also called notarisation · notary certification
A notary public verifying a signature or copy to confirm a document's authenticity.
Notarization is a notary public confirming that a signature is really yours or that a copy truly matches the original. It is a smaller, more local act than an apostille, which certifies a document for use between countries; notarization just vouches for authenticity at the source. Many applications ask for notarized copies, and finding a notary who works in your language abroad can be a hunt.
A visa office wants notarized copies of your passport pages. You track down a notary in a city where you barely speak the language, and getting them to understand what you need, then stamp and sign each copy, turns a five-minute task into an afternoon.
Many applications need notarized copies, and finding a notary who works in your language abroad can be tricky.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
These are the stamps that turn a home document into one a foreign office will accept, in the order they usually stack.
A notary confirms a signature or that a copy matches the original, which is what a certified true copy or notarized copy is; a certified translation puts it into the local language; then an apostille certifies the whole thing for countries in the Hague Convention, while legalization or attestation is the longer chain for countries that do not accept the apostille.
Power of attorney, a long-form birth certificate and a school leaving certificate are the kinds of document that most often need this treatment.
Apostille · Certified translation · Certified true copy · Legalization · Long-form birth certificate · Notarized copy vs original · school leaving certificate
A new term lands on this site every day, and the email is how you get it the day it lands. No digest, no roundup, no pitch. One term, what it means, and what it costs you to get it wrong.
Unsubscribe in one click, any time. We do not sell or share your address.