our friendly specialists for more information on the apostille and attestation of Canadian documents. We can expedite the process and make sure your documents have been prepared correctly. Call us toll-free at 1-888-433-1011 or send us an online enquiry.

To determine the pricing for the apostille of a Canadian birth certificate, we would need to know where it was issued and where it will be used abroad. We would also need to know if there are additional documents and how you would like the certificate shipped once completed.

When you contact us for your free consultation, one of the first things we’ll do is provide you with a detailed quote, so you understand exactly what is involved and how much it costs. Contact a friendly IDC expert for your free consultation.  Or visit our website to see general information about our pricing.