Apostille & Consular-embassy Legalization
L.A. Document Services specializes in handling both the Embassy Legalization and Apostille process for our customers with speed and efficiency.
The process for Embassy Legalization is very much dependent on the type of document and specific requirements of the destination country.
We can very broadly outline the process through the three categories of documents and the procedure required for authentication:
1. Government Document/s – are any document/s or certificate/s issued by a Federal, State or Local govt. entity.
The Embassy Legalization process for this type of document/s includes processing your document/s with the U.S. Department of State Authentications Division in Washington, D.C. and the Embassy of the destination country. Please note, for personal documents like birth, marriage, death and divorce certificates, you must legalize your document with the Secretary of State in the State that your document was issued. If it is not in DC and Maryland, LA Document Services can provide this additional service for you.
2. General Document/s – are any document or certificate NOT issued by a Federal, State or Local govt. entity. This is the largest catch-all category.
The Embassy Legalization process for this type of document/s includes processing your document/s with a local Notary, certification by the appropriate Secretary of State or D.C. Treasury (if L.A. Document Services completes the process on your behalf), the U.S. Department of State Authentications Division in Washington, D.C., and the Embassy of the destination country.
3. Commercial/Shipping Document/s – are documents used for shipping product out.
The legalization/authentication process for Commercial/Shipping Documents is highly variable based on destination country. This is primarily because some Apostille/Hague Convention countries require that you follow a separate legalization process with your shipping/documents. On the other hand, for many countries, the legalization of documents is not required.