Notarials

Consular Officers perform notary services customarily provided by Notaries Public in the United States. Persons requiring such services should visit American Citizen Services during regular office hours. Please note that a consular officer cannot witness a will, validate that a document is genuine, or that statements made are true. The officer can only attest to the oath taken by the person making the statements or presenting the documents.  Please note that American Citizen Services can only authenticate copies of documents issued by the U.S. Department of State.

Click here to make an appointment.

What we can do: 

• Acknowledgement
  An Acknowledgement of execution is used for legal agreements, deeds, powers of attorney, business documents, etc. for use in the United States.
• Affidavit
  An affidavit is one’s sworn statement. Please keep in mind the consular office assumes no responsibility for the truth or falsity of the representations that appear in the affidavit.
• Certificate of true copy of a document issued by the State Department
  Please bring the original document for verification.
• Authentication
  Please make sure the documents you bring to us have already been authenticated by the Notarization and Authentication Division of Consular Affairs Department of the Provincial level of Foreign Affairs Bureau.  

What we CANNOT do:

• The American Citizen Services office is not authorized to serve legal documents in China under the Hague Convention. Detailed information on the service of process in China please visit the U.S. Department of State website at here.
• Signature guarantee
  U.S. banks or mutual fund companies often require signature guarantees. Unfortunately, we cannot legally perform a signature guarantee. Please check with your bank or stock company, here or in the U.S. for additional information.
• Perform notaries on documents written in a language other than English.

Required items at time of notarization

• The documents to be notarized
• Identification (passport or driver's license)
• Witnesses, if necessary
• Fee

Fees

Notarials/Certified Copies/Authentications: 
$50.00 for each signature/seal (See Payment Options). 

Please be aware of the following limitations on Consular officers’ authority to perform notarial services: 

• Consular officers are only authorized to perform notarial services for non-U.S. citizens if the notarized document will be used in the United States. 


• Consular officers are not permitted to notarize documents that contain blanks. All prices, names, addresses, etc. must be filled in or marked “N/A” before the document can be notarized.


• Consular officers may not certify true copies of documents issued by government authorities. Certified copies of these documents should be obtained from the issuing authority.


• Consular officers and the staff of the Consulate are not permitted to act as witnesses when documents are notarized. If the document you want to have notarized requires witnesses then please bring the required number of witnesses with you to the Consulate.