If you need to obtain certain court documents our office has the necessary connections to accomplish this in a timely and cost-effective manner. We have contacts in the major cities in Canada where the various court offices are located.

It is possible to authenticate and legalize certain original court documents. More than likely however, a notarized copy will need to be made before a court document can be authenticated by Global Affairs Canada and then legalized by a countries specific Embassy.

Depending upon the year that the court action was commenced and the availability of the court file will dictate how long it might take to obtain replacement court documents. Reach out to our office as we would welcome the opportunity to discuss your specific requirements. We would happily provide a timeline in terms of how quickly we would expect to be able to obtain the court documents and then get them ready for authentication and legalization.

There are a number of factors which could impact on how quickly documents, including court documents, can be authenticated and legalized. For instance, do the court documents require notarization or translation? The speed at which a diplomatic mission completes the legalization process can vary depending upon the Embassy. Also, the requirements to use couriers, if any. Lastly, our fees to assist with the processing of the court documents.

Our staff would welcome the opportunity to discuss your unique situation. We are confident that we can suggest a timeline that is both efficient and cost effective.

Our office regularly receives government issued documents on behalf of our clients. Documents can be sent to us at the following address:

Capital Authentication
251 Laurier Avenue West, Suite 900,
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5J6

We simply ask that you alert us to the fact that a document is being sent to us. We can look out for the document and add it to your dossier.

To make it easier to understand, we have grouped our authentication and legalization fees together. Our office offers four different processing options depending upon urgency. More importantly, we employ a system that we refer to as “The Completion Time Method”. When suggesting prices, we balance the total time expected to take to have the document(s) authenticated by Global Affairs and then legalized by a particular Embassy or Consular Office. Employing our method translates into lower fees for our customers.

We suggest using a national courier such as FedEx, Purolator, DHL or Canada Post “Xpresspost”.  Each of these courier options offers a form of tracking and considering that the documents are sensitive in nature the ability to track your item is strongly recommended.

Once the authentication and legalization services have been completed, our clients can provide a prepaid return courier to our office.  If however it is more convenient, our office will happily arrange for the return courier either to our client directly or to an authorized third party of their choosing.

At Capital Authentication we do not like to return documents to a client using regular lettermail.  Regular lettermail is not encouraged given the sensitive nature of the documents.  However, where a client has specifically requests this method of return, we will comply.

This is a very good question and it really depends upon where one intends to use the document.  As long as the document is a Canadian document, Global Affairs Canada will generally authenticate either an original document or a notarized copy of the document.  If using a notarized document, the notary must be a Canadian notary.   The more important question to ask is whether the diplomatic mission in question will accept notarized documents instead of original documents.  It is always best to consult the diplomatic mission to determine if original documents and/or notarized documents can be used.  There are some diplomatic missions that will only accept original documents.

Should a problem arise with the processing of your documents due to a change in policy or requirements by Global Affairs Canada or at a particular diplomatic mission our office will be in contact with our clients immediately, by e-mail and/or telephone, so as to identify the problem and determine the best possible solution.

There are many instances when it is more convenient for a client to have documents sent directly to our office as opposed to their receiving them first.  For example, government issued documents such as birth certificates can be sent directly to us.  We can receive them and start compiling a client dossier with the authentication and legalization component to commence once we have all of the documents.