Consular Jurisdiction Service Area: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington D.C.

Requirements for Document Legalization/Authentication 

1. To request these services, you must submit a completed application form for document authentication or a letter on company letter head stating (1) the nature of the document, (2) the purpose for its authentication, (3) the names and addresses of organizations or individuals requesting the authentication, (4) the name of a contact person and his or her phone and fax numbers, (5) and a copy of the applicant’s photo I.D. (e.g., driver’s license, passport, or naturalization certificate). We do not accept documents originating from countries other than the United States.

2. We do accept documents that have been submitted to us via an agent but only if the documents are accompanied by (1) a notarized power of attorney prepared by the applicant and authorizing the agent, and (2) a photo I.D. (e.g., driver’s license, passport, or naturalization certificate) of the person delivering the documents.

3. To authenticate the Chinese version of the documents, a translated Chinese version must be notarized by our consular jurisdiction service area, authenticated by the U.S. Department of State or signed by an officer of this office if you hold a valid Taiwan passport. The authenticated English version of the documents must be provided as well.

4. The authentication fee is $15 per authenticated document. Payments can be made via cash, money order, or cashier’s check ONLY (no personal checks or credit cards).

5. All documents must be submitted with an additional photocopy of the documents in their entirety. This includes an additional photocopy of any cover letter from a local government or the U.S. Department of State. If several identical documents are submitted for authentication, we require only one photocopy of one of the documents.

6. Applications submitted by mail must also include a self-addressed stamped envelope. We also accept applications delivered via DHL, FedEx, or UPS with an air bill form.

7. All the authentication services will take 5-7 business days to process as long as all the requirements are fulfilled.

8. Required support documents and procedures to certify applicant's documents listed below are for reference only. Processing procedures used to certify a given document likely differs from case to case and may be adjusted due to individual circumstances.

For further information, please contact this office via phone call or email.

Document certification consultation hotline: (+1) 202-895-1815

Email: consul.tecro@mofa.gov.tw

Document for authentication in this office

1. All documents (excluding diplomas, transcripts, marriage certificates, overseas death certificates, birth certificate including CRBAs, individual licenses, possibly other types of documents) to be authenticated must be certified by the U.S. Department of State or the Secretaries of States within our service area (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C.).

2. All federal government documents except FBI Identity History Summaries issued from FBI headquarters to be authenticated must be certified by the U.S. Department of State.

3. The documents, including diplomas, transcripts, marriage certificates, overseas death certificates, birth certificates including CRBAs, individual licenses and possibly other types of documents to be authenticated must be issued by Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., or the U.S. Department of State.

4. Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) must be signed by the Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs.

5. For the authentication of a marriage certificate, you must provide the copies of the passports of the couple. Note: This office can only authenticate marriage certificates issued by Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, or Washington D.C. (where marriage took place).

6. For the authentication of a birth certificate (including CRBAs), you must provide the copies of the marriage certificate of the parents and the passports of parents and child.

7. For the authentication of the health form, the form must be signed by the doctor, dated, stamped, and addressed.

8. For the authentication of a diploma, you must provide the original diploma, a copy of the diploma, and sealed transcripts.

9. For authentication of FBI Identity History Summaries (IDHSC), we only accept IDHSC issued directly from FBI headquarters. We now accept IDHSC from FBI headquarters’ email. The applicant needs to forward the original FBI email that contains the PIN number to us and attach the PDF of the IDHSC if you only received the email version from FBI headquarter. The applicant receives IDHSC through an FBI-approved Channeler. Please have it authenticated by the U.S. Department of State before submitting it to our office. Note: The applicant’s name on the IDHSC must exactly match the name on the passport.

10. For authentication of some special documents, please contact this office in advance to ensure the documents can be processed.

For information regarding the CRBA, please visit:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/records-and-authentications/requesting-a-vital-record-as-a-u-s--citizen/replace-amend-CRBA.html

For information regarding the Office of Authentications of the U.S. Department of State, please visit:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal-considerations/judicial/authentication-of-documents/office-of-authentications.html.

For information regarding the FBI Identity History Summary Checks, please visit:

https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/identity-history-summary-checks.

Download: Application form for authentication