Quebec is the one province where a notarial act cannot go straight to the apostille authority. Before the provincial ministry will look at it, the notary’s signature has to be certified by their professional order — a step that adds weeks and that most applicants discover only after their package comes back.
The province has issued its own apostilles since Canada joined the Hague Convention (la Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961) on January 11, 2024. The apostille procedure (la procédure d’apostille) is well documented by the Gouvernement du Québec, but it has more moving parts than the equivalent elsewhere in the country.
This guide covers who issues an apostille (une apostille) here, which documents qualify, the authenticity certificate from the Chambre des notaires du Québec, when your file belongs to Global Affairs Canada (Affaires mondiales Canada) instead, and what happens when the destination country has not signed the treaty.
Need help with document apostille/legalization/authentication/attestation — and/or criminal record check in Canada? Contact us via our form, call us at +1-613-501-0555 (WhatsApp available) or +1-800-857-1215 (toll-free), fax us via 1-844-786-2001, or text us at info@lsccanada.ca.
Who Issues the Apostille
The competent authority for Quebec public documents is le ministère de la Justice du Québec, and within it the Direction générale des registres et de la certification physically affixes the certificate. Documents émis par le gouvernement du Canada — federal records — are outside its reach entirely.
Its scope is narrower than people assume. The province does not issue apostilles for documents produced by a federal authority, by a territory, or by another province — those go à Affaires mondiales Canada instead. A federal record held by someone living in Montreal still goes to Ottawa, which is the single most common jurisdictional error here.
The certificate confirms only the origin of the document (l’origine du document), the signature (de la signature) and the seal of whoever signed it. Its purpose is to vérifier l’authenticité de la signature, not to establish la validité juridique du document, and it says nothing about the contents. A document authentifié this way is recognised abroad because of where it came from, not because of what it says. There is also a public register — the Registre des apostilles — where a receiving authority abroad can verify any apostille issued from January 11, 2024 onward.
Which Documents Qualify
Votre document must be an original, or a copy certified by the body that produced it. The type de document decides what has to happen first, and un document qui carries a notary’s signature follows a longer path than one issued directly by a registry.
- Civil status records. A birth, marriage (acte de mariage) or death certificate has to come from the Directeur de l’état civil. Nothing else is accepted.
- Court records. Requested from the clerk’s office in the district where the ruling was made.
- Educational documents. Available for public and private colleges; where a private college is not subsidized or recognized by the Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, an official certificate from a lawyer or notary must accompany it.
- Notarial acts. A marriage contract, will or deed requires a certified true copy from the notary who produced the original, plus the certificate described below.
Two limits catch people regularly. Commissioners for oaths cannot certify copies or administer oaths for affidavits attached to documents destined for an apostille — that work belongs to a lawyer or a notary. And a document written in a language other than French or English must be the subject of an official declaration produced by a lawyer or notary.
The Chambre des notaires Certificate
This is the step unique to the province, and the reason Quebec files run longer than files from Ontario or Alberta.
Where un document carries a notary’s signature, la Chambre des notaires du Québec must first issue an authenticity certificate (un certificat d’authenticité). The Secretary of the Order is the person authorized to certify that a signature belongs to a current or former member of the order, and the certificate confirms that the signature on your document matches the specimen held under the Notaries Act.
The sequence then runs:
- Obtain a certified true copy from the notary who produced the original act
- Obtain the authenticity certificate from the professional order
- Complete the apostille application form published by the Ministère de la Justice
- Mail the form, the document and the certificate to the address indicated
- The Direction générale des registres et de la certification verifies the Secretary’s signature and affixes the apostille
- The apostilled document is returned by mail
Where a lawyer signed instead, the equivalent verification comes from the Barreau. Published turnaround for the notarial route is roughly 20 business days, with an expedited option measured in days; the Barreau is generally faster. Those figures come from the orders themselves rather than from the ministry, so confirm before you plan around them.
Need help with document apostille/legalization/authentication/attestation — and/or criminal record check in Canada? Contact us via our form, call us at +1-613-501-0555 (WhatsApp available) or +1-800-857-1215 (toll-free), fax us via 1-844-786-2001, or text us at info@lsccanada.ca.
Submitting Your Documents
Before completing the form, gather all of the documents to be apostilled — the ministry expects a single application rather than a trickle. Vos documents travel together or not at all. Applications not received within three months of submission are cancelled outright.
