Apostille for Power of Attorney

A power of attorney can be in any language--the notary does not need to understand the document in order to notarize the signature on it, and the Secretary of State is only looking at the notarial certificate, not the document itself. However, please be aware that the notarial certificate will be in English, and the apostille will be in English, Spanish, and French. If the power of attorney is destined for a non-English-speaking country, the recipient may require a translation of the notarial wording, the apostille, or both. Please check with the recipient about translation prior to placing an order.

For more information about this step or to request a referral for translation services, call +1 (415) 655-9455.

Once you know the recipient's translation requirements, if any, proceed to step 2.

Apostille Document Services can help you get an apostille or authentication on a power of attorney so it can be used in other countries. First, the person granting power of attorney needs to sign the document in front of a California notary. If the signer is in San Francisco, we can travel to his or her location and notarize the document. If not, any local notary public can perform the signing.

For more information about this step or to request a mobile notary, call +1 (415) 655-9455.

If we notarize the document, we will simply bring it with us when we leave. Skip to step 4.

If you're having the document notarized by someone else, proceed to step 3.

If your document has been notarized locally, you can send it to our office to be apostilled. Please include the following information:

We highly recommend using secure mail with tracking to ship us the document. FedEx Priority Overnight, USPS Priority Mail Express, and UPS Next Day Air are all good ways to quickly and securely get the power of attorney to us.

For more information about this step or to get a price quote, call +1 (415) 655-9455.

Once the notarized power of attorney has been sent to us, proceed to step 4.

We will take your signed, notarized power of attorney to Sacramento to be apostilled. The California Secretary of State's office will check the wording on the notarial certificate and the name and signature of the notary public, and then issue an apostille. For countries that have signed the Hague Convention for Apostilles, no further legalization is needed. For countries that have not signed the Hague Convention, a consular visit will be necessary.

For more information about California apostilles or Hague member countries, call +1 (415) 655-9455.

If the power of attorney is being authenticated for a country that that has not signed the Hague Convention, proceed to step 5.

If the power of attorney is being authenticated for one of the countries that has signed the Hague Convention, skip to step 6.

Countries that have not signed the Hague Convention for Apostilles require additional processing for power-of-attorney legalization. Typically, this is done at the country's consular office in San Francisco. After we get the power of attorney apostilled by the California Secretary of State, we will bring it to the relevant consulate for legalization.

For more information about the process for non-Hague countries, call +1 (415) 655-9455.

You're almost done! To decide what to do with the document, proceed to step 6.

Once the power of attorney has been apostilled/authenticated, we can send it back to you or directly to the receiving country. Shipping within the United States is included in the apostille price. For shipping rates to other countries, call +1 (415) 655-9455 for a quote.

Once you know where the document is going, you're ready to order. Proceed to step 7.

If you know the answers to all of the above questions, you're ready to place an order. You can place your order online or over the phone at +1 (415) 655-9455.

To place your order online, click here.