Consular and Embassy Notarization for Foreign Documents

A U.S. embassy or consulate will notarize a document for you abroad, and the result carries the same legal weight as a notarization performed stateside. Embassy notarization is available to people of any nationality and costs $50 per consular seal.¹ Consular officers act under 22 C.F.R. Part 92, which directs them to perform any notarial act a U.S. notary public could perform, so courts and agencies across every U.S. jurisdiction accept the resulting documents.²

What a Consular Officer Will Notarize

Consular officers handle the documents most Americans abroad actually need: powers of attorney giving someone at home authority over real estate closings, financial accounts, or other legal matters; affidavits and sworn statements for immigration petitions and court filings; acknowledgments verifying that a signature on a legal instrument is genuinely yours; and real estate paperwork including deeds, assignments of lease, bills of sale, closing affidavits, and disbursement instructions.³

Officers can also notarize documents intended for a third country, not just for U.S. use. To do so, the officer must have reason to believe the act will be recognized in that country, the applicant would suffer real loss or serious inconvenience without the service, and the document must serve a well-defined purpose with no apparent irregularity.⁴ Documents headed to a foreign government usually need further authentication after the seal, which is covered further down.

What the Embassy Will Not Do

Consular officers do not draft documents and cannot explain the contents of what you bring in. If you need a power of attorney or affidavit written from scratch, work with a U.S. attorney first.³ The officer is there to witness your signature, not to serve as your lawyer.

Officers must refuse when the host country’s laws or a treaty prohibits the act, or when the document relates to a transaction barred by U.S. law. Beyond those hard rules, they may decline service when there are reasonable grounds to believe the document will be used for an unlawful or improper purpose. A completely blank document will also be turned away at the window.⁵ If the officer suspects fraud, coercion, or that you do not understand what you are signing, expect a denial.

Two other boundaries catch people out. Embassies cannot authenticate academic diplomas or transcripts; that process starts with the state that issued the credential.⁶ And embassies do not fingerprint applicants for FBI background checks.⁷

Preparing Your Document

The single most common reason people are turned away is showing up with a document that has already been signed, or one with blank fields still to complete. Fill in every field, but leave the signature line empty. Signing beforehand usually means starting over with a fresh copy.¹

Bring a valid passport or government-issued photo ID. The Foreign Affairs Manual instructs officers to require reliable proof of identity and to prefer photo IDs; a Social Security card is explicitly not enough on its own.⁴

If your document requires witnesses, you are responsible for bringing them. Embassy staff will not serve as witnesses, and without them the officer will ask you to reschedule.⁸ Any witness you bring also needs valid photo ID to clear security.

Match the Notary Block to the Receiving State

This is where things go wrong after the appointment, not during it. The notary block, meaning the section where the officer signs, dates, and certifies the act, has to satisfy the U.S. jurisdiction where the document will eventually be filed. A deed being recorded in one state may need different notary language than a power of attorney filed in another. The Foreign Affairs Manual tells consular officers to try to determine those requirements and comply where possible, but the officer is not going to research your state’s rules for you.⁴

If a pre-printed notary block asks for something that does not apply to a consular officer, such as the expiration date of a notary commission, the officer may flag it as incorrect and modify the certificate. Before you go, confirm with the attorney, title company, or clerk handling your transaction exactly what the notary block should say. Getting this wrong can mean a county recorder rejects your document weeks after you flew home.

Booking, Fees, and the Appointment Itself

Start with the American Citizens Services appointment system on the specific embassy or consulate’s website. Scheduling portals vary by post, and walk-in availability is rare.

Each consular seal costs $50, whether it is the first seal on a document or an additional one.⁹ Two signers on the same document means two seals, so $100. A closing package with three separate instruments each needing a seal runs $150. The fee is non-refundable once the service is performed. Payment methods vary by embassy; the State Department advises confirming with the specific post before your appointment.¹ Most posts accept U.S. dollars, local currency at the embassy’s exchange rate, and major credit cards, but not universally.

On the day itself, plan for a rigorous security screening before you reach the consular section. When called, you present your documents and ID. The officer verifies your identity, confirms you understand what you are signing, and then administers an oath for affidavits or takes a formal acknowledgment for instruments like deeds and powers of attorney. You sign in the officer’s presence, and the officer applies an embossed dry seal along with a signature.⁴ Most appointments finish in a single visit and you leave with the notarized original. The officer’s role ends there. They do not review the legal effect of the document or take responsibility for what happens once you send it on.

After the Seal: Apostilles and Authentications

A consular notarization verifies that you signed a document willingly. If the document is going to a foreign government, that government usually wants a second certificate verifying the officer’s authority. Confusing these two steps is one of the more expensive mistakes people make with international paperwork.

For a document heading to one of the 129 countries that are party to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention, you generally need an apostille certificate.¹⁰ For a document signed by a consular officer, that apostille comes from the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Authentications. For documents notarized under state authority, the apostille comes from the state itself; the State Department cannot issue one for a state-notarized document.¹¹

For a country that is not a Hague party, the process uses an authentication certificate instead, and typically adds a further step: after the State Department authenticates the document, the destination country’s embassy in Washington, D.C. must then authenticate or legalize it.¹²

The State Department charges $20 per document for apostille and authentication services.¹³ As of late 2025, mail requests take five or more weeks from receipt, and walk-in drop-off and pick-up runs two to three weeks with a limit of 15 documents per customer per day.¹² If you know a document will need an apostille after the embassy visit, build those weeks into your timeline. A closing with a hard deadline can fall apart if you plan for the notarization step and forget the authentication that follows.

Remote Online Notarization as an Alternative

Most U.S. states now authorize remote online notarization, where you appear before a notary over video rather than in person. Some of those laws allow signers located outside the United States to use the service, which can be faster and cheaper than an embassy appointment. The State Department acknowledges the option and warns that individual states may limit remote notarization to documents notarized within their physical jurisdiction, and that foreign countries may impose their own restrictions on recognizing remotely notarized documents.¹

The practical question is whether the party receiving the document, whether a county recorder, title company, or court, will accept it. Acceptance is common for routine powers of attorney and real estate documents but not universal. Confirm with the receiving entity before relying on remote notarization from abroad. U.S. embassies themselves do not offer remote or virtual notarial services.

1
U.S. Department of State. Notarial and Authentication Services at U.S. Embassies and Consulates
2
eCFR. 22 CFR Part 92 – Notarial and Related Services
3
U.S. Embassy in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Documents We Notarize
4
U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual. 7 FAM 830 Notarial Acts in General
5
eCFR. 22 CFR 92.9 – Refusals of Requests for Notarial Services
6
U.S. Department of State. Get U.S. Academic Credentials Authenticated
7
U.S. Department of State. Criminal Records Checks
8
U.S. Embassy and Consulates in France. What to Bring (Fees, Witnesses)
9
eCFR. 22 CFR 22.1 – Schedule of Fees
10
HCCH. Convention 12 – Status Table
11
U.S. Department of State. Preparing a Document for an Apostille Certificate
12
U.S. Department of State. Office of Authentications
13
U.S. Department of State. Requesting Authentication Services