Apostille a Canadian Certificate of Residency

A Certificate of Residency issued by the Canada Revenue Agency will require notarization in order to meet the criteria of the apostille process. A Canadian Notary Public can make a certified true copy of the Certificate of Residency for processing. However, in some cases the notarization must be done on the original itself because there are some countries that will only accept original documents. It is important to research these details in advance of having your document notarized.

Contact an IDC expert for more information on preparing your document for apostille. You may also call us toll-free at 1-888-433-1011.

In many cases, in order for your Certificate of Residency to be submitted abroad for tax status purposes, it will first need to be notarized and apostilled. This process of signature verification is used to show the recipient abroad that it meets the criteria outlined by their Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

You may be asked to attest or apostille the Certificate of Residency. These terms, attestation and apostille, both refer to the same process in Canada.

To find out if the apostille is necessary for your Certificate of Residency, you can contact the authority that has made the request in the destination country. They will be able to advise you of the need to have it apostilled. Contact our document specialists for more information on your Canadian Certificate of Residency.

Yes, a Certificate of Residency will need to be notarized by a Canadian Notary Public before it can be apostilled. To have your Certificate of Residency notarized, you will need the notary public to put their signature and seal on your document, along their statement of execution.

If you have verified with the recipient in the destination country and the embassy or consulate in Canada that they will accept a notarized copy of the document, you can have a certified true copy made for processing. Otherwise, you should notarize directly on the original certificate.

For further clarification about this process, contact our expert staff.

Certificates of Residency are issued by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Individuals and Corporations can request a Certificate of Residency for a given tax year in order to prove Canadian residency and take advantage of tax relief. You will need to make the request in writing for the Certificate of Residency and include the following:

Individuals:

• full name and address
• social insurance number
• name of the foreign country
• year for which the certification is required

Corporations:

• business name and business number
• mailing address
• name of the foreign country
• year for which the certification is required

CRA has stated that it takes 8-10 weeks for the request for the Certificate of Residency to be processed. More details can be found on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website.

Feel free to contact us to discuss how we can help you with the apostille of your Certificate of Residency. Call us toll-free at 1-888-433-1011 or send us an online enquiry.

If you manage the apostille of your Certificate of Residency on your own by mail, it may take 2-5 weeks, and can take longer. It will need to go to the appropriate apostille office that holds jurisdiction over where your document was issued and/or notarized.

If the document is destined for a non-apostille country, there will be an additional step of legalization. The final step of legalization can take anywhere from 1 day to a few weeks depending on the diplomatic mission.

If there are any errors in the preparation of the Certificate of Residency (or the supporting documents for embassies), your document will likely be returned unprocessed.

Contact an IDC expert for a more detailed estimate of how long it will take if we handle the apostille of your Certificate of Residency on your behalf.

If you have been told to “apostille” or “attest” your Certificate of Residency, it will need to be prepared and then submitted to the appropriate apostille office on Canada. Apostille and attestation are terms used in other countries referring to a form of document verification. In Canada, these terms refer to the same process.

For more information on how apostille or attestation works in Canada, contact our friendly staff for a free no-obligation quote.

There are two or three important steps to the apostille process for your Certificate of Residency:

Step 1 – Prepare the document for processing
Step 2 – Submit the document to the appropriate apostille office (last step for apostille countries)
Step 3 – Submit the document to the relevant embassy or consulate for legalization (if applicable)

Feel free to click on each of the above steps for more information, or contact us today. We would be happy to provide you with more information about the apostille process.

The cost for obtaining the apostille on a Certificate of Residency can vary depending on the destination country, your deadline, and your budget. Before we can provide you with a detailed quote, we will need to determine where you need to use your Certificate of Residency and exactly which of our services your require. Each situation is unique and we build your quote to your specific needs.  Contact our friendly specialists to get a quote, or visit our pricing page for more general information on our pricing.