US Legalization

Non- Apostille Countries is a reference to all  countries that didn’t join the Hague Apostille Convention and still require embassy legalization to acknowledge the validity of a foreign document.

Click here to see  a list of all countries that require embassy legalization

The Apostille Stamp is the simplified form of international authentication that was first introduced in 1961 during the Hague Apostille Convention to abolish foreign document legalization requirements and to replace its complicated procedures with a much more simpler form, which is the “ Apostille”.

However, there are more than 75 countries across the globe that still require the legalization of its embassy in Washington DC to validate the use of US documents.

We will go through the required procedures to legalize a US document for use in a non-Hague Country. You have to follow these steps in the same order:

1. County Clerk Certification and State notarization
2. Secretary of State “ Certification”
3. US Department of State authentication
4. Stamp of the US Arab Chamber of Commerce ”for certain countries only”
5. Embassy or consulate legalization

The first step is to get your document notarized by a licensed notary public in your State, and then get the notary signature certified by your local County Clerk

Contact the office of the Secretary of State in your State to obtain the”Certificate of Authentication”. You must attach a request form with your request, stating the destination country, in which you are going to use your document in. There are 50 offices for the Secretaries of State across the United States

After obtaining State Certification from your local Secretary of State office, you must send your document to Washington DC for State Dep. authentication. The process usually takes about 4 business days, and costs $8.00 per document.

The Chamber stamp is required for document destined for use in the Arab World. The importing country or company request to stamp the document from the local Chamber of Commerce. The following countries require the stamp of the local chamber of commerce to acknowledge foreign documents :

The last step is to contact the embassy of the destination country in Washington DC to obtain the embassy stamp. The process takes several days and varies from one embassy to another. After you obtain embassy legalization for your document, it will be ready for use outside the United States.

Any corporate document issued by a US corporation. Company issued documents require prior notarization before a licensed notary public in the same State that issued the document.

Examples of Corporate documents including, but not limited to:-

It is a document used for the exportation of goods and products outside the United States. An export document must be signed by a corporate agent and notarized by a notary public before it can be eligible for the Secretary of State certification.

Examples of Export documents including, but not limited to:-

Educational documents or academic credentials must be issued by the public/ private schools/ universities in your State. Educational documents must be signed by the school/ university registrar and notarized by a commissioned notary public before it can be certified from the Secretary of State.

Examples of Educational Documents including, but not limited to:-

Vital records are documents issued by the state agencies such as the local health departments and doesn’t require a prior notarization.

Examples of Educational Documents including, but not limited to:-

Documents issued by federal entities or agencies such as the FDA, the FBI, the USPTO, the EPA, the USDA, the SSA, the IRS, and department of Homeland Security, require authentication from the US State Department in Washington DC.

Examples of Federal Documents including, but not limited to:-

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