Notarial Services

Notarial services at the Consular Section are offered on Mondays and Thursdays (except on Dominican or U.S. holidays). **NO APPOINTMENT NEEDED**.

Applicants must drop off their documents between 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. inside the Consular building at Ave. Maximo Gomez and Cesar Nicolas Penson Street.  All applicants must pay the notarial fees at the Window 12 cashier, and return at 2:00 p.m. to pick up the notarized documents.

Notarial Services in Puerto Plata and Bavaro/Punta Cana

Notarial services may also be performed by appointment only at our Consular Agency in Puerto Plata and our Consular Agency in Bavaro/Punta Cana.  To make an appointment in Puerto Plata, please call (809) 586-8017. To make an appointment in Bavaro/Punta Cana, please call (809) 552-8990.

Notarial and Authentication Services

Notaries and authentication services are one of the oldest traditional U.S. consular functions, dating back to 1792.

Consular officials at any U.S. embassy or consulate abroad can provide a service similar to the functions of a notary public in the United States. Notaries' services are available to all U.S. passport holders, and to foreign nationals with documents destined for use in the United States. Notaries' services include statements made under oath, affidavits, authentications and acknowledgements.  For any of the above mentioned services, you must come in person.  Applicants requesting notarial services need to bring the following documents:

1. A valid passport or other proof of identity
2. The document to be notarized
3. US$50.00 or Dominican peso equivalent for each notarial service requested, and US$50.00 or Dominican peso equivalent for each additional notarial service provided at the same time in connection with the same transaction. There is also a US$50.00 fee for each authentication service. Fees must be paid in cash or by credit card.  We do not accept personal checks or postal money orders.

If your document must also be witnessed, please bring your witness with you, as the Consular staff notarizing your document cannot also serve as a witness.

Notary Public

The Consular officer acts as a U.S. notary public for documents to be used in the United States. Like a notary public in the U.S., the Consular official must require the personal appearance of the person requesting the notary's service; establish the identity of that person; establish that the person understands the nature, language and consequences of the document to be notarized; and establish that the person is not acting under duress. (22 C.F.R. 92.31).

If you need to sign a document in the presence of a notary public, and a U.S. notary public is NOT required, you can look in the Dominican yellow pages under "Notarios" or under "Abogados" to find the notarial official nearest you; also you can review the Embassy's list of Attorneys (PDF - 363 Kb).

Notarization by U.S. Consular Official

Notarial functions relate to oaths, affidavits and acknowledgments. The consular official may refuse certain notarial services as provided by 22 C.F.R. 92.9.

Do not sign any documents presented until requested to do so by the Consular Officer. Depending on the nature of the document, the Consular Officer will either take an acknowledgment that your signature was done freely and with an understanding of the document's contents or administer an oath whereby you swear or affirm the contents of a document are true. (Note: Consular Officers do not themselves certify that the contents of submitted documents are true. The officer only certifies that you have made an oath or affirmation that they are true.)

No legal advice: The consular section does not provide legal advice in any instance. The consular section does not prepare or recommend formats for legal documents. Competent counsel, in accordance with the legal requirements of the U.S. jurisdiction where the documents will be used, should prepare legal documents. Each U.S. state has different formats and requirements for legal documents.

Authentications

An authentication is a certification of the genuineness of the signature and seal or the position of a foreign official, in our case a seal and signature of an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic (Cancillería), previously executed, issued, or certified on a document, so that such document may be recognized in another jurisdiction.  A consular authentication in no way attests to the authenticity of the contents of a document but merely to the seal and signature of the issuing authority.

On August 30, 2009, the Dominican Republic became a member of the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents.  The United States is also a member of the convention.  This convention eliminates the need for the authentication of public documents originating in one country and intended for use in another.  Public Dominican documents include but are not limited to legal instruments notarized by foreign notaries, documents signed by official translators or other officials, and copies of public records, such as birth, death and marriage certificates issued by foreign officials. 

Central authorities in both the United States and the Dominican Republic now authenticate their own public documents with a certificate of apostille (name of the authentication stamp).  In the Dominican Republic, the Legalizations Section of the Secretariat of State of Foreign Relations ("Cancillería") provides the apostille. 

Such documents are entitled to recognition in any convention country without further authentication and will be accepted by U.S. and all convention country legal authorities, as long at the apostille page has not been detached. 

The U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, therefore, does not perform authentications of Dominican documents, except in cases involving non-public documents, such as consent forms, mortgages, banking documents, or any other non-government documents that require a notary's signature. 

Consular officers do not authenticate foreign academic credentials, transcripts, or degrees for use in the United States.

Documents notarized by a Dominican Notary Public for use in the United States can be authenticated by a U.S. Consular Officer after the signature from the Dominican Notary Public is authenticated first in one of the Centers for Attention to the Citizens of the Attorney General’s office (Procuraduria) of the Dominican Republic, or at one of its Courts of Appeals, and subsequently by the Dominican Ministry of Foreign Relations (Cancillería). After these two offices have authenticated the document, you must then submit the document in person at the U.S. Consular Section. A consul can authenticate the office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' signature and seal, so that the document can be used in the United States.

We suggest that you contact the Attorney General's office at (809) 533-3522 and the Dominican Ministry of Foreign Affairs at (809) 535-6280 to obtain information about their location and about the process for authentication of Dominican documents for use in the U.S. or in another foreign country.

Authentications of the Consular officer's seal

It is sometimes necessary for legal purposes to have the seal and signature of a U. S. consular official further authenticated by a higher authority. The Department of State's Authentications Office can perform this function. The Authentications Office is located at:

U.S. Department of State
Authentications Office
518 23rd St., N.W.
SA-1, Columbia Plaza
Washington, D.C. 20520
(202) 647-5002

Walk-in service is available at that office from 8AM to 12PM Monday-Friday, except holidays. There is a fee of US$8.00 per document.

Certified True Copies

As a general rule, U. S. Consulates/Embassies only certify true copies of documents issued by the U.S. Department of State (including documents issued by U.S. embassies and consulates). These documents include, among others, U.S. passports and U.S. Consular Reports of Birth.  We do not certify true copies of U.S. state documents such as driver's licenses, birth, marriage, divorce or death certificates.  U.S. consular Officers do not provide certified true copies of foreign academic credentials, transcripts, or degrees for use in the United States. We do not issue certified copies of any of the above mentioned documents.

For more information about notaries services, visit the Department of State's web site at: http://www.travel.state.gov/law/notarial_authentication.html.