Did you know? There is no single apostille office in Canada. Since January 11, 2024, six different competent authorities issue the certificate — Global Affairs Canada and five provinces — and sending your file to the wrong one is the most common reason it comes back untouched several weeks later.
Working out which office has jurisdiction is genuinely the hardest part. Everything after that is form-filling and postage.
This guide answers the practical questions: who issues apostilles, which public documents are eligible for authentication, whether you need a notary public first, how to authenticate your documents, what translation requires, and what happens when the destination has not signed the Apostille Convention.
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 Apostilles in Canada
Jurisdiction follows the province where the document was issued or notarized.
Global Affairs Canada, through its Authentication Services Section in Ottawa, covers documents issued by the Government of Canada, plus anything issued or notarized in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon.
Five provinces operate their own authority:
- Ontario — Official Documents Services
- Alberta — the Deputy Provincial Secretary’s Office
- British Columbia — the Order in Council Administration Office
- Quebec — the designated provincial authority
- Saskatchewan — the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General
Two local rules decide close cases. Where a document was notarized in Alberta, Ontario or Saskatchewan, that province handles it regardless of where the original was issued. In British Columbia and Quebec, the provincial office can act only when the original was also issued there; otherwise the file belongs to Global Affairs Canada.
Which Documents Are Eligible for Apostille Convention
Two families qualify: documents issued by the government, and private paperwork carrying a notary’s seal.
Issued by the Government
- Birth certificates, marriage certificates and a certificate of divorce
- Death certificates and change of name records
- RCMP criminal record checks and other federal records
- Diplomas, degrees and transcripts
- Corporate filings and certificates of incorporation
Notarized First
A power of attorney, affidavit, statutory declaration or notarized copy of the document you cannot surrender becomes eligible once a Canadian notary public has signed and sealed it. The authority verifies the notary’s specimen signature against its register, which is why the notary’s province decides where the file goes.
Not Eligible
Documents issued outside Canada cannot be handled here at all. Uncertified photocopies, laminated paper, loose pages and illegible seals are all refused. Notarized copies of domestic vital records are a specific exception — the original from the provincial registry is required.
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.
How to Submit Your Document
Each authority publishes its own request form and its own service request rules. A complete package generally contains:
- The completed authentication request form
- The original documents, or properly notarized copies
- Your contact details and the destination country
- Payment, where the authority charges a fee
- A prepaid return envelope or courier waybill
Send by tracked courier. A lost package restarts the entire process, and the replacement document usually has to be reordered from a registry first.
Translation
Canadian offices can only authenticate documents written in English or French. Where a document is written in another language, a certified translation is required, prepared by a certified Canadian translator who is a member of a recognized professional association. The translation is certified by a declaration that is normally sworn before a notary, and the two travel together.
What If the Destination Has Not Signed?
More than 120 countries are members of the Apostille Convention, but not all. Where the destination has not signed, the older route applies in full: authentication in Canada, then legalization at that country’s consulate or embassy, and often a final ministry stamp after arrival.
The Gulf states are the practical example most Canadians meet — the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait all sit outside the system. Obtaining an apostille first does not help those files by a single day. Confirm your destination’s status before choosing a route, since accessions to the Apostille Convention take effect on published dates rather than on announcement.
Fees and What They Cover
Federal apostilles are currently issued at no charge, which surprises people who have paid for the equivalent elsewhere. Provincial authorities set their own fees and these change, so check the current figure before enclosing payment — a cheque for last year’s amount is returned with the package.
What no authority charges for is advice. Nobody at the counter will tell you whether the receiving institution abroad wants the original or a copy, whether an Arabic translation is expected, or whether your destination joined the Convention last spring. Those questions belong to the institution asking for the document, and the answers should be obtained in writing before anything is posted.
Timelines and the Fastest Route
Processing varies widely. Global Affairs Canada takes about 20 business days by mail and offers nothing expedited. Saskatchewan runs three to five business days, Alberta seven to ten, Quebec at least ten plus a compulsory prior verification of the notary’s signature, and British Columbia four to six weeks. Ontario issues over the counter, usually within a few hours of a complete in-person request.
Because jurisdiction follows the notary, an Ontario notarization routes a file to the fastest office in the country no matter where you live. Two ways in: sign the paperwork before an Ontario notary from the outset, or have an Ontario notary certify a true copy of an existing record so the certificate attaches to that copy.
Confirm one point in writing beforehand — some receiving institutions insist on the original and will not accept a certified copy.
Do You Need a Notary First?
The question comes up constantly, and the answer turns on a single distinction. A document issued by a government body already carries a signature the authority can verify, so it needs nothing beforehand. A document produced privately does not, and a notary public supplies the missing element.
That covers a legal document such as a power of attorney, a sworn affidavit, a statutory declaration, a translator’s certification, and any notarized copy of the document where you need to keep the original. In each case the notary’s seal is what gets checked — not the signature of whoever wrote the underlying text.
Where notarization happens matters as much as whether it happens, because the notary’s province determines jurisdiction. A Canadian notary public appointed in one province cannot have their seal verified by another province’s office.
Common Mistakes
- Sending a foreign document. Nothing issued outside Canada can be processed here, however it has been notarized since arriving.
- Assuming an apostille suits every destination. Around a third of the world’s countries are outside the Convention, and paperwork bound for them needs the older route.
- Getting a vital record notarized. Birth, marriage and death certificates should travel as originals from the registry; the notarized copy is usually refused.
- Laminating for protection. It renders the document ineligible, and the damage cannot be undone.
- Sending untracked mail. A lost document often has to be reordered from a registry before the process can restart.
- Skipping the written confirmation. Whether the receiving institution wants the original, a copy, or a translation is knowable in advance and expensive to discover late.
How Long the Certificate Stays Valid
Nothing on the certificate expires. What can expire is the document beneath it — a police check that an institution treats as stale after six months, an identity document renewed since the copy was made, a corporate record superseded by a later filing. Institutions abroad apply their own currency rules, and those rules attach to the underlying paperwork rather than to the certification.
The practical consequence is sequencing. Order time-limited documents last, not first, so that the clock starts as late as possible and the whole package arrives with life left in it.
Need Help With Document Authentication Services?
Since 2009, Legalization Service Centre has assisted clients with apostille, authentication and legalization of Canadian documents. With more than 15 years of experience, our team confirms jurisdiction, checks the package against the requirements, and submits it correctly the first time.
Get Your Documents Ready for International Use
Identify the right authority, confirm the document is eligible, notarize where required, and authenticate your documents in one complete request. Done in that order, an apostille is straightforward. Done out of order, it becomes a month of correspondence.
Whether you need notarization, an apostille, a certified translation, or a Canadian criminal record check, 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.