Notarizations and Authentications
Notarizations and Authentications
Please make an appointment for a notarial service.
Please review your document carefully and understand the contents of your document before coming to the Embassy for the notarization. If a lawyer has provided directions, please bring those with you to the Consular Section.
Do not sign your document at home; if an officer is notarizing the signature, then the document must be signed in the presence of the officer.
The Consular Section does not provide blank forms for Powers of Attorney. You must bring your own form for notarization.
Please review your document carefully and place sticky notes on the pages which require a notary's signature. Please note that each signature costs $50. There may be two signatures on one sheet of paper; the cost would then be $100. Or, your document could have fifty pages, but if there are only three places for a notarization, then the cost is $150.
Your document may require a witness; it is your responsibility to provide a witness; no Consular Section employee can be a witness for you. The witness must also sign in the presence of the consular officer.
If you are not a U.S. citizen, your document must be for use in the United States.
Authentications
The consular section authenticates the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' stamp for birth certificates. Each authentication is $50.
All documents originating in the United States (such as marriage certificates and university degrees) must follow the following chain of authentication: local (city/county/university registrar) notary, state notary, U.S. Department of State, and finally the Embassy of Bahrain in Washington, DC. The U.S. Embassy in Manama cannot authenticate documents originating in the U.S. for use in Bahrain.
Certified Copies
The Consular Section can make certified copies of original documents for use by U.S. citizens. The consular section can also make certified copies for foreign nationals who will use the document in the United States. Bring the original to the Consular Section and employees of the Consular Section will make the actual copies. Officers cannot certify copies made at other locations. Each certification of a copy costs $50 per document being copied. For example, if two passports are copied onto one page, each document's copy is certified resulting in a total cost of $100.