Applying for an apostille

Before submitting your apostille request, please check the prerequisites for your documents by consulting the sections About apostille and Bodies that issue public documents.

You must have the following information and documents on hand before submitting your request:

• Recipient country
• Your contact information
• If paying online, a credit card; otherwise a bank draft or money order
• Document(s) to be authenticated
  • Make sure your document’s issue date meets the requirements of the requesting entity.
  • To facilitate validation, try to use recent documents.
  • You must check whether a document needs to be apostilled if the recipient country requires that it be translated into a language other than French or English.

Before completing the apostille application form, ensure you have all the documents to be apostilled. Any apostille application not received within 3 months will be canceled. You will need to complete a new application after this period.

Fees will apply.

To request an apostille:

• Fill out the form
• Select a method of payment (credit card, money order or bank draft)
• Print the form – Please do not staple the form to the document
• Attach all documents that are the subject of the same apostille together so they are easy to distinguish and don't cause mix-ups when the request is being processed
• Use an envelope large enough to avoid damage to your documents when the envelope is handled
• Mail the form along with the document(s) to be authenticated to:

To cancel a request, you can contact our customer service department.

Your apostilled documents will be returned to you by regular mail, without a tracking number.

You have the option of using a courier service or Canada Post’s expedited shipping service at your own expense to receive your apostilled documents. If you choose this option, make sure to do the following:

• pay the shipping and customs fee, if applicable;
• pay the fee for pickup at our office, where applicable. For more information, contact the courier service;
• include an envelope and prepaid shipping label with your request form and the document(s) to be authenticated. The envelope must be large enough (minimum 8.5 x 11  in.) to avoid having to fold your documents;
• keep the tracking information.

We do not cover any of the costs for this process. Envelopes with insufficient paid postage will be returned by regular mail.

Access the online form

A $66.50 fee applies for each document. You can pay by credit card, money order or bank draft payable to the Register Fund of the Ministère de la Justice. Personal cheques are not accepted.

For example:

• Your request contains a birth certificate to be authenticated. The fee is $66.50.
• Your request contains three documents: your birth certificate, your son’s birth certificate and his college diploma. The cost will be 3 times $66.50, for a total of $199.50.

This guide outlines the main steps for preparing your document and applying for an apostille.

See the document

Read Canada’s statement

Read the Apostille Convention

Act respecting Apostilles