Practical points:
- Check the issue date against what the requesting entity abroad expects; recent documents validate faster
- Laminated, glued, illegible or unsigned documents are refused, as are card-format items such as driver’s licences
- For foreign citizenship files, the long-form civil status certificate showing parents’ names is usually the version required
- Return is by regular mail unless a prepaid courier label and a large unfolded envelope are enclosed
- A fee applies per document, set by the ministry
Keep a scan of everything before it leaves your hands; if a package goes missing, the scan is what lets a replacement be ordered quickly instead of reconstructed from memory.
Confirm with the receiving institution whether a translation into a third language is expected. Where one is, the requirement usually attaches to the translation as well as to the original.
The French Terms You Will Meet on the Forms
The ministry publishes its application in French, and so do the professional orders. These are the phrases that appear most often, with what they mean in practice:
- Obtenir une apostille — to apply for the certificate itself
- Légalisation de documents au Québec — the longer route used for non-member countries, covering authentication et la légalisation de documents in sequence
- Les documents émis par une autorité publique — records issued by a public body, eligible directly
- Ces documents doivent être des originaux — a document doit be an original or a certified copy; photocopies are refused
- Les exigences du pays de destination — what the receiving country requires, which the ministry will not advise you on
- Afin de vérifier l’authenticité — the purpose of the whole exercise
- Un document canadien émis hors Québec — anything from another province or du Québec ou d’une autre juridiction goes to the federal office
- Document pour usage à l’étranger — the phrase used on forms for paperwork heading abroad
- Service de certification — the section that processes the request
- Le document et ses annexes — the record and whatever travels with it; le document must be complete before it is sent
- L’authenticité d’un document — what the certificate establishes, and nothing beyond it
- L’adhésion du Canada à la Convention de La Haye — the accession that took effect in January 2024, by which le Canada joined the system
Knowing these saves time on the phone. Officials will use them, and the English equivalents are not always printed alongside. Pour les documents that mix categories — a notarial act plus a civil status record, for instance — expect to complete more than one form.
When the Destination Has Not Signed
Membership in the Convention decides everything. For les pays membres de la convention de La Haye, the apostille finishes the job and no consulate is involved. Where the destination is a signataire de la convention, that single certificate is enough.
For the rest, the older chain d’apostille et de légalisation de documents applies: certification au Canada, then la légalisation at the embassy or au consulat du pays of destination, and often a final ministry stamp after arrival. De légalisation des documents in this form there is no shortcut — it is simply how documents destinés à l’étranger are handled outside the treaty.
The Emirates accounts for most of this work. Fingerprint records, degrees, powers of attorney and civil status documents all pass through the UAE Embassy attestation route in Ottawa, with files bound for Dubai following the same stages. The Qatar and Kuwait missions work the same way with their own requirements. Our overview of what an apostille certifies explains why the two routes cannot be substituted for one another.
If You Need It Faster
Where the deadline is short, one legitimate route is worth knowing. Because the province that handles a file is decided by where the document was notarized, a private document notarized in Ontario is processed by Ontario’s authority — which issues over the counter, usually within hours, against weeks for the notarial route here. Our guides to the apostille process in Canada and to how to get an apostille set out how jurisdiction is determined. This does not work for Quebec civil status records, which must stay with the Directeur de l’état civil and the provincial ministry.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I apostille a photocopy I made myself?
No. The document must be an original or a copy certified by the body that issued it.
My document is federal, but I live in Montreal. Where does it go?
To Affaires mondiales Canada. The province does not certify federal records regardless of where the holder lives.
How do I confirm an apostille is genuine?
Through the provincial register, which covers certificates issued from January 11, 2024 onward.
Does the apostille prove my document is true?
No. It confirms the origin, the signature and the seal — nothing about the contents.
Need Help With Apostille Québec?
Since 2009, Legalization Service Centre has assisted clients with apostille, authentication and legalization of Canadian documents. We coordinate the verification de la Chambre des notaires and the ministry application as one file, and we stay with you tout au long du processus. We also serve French-speaking clients through our Apostille Québec page and our provincial guide to the apostille in Quebec.
Get Your Documents Ready for International Use
Quebec’s system is not harder than the rest of the country, but it has one extra gate. Work out whether your document needs the professional order’s certificate first, confirm whether the file belongs to the province or to the federal authority, and assemble everything into one application.
Whether you need notarization, authentication, an apostille or full legalization for a non-member country, Legalization Service Centre can guide you through every stage.
Need help with document apostille/legalization/authentication/attestation — and/or criminal record check in Canada? Contact us via our form, call us at +1-613-501-0555 (WhatsApp available) or +1-800-857-1215 (toll-free), fax us via 1-844-786-2001, or text us at info@lsccanada.ca.