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Consular Services
Regresar | Legalization of Documents
In order for a document issued by a competent United States authority to be legal in Ecuador, it needs to be legalized at the Consulate of the jurisdiction. For the legalization of any document it is necessary that the document be signed by a Public Notary or County Clerk of the Consulate's jurisdiction.
The LEGALIZATION of documents have the following fees, " which " are established by Law for all Ecuadorian Consulates around the world:
- Birth or death certificate: US$ 10.00;
- Civil status certificate, marriage or divorce certificates: US$ 10.00;
- Certificates of study, diplomas and degrees: US$ 10.00;
- Shipment of Households: US$ 100.00
- Shipment of pets: US$ 50.00
- Driver's License translation: US$ 20.00
- Other documents: US$ 50.00 (see below)
Legalization is applied to "translating" into Spanish of original documents in English or other foreign languages, prepared by a Public Notary. The fee is US$ 10.00.
Steps to legalize documents that fall under the category of "Other Documents"
- Sign document before a Public Notary
- Send document to State county clerk
- Send document to the Secretary of State in your State
- Send document to the U.S. State Department Authentication Office
518 23rd. St. NW
SA-1 Columbia Plaza
Washington DC., 20520
Teléfono: 1800-6889889 opción 6
- Send document to Ecuadorian Consulate your jurisdiction:
2535 15th. St. NW
Washington DC., 20009
Phone: 202-234 7166
- Consular Fee: $50.00 (per document)
- Enclose prepaid self-addressed envelope to return the document.
Entrance in use of the convention on the apostille
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that on April 4th will implement use for Ecuador the Hague Convention to suppress the Legalization of Foreign Public Documents , that was originally subscribed in the Hague, in October of 1961.
This concludes a long process that began in the middle of last year in which the Ecuadorian Government decided to adhere to this Convention, by means of Decree 1700-A, that in essence pursues the suppression of the requirement for legalization of foreign public documents, which benefits thousands of Ecuadorians, especially relatives of immigrants who, for reasons, need to legalize documents.
It is important to emphasize that in accordance with the spirit and the letter of the Convention, public documents must be understood as, susceptible to be Apostille, are: notarized deeds, administrative documents, certificates, officials and all documents coming from authority with courts, State courts , judicial agents, etc.
It should be noted that the instrument of adhesion of Ecuador to the Convention was officially deposited on July 2nd., 2004 and published in the Official Registry No. 357, of June 16th of the same year.
On the other hand, it is important to emphasize the fact that the Convention to suppress the legalization of foreign public document has for now 87 member States, including the United States of North America , Spain and Italy. Replace with "These countries have a large" concentration of Ecuadorian immigrants, who no longer will be required to legalize documents plural but solely that of the denominated "Apostille" which is a pre-printed format established by the Convention.
In addition to the 3 countries mentioned in the preceding paragraph other member countries of this Convention include: Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Colombia, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Holland, Sweden, United Kingdom, Venezuela, etc.
That is to say, any document issued by a member country of the Convention, that has been properly Apostilled, will have to be recognized by any of the other member countries of this Convention without the need of any further authentication.
For consultations with the authorities of the Apostille for each member country of the Convention, or for any additional information about its content or reach , we suggest you contact the: Hague Conference on the International Private Law: www.hcch.net
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