Global Apostille Canada / Destinations / Ontario
Ontario: apostille and legalization for documents issued there
Own provincial apostille office
Ontario issues its own apostilles, so documents from the province go to the provincial authority rather than to Global Affairs Canada. Volume is high and so are the queues, which is the usual reason an Ontario file takes longer than the same document from a smaller province.
Clients in Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga and Hamilton send their documents to our Montreal office by courier, and get them back the same way.
Which authority issues the apostille
This province is its own competent authority. Documents issued here, and documents notarized here wherever they were issued, are apostilled by Official Documents Services, within the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement rather than by Global Affairs Canada, so the file never leaves the province.
Competent authorities are set by government and can change. We confirm which one applies to your file in writing before anything is filed.
Documents issued here
The provincial and territorial records we handle most often. Federal documents (RCMP certificates, immigration papers, federal incorporations) always go to Global Affairs Canada, whichever province you are in.
- Birth, marriage and death certificates from the Office of the Registrar General
- Diplomas and transcripts from Ontario universities and colleges
- Documents notarized by an Ontario lawyer or notary public
- Judgments of the Ontario courts
- Corporate records from the Ontario Business Registry
Then the destination decides the rest
The apostille answers only half the question. Whether a consular stage follows it depends on the country the document is going to.