Capital Authentication: Your Trusted Partner > Commonly Requested Documents > Marriage Certificate Authentication and Legalization

Marriage Certificate Authentication and Legalization

Our specialists have been working with individuals with the processing of their necessary paperwork, including Marriage Certificates.

As an expert in the authentication and legalization of Canadian documents, we can assist in your Canadian documents, including a Marriage Certificate, authenticated with Global Affairs Canada and legalized at the respective diplomatic mission.

Excellent service. Prompt, quick and answered my queries with full detail. Also the best price around! I highly recommend using their services.
– Robyn

Common Marriage Certificate Questions

The knowledgeable staff at Capital Authentication will gladly advise on the requirements of the authentication section of Global Affairs as well as the various diplomatic missions. By utilizing our service, we are able to save you time and money.

Our expert staff would welcome the opportunity to discuss your unique situation. We would offer expert guidance and fees that are specifically tailormade to your individual needs.

Vital Statistics offices do not typically allow third parties to order these kinds of Government documents. It is recommended that you order them on your behalf. To save time, the document can be sent directly to our office as follows:

Capital Authentication
900-251 Laurier Ave West,
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5J6

We ask that you advise us that a document is being sent directly to our office so that we can add it to your dossier.

Unfortunately, the authentication section of Global Affairs not authenticate a notarized copy of a marriage certificate. They will only authenticate an original Marriage Certificate that has been obtained from the relevant Provincial or Territorial Vital Statistics Office.

A marriage certificate can be ordered from the Province where the marriage took place. With the advances in technology, one can typically order this document online. For your convenience, here are the links to the vital statistics office for the various Canadian Provinces and Territories.

The length of time that the authentication and legalization process takes can vary depending upon the diplomatic mission. Our office can provide expert guidance regarding how long the documentation processing will take. We offer cost-effective solutions that consider these factors. When suggesting a service package, we factor in the expected time required to complete the authentication with Global Affairs and legalization with a particular Embassy or Consulate. Using our service will translate into cost savings for our clients.

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.

Our office offers a number of different payment options such as money order, e-transfer, direct payment into our account, credit card (visa or mastercard).  If you have any questions about payment methods, please feel free to reach out to our office either by e-mail or telephone as we will happily discuss payment options.

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.

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If you have questions or want to receive a custom quote for document authentication and legalization or other services, use our contact form below to get started.

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