Apostille Service

What is an Apostille?

An apostille specifies the modalities through which a document issued in one of the signatory countries (Check the list here) can be certified for legal purposes in all the other signatory countries. In other words, It is an international certification comparable to a notarization in domestic law.

An apostille is a type of certification that is issued by the Secretary of State or Ministry of Foreign Affairs of a country (or of a state in the U.S.) that makes a document legal on an international scale.

Just as a notary certifies that a copy is exact or a signature is true, an apostille certifies that a notary or public official is a real legal authority.

This certification is necessary to make any document legally acceptable in Ecuador.

In the United States: The apostille is issued by the US Department of State or the Secretary of a State certifying personal and commercial documents. Official papers or certificates that may require an apostille certificate to be attached are:

Diplomas
Marriage certificates
Birth certificates
Criminal background checks
Commercial documents
Business agreements
FDA, IRS, Certificate to Foreign Government or other Federal Government issued documents.

In Canada: When the Apostille Convention came into effect in Canada on January 11, 2024, authenticated documents will include a standard certificate called an apostille. The apostille eliminates steps required to get documents accepted in countries where the convention is in effect, including the legalization by a consular office of the country of destination. This will simplify the acceptance of Canadian public documents in the more than 120 countries that have signed the convention.

For more official info in Canada click this link.

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