Do you need to send official documentation overseas? Vancouver Apostille is Vancouver's leading Apostille office. We provide guaranteed one-stop apostille service to individuals, companies, and other law firms. As Canada has now ratified the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention, your documentation needs to be properly apostilled to establish its authenticity overseas.
This article explains the ins and outs of the international notarization and apostille process, and how Vancouver Apostille can assist.
We're proudly local; not a national or Ontario business that attempts to match you up with a contracting notary here in Vancouver. Dealing directly with us is a huge advantage. If you have any questions, or want to book an appointment, please send us an email or call us at 604-685-2326.
Vancouver is a global city, and the people who live here have connections around the world. Perhaps you're doing business in Brazil, selling property in the USA, getting married in Mexico, teaching English in Japan, incorporating a company in Great Britain, travelling to Australia, or working in overseas... the list goes on and on. And there are just as many reasons why you might need to send official documentation overseas. You might need to notarize a document. Maybe you need your signature to be legally witnessed and notarized. You might need to send certified copies of corporate certificates, licenses, identification, transcripts, passports, qualifications, diplomas, etc... Or quite often, our clients need a power of attorney to be sent overseas for real estate transactions. In all these cases, before a document can be sent overseas, its authenticity will need to be verified. To do this, a document must be notarized and apostilled - our niche area of practice.
The purpose of international document notarization and Apostille certification is to solve a practical problem: how can civil and judicial officials reliably verify the authenticity of a document which was issued in another country? The solution is the apostille certification, where a Canadian lawyer's or notary public's signature and qualifications are validated for international use. We'll go into more detail below, but in effect, this is how apostille certification works:
So, what you really end up with is the verification of the notarization of your documentation.
Unfortunately, bureaucracy and 'red tape' combine to make this process very cumbersome. Most people are unfamiliar with the apostille process. For important documentation being sent overseas, you need to get it right the first time. At Vancouver Apostille, we know the ins and outs of international verification of documents, so we can help.
When you sign a document in Canada, or make a copy of a document in Canada for use abroad, it must be notarized and apostilled. This process confirms the authenticity of the original document, the registration of the notary or lawyer in their respective governing body, and verifies their signature and seal as being 100% authentic. Once a notarized document has been apostilled, it becomes legal and valid for use in the foreign apostille jurisdiction.
Apostille certification is essentially an international notarial seal that many countries, including Canada, use to authenticate documents. There are two steps to the Apostille process:
This is a simple procedure whereby you visit our office with your ID and the document you need to be witnessed or certified as a true copy. For signature notarizations, we check your ID, and observe as you sign the document. We then attach the signed document to our notarial certificate and apply our signature, stamp, and notarial seal to confirm your identity, and the validity of your signature. For certified true copies (notarized copies), we take a photocopy of your document and compare it with the original to ensure it is a true copy. We then attach the true copy to our notarial certificate and apply our signature, stamp, and notarial seal to certify that the attached copy is a true copy of the original.
So basically, a signature notarization or notarized/certified copy is the procedure that a notary takes to confirm that your signature or copied document is authentic. When necessary, a certified translation of your documentation is added to the notarial certificate. We work closely with a certified translators in over 100 languages.
The notarized document is then certified by the BC provincial or Canadian federal authority to confirm that the notary or lawyer's signature and status are authentic. An apostille clerk physically compares the signature and seal of a notary or lawyer with the samples registered on file to confirm authenticity. The clerk also confirms that the lawyer or notary is a member in good standing with their respective governing body. Once these tasks are completed, an apostille certificate is permanently attached to the notarized document with an metal eyelet.
Once the notarized document is apostilled, the document is legally valid for use in the foreign country. It is then returned to our office. We can either give it to you, or courier it to your overseas lawyer or family on your behalf.
The traditional method for authenticating documents was the authentication chain method (authentication and legalization). However, by the early 1960's, this method was seen by most countries as slow, cumbersome and costly. So, on October 5, 1961, the Apostille Convention was enacted to facilitate circulation of documents around the world. In countries that are signatories to the Apostille Convention, including Canada, the authentication process is done via a notarization, and the issuance of an apostille certificate. Since 1961, many countries have become signatories to the Apostille Convention.
The objective of the Apostille Convention was to eliminate the requirements of diplomatic or consular legalization, and thus replace the cumbersome chain authentication method described above, which requires verification by multiple authorities. Apostille certification is basically the equivalent of an international notarial seal. An apostille certificate is a standardized form that has exactly ten numbered items of information. Once the notarization is completed by the notary, the apostille certificate is attached to the document. An apositille certificate confirms that the signature, seal or stamp on the main document is genuine. Every Apostille Convention signatory country must accept apostille certificates from other signatory countries.
The term 'apostille' comes from the word postille (French for, marginal note or notation), which originally came from post illa verba (Latin for, "after these words"). During the negotiations for the Hague Convention, the term 'apostille' was chosen due to its novelty. According to a reporter at the time, "Following a discussion on terminology, the word 'apostille' may have been preferred because of its appealing novelty". It was adopted by 7 votes to 3, the other suggestion having been 'attestation'."
Vancouver Apostille would be pleased to assist you with your international notarization and apostille requirements.
Vancouver Apostille's founder and principal, Adam Brosgall, is an experienced Vancouver lawyer, Notary Public, and BC Commissioner of Oaths. He is fully qualified, licensed, and insured to handle international notarizations and apostille certification. If you have any questions, please feel free to send us an email, or call 604-685-2326 to book an appointment. We look forward to seeing you.
