Need a Power of Attorney (POA) for use in Kazakhstan? You probably have many questions. POAs can be a very handy tool, but often they are not your first choice to accomplish a task. Regardless, POAs have been particularly popular between Canada and Kazakhstan during the course of the pandemic due to travel restrictions and bans. If you can’t be present to conduct a task that you must carry on through with, assign an attorney to act on your behalf!
What is a Power of Attorney?
A POA is a legal document that provides another person (an attorney) with permission to act on your behalf. Typically, you use them for matters concerning financial activities, property transactions and medical decisions on behalf of another. You may need one if, for whatever reason, you cannot be present or are unable to perform a task yourself (i.e. conduct the sale of a property that you are the title-holder to).
How Do You Prepare a POA for use in Kazakhstan?
There are forms that are readily available online that you can customize with the relevant details of yourself and your chosen attorney. You can outline the extent to which they may act on your behalf and set forth limitations to their decision-making. It is important to consider all aspects of the power that you are providing to your attorney. Since they are making important decisions on your behalf, your chosen attorney must be:
- Someone who is capable of making sound decisions
- Someone you can trust and have faith in
While anyone can be your attorney, your chosen individual must not be a spouse, your child, or anyone you consider to be like a child to you.
Attestation of POA for Kazakhstan
Once you prepare a POA here in Canada, you need to have it attested for use in Kazakhstan. Attestation is a 2 step process: authentication and legalization. Both terms are interchangeable and require the same processing of documents.
To complete authentication, you have to submit your documents to Global Affairs Canada located in Ottawa. GAC is the only government body in Canada that processes all document authentications. There are no parallel or equivalent services in Canada for this purpose. It may take the office of GAC up to 2 weeks to complete the process.
But what if you need your documents sooner?
That is often a very long wait-time for many people. You may have important work relying on this that need attending to much sooner. At Legalization Service Centre, we understand the urgency of your requests. We have a solution to have your documents processed at GAC sooner. How? We have been in the business of attestations for many years! Over these years, we built a solid network within GAC and with all of our experience, we know what pitfalls and mistakes to avoid, which speeds up the process even further. All we need from you, is a letter and proof of your urgency to submit to GAC for consideration, and we take care of the rest.
Legalization of Power of Attorney for Kazakhstan?
Once your document has been authenticated (indicated by a large red stamp placed by GAC), it will need to be submitted to the Kazakh embassy. Here, your documents will undergo legalization, which is the name given to the review by the embassy. The Kazakh embassy will review your POA primarily to ensure that the GAC stamp is valid. Moreover, they will check to see that the POA meets all of the standards put in place to allow it to be used in Kazakhstan. Once the embassy is satisfied, they too will place a stamp or certificating indicating that it has been legalized. After these two steps, your power of attorney for Kazakhstan is now ready!
The Final Steps
Authentication and legalization are not necessarily difficult processes once you know what to do. However, if this is just a means to an end for you, then finding out how each step of the process works through personal experience may not be a good use of your time. Moreover, no matter how much research you do, going solo will likely result in unnecessary wait-times and unforeseen delays.
At Legalization Service Centre, this is all we do, all day, every day. From gathering all of the pieces, to having the final documents sent to the right place, we cover all of your tracks so that you don’t have to. We know how tedious paper work can be. We also know that our clients have far more important things to do with their time. So, when you’re ready to have your documents attested, give us a call. We’re happy to chat, even if all you need is more information!
Image Credit: The Kazakh Embassy in Ottawa Official Website