Citizen Services
Notarial Services
A U.S. Consul acts as a Notary public abroad, notarizing affidavits, acknowledgments and other legal documents to be used in the U.S. only.
Documents to be notarized must be written in English. You may have a lawyer prepare these documents for you or you may prepare them yourself. Do not sign the documents until you are in front of the American Consul, and do not either fill any details at the bottom related to the American Consul who will authenticate the document.
Translations cannot be sworn in front of the American Consul.
A list of current fees is available on this website in the section Fees and Forms of Payment.
Official documents that are issued in a Country and must be used abroad (e.g. an American birth certificate to be used in Greece) need to be legalized or "authenticated" by the appropriate authorities in the originating Country to prove that the document was issued by a competent official and that is genuine and not fraudulent.
Since the U.S. and Greece are part of the Hague Apostille Convention of 1961, both Countries will accept an Apostille stamp on the certificate or official document concerned, as proof of legalization.
Apostille Stamps on documents originating in a U.S. State will be placed by the respective Secretary of State. To find the addresses of Secretaries of State and more detailed instructions on the procedure to be followed, please click on the following useful links:
- U.S. Secretaries of State:
http://www.nass.org/NPA/us/UnitedStates.htm - Authentication of U.S. documents:
http://www.state.gov/m/a/auth/ - U.S. State and Local government websites:
http://www.statelocalgov.net/ - To request vital records:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ or
http://www.vitalchek.com/
Visit the Department of State's Consular Affairs Homepage.