Apostille in Québec City: the office is in Montréal, and everything goes by mail anyway
The Ministère de la Justice’s apostille office is on rue Saint-Jacques in Montréal, and it serves nobody at a counter. From the Capitale-Nationale, a Québec document therefore makes a round trip by mail whatever you decide. What actually makes a Québec City file different is the chain before the apostille: the Directeur de l’état civil and Université Laval are here, but the Chambre des notaires, whose certificate is mandatory for every notarial act, is in Montréal too. Here is the complete route, then when it is worth handing it to us.
One document, two or three institutions, and only one city where they sit
For a public document the chain is short: the document already exists (a copie d’acte from the Directeur de l’état civil, a Université Laval diploma, a judgment from the Québec City courthouse), the request is made online, and the original goes to Montréal with the printed request and the payment. About ten business days at the Ministère, plus mail each way. This is the simplest case, and if it is yours, this page gives you everything you need to do it yourself.
For a notarial act, the chain gains a link almost everyone discovers too late. The Ministère only apostilles a notary’s signature after the Chambre des notaires du Québec has verified it and issued an authenticity certificate: about 20 business days on the standard service, about 72 hours on the urgent one. The Chambre is in Montréal. A document signed before a lawyer goes through the Barreau du Québec instead (about 5 business days). These are separate submissions, to separate bodies, in separate queues.
In other words, from Québec City a notarized power of attorney for France travels Québec City → Chambre des notaires (Montréal) → Ministère de la Justice (Montréal) → back to Québec City, with three envelopes, two payments and a form at each step. Done in the right order without error, the chain takes five to seven weeks. One wrong document version or one skipped step, and it starts over.
The second Québec-specific error: the small civil-status certificat instead of the long-form copie d’acte. For a citizenship, marriage or inheritance file abroad it is almost always the copie d’acte that is required, and the Directeur de l’état civil happens to have a counter in Québec City to order it. We check this for free before you pay anything.
Sending a Québec document to Montréal yourself
Everything below is what the Ministère de la Justice publishes. For a notarial act, the Chambre des notaires certificate must be obtained first; the Ministère returns an act that arrives without it.
Doing it yourself: what the authority asks for
- Authority
- Ministère de la Justice du Québec, Délivrance des apostilles (Montréal)
Documents issued in Québec, and documents signed by a Québec notary or lawyer - Form
- Online apostille request (apostille.justice.gouv.qc.ca)
- Send to
- Délivrance des apostilles
276, rue Saint-Jacques, bureau 301
Montréal (Québec) H2Y 1N3 - Fee
- $66.50 per document (indexed every January)
- Payment
- Credit card online, or money order / bank draft payable to the Fonds des registres du ministère de la Justice. Personal cheques are refused.
- Return
- Regular mail by default. For a tracked return, include a prepaid envelope large enough (minimum 8.5 × 11 in.) that the documents are not folded.
- Counter
- None. Mail or courier only, no rush service.
- Processing
- About 10 business days at the office, plus mail
On September 16, 2026 the Ministère was processing applications received on September 2, 2026. - Before
- A notarial act must first receive an authenticity certificate from the Chambre des notaires du Québec (about 20 business days, or about 72 hours with their urgent service). A document signed by a Québec lawyer goes through the Barreau du Québec first (about 5 business days).
Mail it yourself, or send it to us?
Mail it yourself when
- You have one public document: a long-form copie d’acte from the Directeur de l’état civil, a Université Laval or public CEGEP diploma or transcript, a judgment from the Québec City courthouse, a document from the Registraire des entreprises.
- You are comfortable with the online request, paying by card and buying a prepaid tracked return envelope of the right size.
- You have four to five weeks of margin and a Convention-member destination.
- You will carry the apostilled original abroad yourself.
Send it to us when
- Your document is a notarial act or signed before a lawyer: a power of attorney, a sworn declaration, a certified copy of a passport or foreign diploma, a will, a contract. The Chambre des notaires then Ministère chain is the one we file in person in Montréal, the same day the document reaches us.
- Your file mixes authorities. A Québec City copie d’acte plus an RCMP check is Montréal plus Ottawa, on very different timelines; an Ontario degree adds Toronto. We run them in parallel and reassemble the set.
- You are abroad and the document is in Québec City with family, a notary or a school. We collect it from them and ship the finished set to you, tracked.
- The destination is not a Convention member (Haiti, Senegal, Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire are frequent Québec City cases), so an embassy legalization in Ottawa follows the apostille or authentication.
