If your public document was issued or is to be used in a country where the Hague Apostille Convention of 1961 does not apply, then the chain legalization process must be followed. There may be initial certification requirements depending on the country and agency who issued the document or the type of document but the 2 most important completion steps usually occur in Washington, DC with the authentication by the US Department of State and the legalization by the foreign embassy/consulate/mission. Please refer to this link for more information on the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention and how it applies to the USA.
WDC Apostille & Legalization Services has strategic presence in Washington, DC where most of the foreign embassies/consulates/missions are located. We also can provide services in New York City. Our branch in Canada- Canada Legalization Services - is located in Ottawa where foreign embassies/consulates/missions to Canada are located. We also have agents in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles and other major North American cities. In essence, we strive to cover the whole of North America in terms of offering exemplary document authentication/apostille and legalization services.
To our customers' benefit, we managed to develop good communication and effective working relationships with many foreign embassies/consulates/missions. Our solid understanding of The Hague Apostille Convention framework and its linkage to other countries' legal systems helps us submit client documents in full compliance with all of the official requirements and receive them back on time without delays.
How to Use Our Consular Legalization Services
Our service fees for consular legalization in Washington, DC can be found via this link. You can also request a specific quote if you are unsure about what you need.
It is super-easy to use our services if you follow the below suggested algorithm of actions:
- You contact us preferably by email explaining your document situation. If it is urgent, you can call us 24/7. Please provide as many details as possible about your documents but the key information we usually need is: 1) who issued them, 2) where you intend to use them, 3) how many you have, 4) are they originals or notarized copies, 5) are there any certifications already done (e.g., by Secretary of State), 6) how fast you need them back and 7) the destination they need to be sent to. If your shipment destination (after processing) is neither in the USA nor in Canada, then we would need the exact address including postal code so that we can give you exact courier quote.
- We will reply by email as well as fast as we can with our comments, suggestions, questions and/or confirmation with preliminary or final quote.
- You can then write us back with additional questions, comments or concerns. Or you may just be satisfied and ready to send your documents.
- At this stage we agree on the course of action and our services. You would make the payment, ship the documents and email us the tracking # so that we can start tracking your inbound shipment and provide you interim updates.
- We will complete your service request and ship the documents back to your agreed destination either in your attached prepaid envelope with filled out air waybill or in our envelope (but we would have to charge you extra for this service). If you prefer, we can scan the completed documents and email them to you prior outbound shipment so you would know that we did indeed do everything as previously discussed.
- After shipment is sent, we will email you the tracking # so that you can monitor the arrival.
Thus, for us to be able to legalize the documents to your full satisfaction, we need to ensure that documents being submitted will not be rejected for any reason. Thus, we strongly advise you to contact us in advance prior sending us any documents so that we can go over the checklist several times.
In general, the documents need to be already authenticated by the U.S. Department of State (we also provide this service as well - please visit this link) which means that all of the requirements for previous stages should have been met by now. Nonetheless, we encourage you to review all the previous steps (notarization, certification and authentication by the state, etc.) using the links in the sidebar navigation to the left.
Thus, WDC Apostille & Legalization Services offers not only consular legalization service at foreign embassies/consulates/missions but also previous services that lead to this final stage of document acceptance by another country (that is not party to The Hague Apostille Convention.
We hope to hear from you soon!
