Authentication and Legalization of Documents Filed in another Country

Authentication or legalization of documents is the procedure that gives official and legal validity to documents issued in Canada that are to be used in another country. CRAC can take care of it for you.

As a first step, we file your documents with the competent authority or professional agency that will proceed with authentication by ensuring the signature appearing on the document is from a person that is either a commissioner of oath, a notary public, or an attorney-at-law duly registered to practice in that jurisdiction. If said person is in good standing, an official seal is then placed on the document which can then no longer be changed in any way.

The next step is to have the document legalized by the relevant foreign country. The consular services of the embassy in question will verify the stamp affixed on the documents. Once the embassy has deemed the stamped document to be valid they will affix their country's seal or stamp establishing that the document is certified for use in that country only.

The procedure may vary from country to country.

Authentication may be obtained for documents such as:

• Articles of Incorporation
• Articles of Amendment
• Articles of Continuance
• Power of Attorney
• Birth Certificate
• Death Certificate
• Marriage Certificate and records
• Educational documents