Authenticating & Legalizing a Canadian Vital Statistics Certificate

Vital Statistics certificates can be ordered from the province where they originated. It can usually be done online. Here are the provincial websites that provide information on ordering vital certificates from 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

You can have your new Vital Statistics certificates sent straight to our office for authentication and legalization to save time and additional shipping fees. If you have questions about ordering your Vital Statistics certificate, or you want to know if we can order it on your behalf, don’t hesitate to contact our friendly staff.

Unfortunately, in most cases we cannot order a new Vital Statistics certificate on your behalf. Depending on the province in question and type of document, we may be able to order new Vital Statistics certificates on your behalf. For the most part, you must order the certificates yourself.

To save time and additional shipping costs, you can have it sent directly to our office for authentication and legalization. Contact us to determine whether IDC is eligible to order your Canadian Vital Statistics certificate from the Province where the event took place.

Most often, the answer is yes, you need to authenticate and legalize your Canadian Vital Statistics certificate. The authentication and legalization process allows the recipient in the destination country to see that the document has gone through the appropriate channels. However, every situation is unique and you should confirm with the authority who requested your document whether you need to go through the authentication and legalization process.

If you have questions about the process, don’t hesitate to contact our friendly staff for a free consultation.

Yes. Vital Statistics issues certificates for birth, marriage and death events. The Vital Statistics office in each province issues certificates for life events that were registered within that province. In addition, there are different formats of certificates available depending on how much detail you need. These range from file size, to long-form, to certified copies of the registration.

We can help clarify the types and sources of Vital Statistics certificates. Contact our friendly staff for more information.

The processing time depends on your deadline, your budget, and the processing times at the embassy or consulate of the destination country.

If you decide to handle it yourself by mail, it will take a minimum of six weeks and possibly longer. This is because the mail-in time at Global Affairs Canada is a minimum of 25 business days plus mailing time. Then each embassy or consulate has its own processing time, ranging from 1 day to 4 weeks.

Contact our friendly staff to get a better idea of the time frame for authenticating and legalizing your Vital Statistics certificate. You are also welcome to ask about how we can expedite the process, saving you weeks of processing time.

An “apostille” is a certificate that is attached to a document that comes from a country who has signed the Hague Apostille Convention. Canadian documents will not have an apostille because Canada did not sign the Hague Apostille Convention. The Canadian equivalent to an “apostille” is authentication and legalization.

The process for authentication and legalization (apostille) of your Vital Statistics certificate, is to follow these three steps:

Step 1 – Prepare the document for processing. Vital Statistics certificates must be originals.
Step 2 – Submit the document to Global Affairs Canada for authentication.
Step 3 – Submit the document to the relevant embassy or consulate for legalization.

Contact our friendly specialists for more information on the Canadian version of apostille for your Vital Statistics certificate.

The pricing for authenticating and legalizing a Canadian Vital Statistics certificate will depend on how you decide to handle the process, the speed of service you choose, and the consular fees of the destination country.

We would love to be able to give you a quote for the authentication and legalization of your Vital Statistics certificate. However, every situation is unique and there are several variables that can affect the total cost. Contact a friendly IDC expert to discuss your situation, or visit our pricing web page to see general information about our pricing.

Yes, we can authenticate and legalize your Canadian Vital Statistics certificate on your behalf. We specialize in assisting individuals and companies with this confusing and often stressful process of authentication and legalization. We will handle every step of the process and keep you updated along the way.

Contact one of our experts for a detailed quote and to answer any questions about the authentication and legalization of your Canadian Vital Statistics certificate.