Authentication of Notarizations

General Information
One of the Notary Public section's main tasks is to certify to the status of a notary using either a certificate or an apostille. These papers are attached to documents that require some official acknowledgment that the notarization was performed by a notary, commissioned in Oregon, in good standing. Foreign jurisdictions often require them before they will accept the notarized document. Even though the counties can, by statute, issue certificates, it saves much time and trouble to go directly to our office, because we hold the notary records and the county cannot issue state level certificates required by some foreign governments. They sometimes require a "chain of certification" so that every signature authenticating another is itself authenticated. In other words, the notary certifies the document signer's signature. The Secretary of State certifies the Notary's signature; the Federal Government certifies the State's signature and authority.

The Oregon Secretary of State can also certify to the State Registrar for vital records (Oregon Center for Health Statistics), that is, certified copies from the State Registrar's office of birth and death certificates, and marriage and divorce records can be authenticated by our office.

If you need an apostille or authentication certificate for a county document, please call us at (503) 986-2593 before sending it in. Most county records cannot be authenticated.

Often, authentications are required for school transcripts and diplomas that need to go to foreign countries because an exchange student has studied here. These can sometimes be achieved by notarization of the registrar's signature on the transcript and then the Secretary of State's authentication/apostille of the notrization.

Authentication Certificates
An authentication certificate validates the notary's signature and official notary seal as matching what is on file with the Secretary of State, Corporation Division. It does not validate the completeness or correctness of the notarization. The format of the certificate differs depending on the country of receipt. It is important to note which country the document is going to when requesting authentication from the Secretary of State.

Apostilles
If the country belongs to the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents, the apostille is used. The Convention provides for the simplified certification of notarized documents by use of a special form called an "apostille" in certifying the document. The apostille does not need to be ribboned onto the document being certified. With the certification by the Hague Convention apostille, the document is entitled to recognition in the country of intended use, and no additional authentication or legalization is required.

Note: The "Apostille" attests to the validity of the signature of the notary public, county official or Oregon state official, but not of the underlying signature nor of the contents of the document.

The Hague Convention applies "to public documents which have been executed in the territory of one Contracting State and which have to be produced in the territory of another Contracting State." The Convention does not apply to domestic filing of documents. "Apostilles" will not be issued for documents intended for use within the United States.

A current list of countries that are members of the Hague Convention can be found here: Apostille Countries

Also, try the U.S. Department of State, Authentications - A very informative site covering apostilles, certification of documents by the federal government, and links to passport and consular information.

Professional Engineering Certificate
It has come to our attention that a number of foreign students have completed the Professional Engineering exam and received certification in Oregon. We are starting to receive these certificates with a request for an apostille to be attached, mainly from engineers in South Korea. They are signed by officials from the Professional Engineering board; that is NOT a notarization.

Your PE certificate must be notarized by an Oregon notary public before you send it to us for an apostille.

Once your certificate is notarized, you can send it so we can attach the apostille

The PE board is working on Administrative Rules to allow them to notarize your certificate for you and send it on to us for the apostille. This service will not be available until probably late May or early June, 2008. You can contact that agency in June to see if they are ready to assist you.

Another option for notarization is if you are in Oregon, go to any notary public (look in the yellow pages under “notaries public” or go to http://filinginoregon.com/Oregon/Notaries.htm). You could also send your certificate to a friend in Oregon and ask that person to have the certificate notarized.

Fees, addresses and procedures for authentication/apostille