Apostille or Authentication: How to Determine Your Country Category

Depending on which country your document needs to be presented in, it will fall in one of the two categories below:

Apostille Service Process:

Apostille is a French word meaning certification. It is a one-page certificate issued by authorities at the state or Federal level validating the seal and signature of the official on the document. The certificate contains a seal by the Secretary of State or the US Department of State where applicable.

As per the Hague Convention of 1961, there is a list of countries which require a document to go through the Apostille process prior to being presented. If your document falls under the Apostille process, we will obtain the Secretary of State Apostille certification or the US Department of State Apostille in Washington DC, depending on the type of document.

Document Authentication Process:

For countries which are not signatories to the Hague Convention of 1961, documents are required to go through the authentication process certifying the authenticity of the document before being presented in the country of use.

Although the first steps are similar to the Apostille process, the authentication process does require an additional step of Embassy Legalization by the Embassy of the country in which the document will be presented. After obtaining the US Department of State certification, we will present your document to the Embassy of the respective country to obtain their authentication stamp. This will be the final step, completing the process.

Please refer to the list of countries below to confirm if your document falls into the Apostille or Authentication category.

Countries Party to the Hague Convention of 1961 (Apostille Process)*:

Countries Not Party to the Hague Convention (Authentication Process)*:

*PLEASE NOTE: US AUTHENTICATION SERVICES has provided the above listing of countries based on the information available for countries which are a signing party to the Hague Convention of 1961:  http://hcch.e-vision.nl/index_en.php?act=states.listing

US Authentication Services will not provide services for countries, customers or corporations which fall under the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Sanctions Program.

Ready to Order?

To place an order US Authentication Services please visit our How to Order page or submit your inquiry via the form on this page.