- You want a written all-in price before anything moves, a PDF scan the day the document is back, and one accountable contact across three institutions.
Our service fee is published: $139 for the first document, $29 for each additional one in the same submission, never more than $299 per submission. The Ministère’s $66.50 and the Chambre des notaires fees are billed at cost, with the receipts.
What goes straight in, and what goes through the Chambre first
| Document | Typical Québec City issuer | Path | Preliminary step? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copie d’acte of birth, marriage, death | Directeur de l’état civil (counter in Québec City or online) | Ministère de la Justice, Montréal | No, but the long-form copie d’acte, not the certificat |
| Divorce judgment or certificate | Québec City courthouse, 300, boulevard Jean-Lesage, or the district that granted it | Ministère de la Justice, Montréal | No |
| Degree, diploma, transcript | Université Laval, ENAP, INRS, CEGEPs of Sainte-Foy, Limoilou, Garneau | Ministère de la Justice, Montréal | No, for public institutions |
| RCMP certified criminal record check | RCMP, via an accredited fingerprinting company | Global Affairs Canada, Ottawa | No |
| Power of attorney, sworn declaration, will, contract | Signed before a Québec notaire | Chambre des notaires (Montréal), then Ministère de la Justice | Yes: Chambre authenticity certificate |
| Certified copy of a passport or foreign diploma | Québec notaire | Chambre des notaires, then Ministère de la Justice | Yes: Chambre certificate |
| Document signed before a lawyer | Member of the Barreau du Québec | Barreau du Québec, then Ministère de la Justice | Yes: Barreau verification |
| Québec corporate documents | Registraire des entreprises du Québec | Ministère de la Justice, Montréal | No for Registraire documents; notarized copy otherwise |
| Federal corporate documents | Corporations Canada | Global Affairs Canada, Ottawa | Usually no |
A document signed before a commissioner for oaths cannot be apostilled in Québec: the Ministère holds no specimen of their signature. It has to be a notary. This is one of the most frequent refusals we head off at pre-check.
Common destinations from the Capitale-Nationale and eastern Québec
Apostille is enough
France, by a wide margin the first destination (study, work, working-holiday visas, marriage, retirement), then Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria (a member since July 9, 2026), Colombia, Mexico and Brazil are all Convention members. Once the apostille is attached, the document is ready. Spain and Italy often want a sworn translation, coordinated before or after depending on the country.
Legalization still required
Haiti, Senegal, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire and several other francophone African states are not members. The document is apostilled or authenticated by the Ministère, then legalized by that country’s embassy or consulate, almost always in Ottawa. Embassy fees vary and are quoted before you commit. See our country pages.
Special cases we see from Québec City
France files: diploma recognition, marriage to a French national, inheritance. Nurse and teacher recruitment to France and Switzerland (degree plus criminal record check, two authorities). Haitian and North African families of the region (mixed chains). Each has its own guide.
Where we serve, and what that means here
We are based in Laval, in Greater Montréal, three hours from Québec City. On Capitale-Nationale files that is a real advantage: the Chambre des notaires and the Ministère de la Justice are on our doorstep. You send the originals by tracked courier (we issue the label), we file at the Chambre in person the same day, then at the Ministère, and we return the apostilled set to Québec City or to any address in the world, with a PDF scan the day it comes back.
If a document is missing, we can order the copie d’acte from the Directeur de l’état civil straight into the chain. If you only need one step, any step can be ordered on its own.
Clients come to us from across the region: Québec City (Sainte-Foy, Sillery, Charlesbourg, Beauport, Limoilou, Saint-Roch, Cap-Rouge), Lévis, Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, L’Ancienne-Lorette, Boischatel, Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, and further out, Trois-Rivières, Saguenay, Rimouski, Rivière-du-Loup, Thetford Mines and Saint-Georges. The routing and price are identical from all of them.
Where do I get an apostille in Québec City?
How much does an apostille cost in Québec?
How long does an apostille take from Québec City?
Can my notary in Québec City apostille my document?
Certificat or copie d’acte: which one do I need?
Can a document signed before a commissioner for oaths be apostilled?
Do you have an office in Québec City?
Send us scans before you mail anything to Montréal
We confirm whether it is the right version of the document, whether it must go through the Chambre des notaires first, which authority each document belongs to, and what the all-in total is, in writing. If your case is a single copie d’acte you can mail yourself, we will tell you.
Free pre-check