Home / British Columbia / Vancouver
Apostille in Vancouver: there is no counter, and that changes the decision
People search for “apostille Vancouver” expecting an office downtown. There isn’t one. Every British Columbia document is apostilled by the B.C. Authentication Program in Victoria, by mail or courier only, with no walk-in, drop-off or rush service, even for people who live on Douglas Street. So whatever you do, your document goes into an envelope. The only question is who prepares that envelope so it comes back stamped the first time.
Why a Vancouver file and a Victoria file are handled exactly the same way
The B.C. Authentication Program sits inside the Ministry of Attorney General in Victoria. It publishes a fee ($20 per document), a form (the B.C. Document Authentication Request, completed and paid online), a mailing address, and a processing time it updates periodically: 2 to 4 weeks at the time of writing, with 14 business days as its stated target at full capacity. It does not publish counter hours, because it has no counter.
That has a practical consequence for the Lower Mainland. There is no version of this where you drive somewhere and come back with a certificate. Your original leaves your hands, travels to Victoria, waits in a queue, and travels back. The variables you control are whether the package is complete, whether the return is tracked, and what happens to the document before and after.
Where Vancouver files go wrong is almost never Victoria. It is the step before: a photocopy sent where an original was required, a private document that needed a B.C. notary public or lawyer first, a Vital Statistics certificate too old or in a format the program will not accept, or a return envelope that was missing, so the apostilled original came back by untracked regular mail. Each of these costs the full 2 to 4 weeks again.
Below is the complete official route, unedited. Then a straight comparison of doing it yourself versus sending it to us, written for someone who is going to be mailing an envelope either way.
Sending a B.C. document to Victoria yourself
Everything below is what the Authentication Program publishes. Complete the online request and payment first, print the confirmation, and send it with the originals and a return envelope.
Doing it yourself: what the authority asks for
- Authority
- B.C. Authentication Program, Order in Council Administration Office, Ministry of Attorney General (Victoria)
Documents issued in British Columbia, and documents signed by a B.C. notary public or lawyer - Form
- B.C. Document Authentication Request (online, pay.gov.bc.ca)
- Send to
- Ministry of Attorney General, OIC Administration Office
Attention: BC Authentication Program
1001 Douglas Street
Victoria BC V8W 2C5 - Fee
- $20 per document
- Payment
- Online by Mastercard, Visa, American Express or debit card, or by money order, bank draft or cheque payable to the Minister of Finance.
- Return
- Single return envelope per request; courier return available if you follow the Return Mail Service instructions and prepay it.
- Counter
- None. Mail or courier only, no rush service.
- Processing
- 2 to 4 weeks, not including mail time
Published by the Authentication Program, updated February 5, 2026. At full capacity the office aims for 14 business days. - Before
- Vital statistics certificates must be current originals from the B.C. Vital Statistics Agency. Private documents are notarized by a B.C. notary public or lawyer first.
Mail it yourself, or send it to us?
Mail it yourself when
- Your document is a single, current, public B.C. document: a recent Vital Statistics certificate, a UBC or SFU transcript the program accepts, a B.C. court order.
- You have four to six weeks of margin and a Convention-member destination.
- You are comfortable completing the online request, paying by card and buying a prepaid tracked return envelope.
- You will carry the apostilled original abroad yourself.
Send it to us when
- Your document is private and needs a B.C. notary public or lawyer first: a power of attorney, a statutory declaration, a certified copy of a passport. Notaries public are a distinct, regulated profession in B.C., and we coordinate one for you or work with yours.
- Your file mixes authorities. A B.C. birth certificate plus an RCMP check is Victoria plus Ottawa, on two very different timelines; an Alberta degree adds Edmonton. We run them in parallel and reassemble the set.
- You are abroad and the document is in Vancouver with family, a school or a lawyer. We collect it, and ship the finished set to you, tracked.
- The destination is not a Convention member (Iran is the most frequent Vancouver case), so an embassy legalization in Ottawa follows the B.C. authentication.
- You want a written all-in price before anything moves, a PDF scan the day the document is back, and one accountable contact for a process that has no counter to call.
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 $20 B.C. fee is billed at cost with the receipt.
Same postal code, different authorities
The authority is fixed by where the document was issued or notarized, not by where you live. A typical Vancouver file splits like this.
| Document | Typical Vancouver issuer | Authority | Notary first? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth, marriage, death certificate | B.C. Vital Statistics Agency (current original) | Authentication Program, Victoria | No |
| Divorce order or certificate | Supreme Court of British Columbia (Vancouver Law Courts, 800 Smithe Street, or the registry that granted it) | Authentication Program, Victoria | No |
| Degree, diploma, transcript | UBC, SFU, BCIT, Langara, KPU, Emily Carr, Douglas College | Authentication Program, Victoria | Depends on whether the signatory is on file; confirmed at pre-check |
| RCMP certified criminal record check | RCMP, via an accredited fingerprinting company | Global Affairs Canada, Ottawa | No |
| Power of attorney, statutory declaration, consent letter | Signed before a B.C. notary public or lawyer | Authentication Program, Victoria | Yes, that is what makes it apostillable |
| Certified copy of a passport or foreign diploma | B.C. notary public or lawyer | Authentication Program, Victoria | Yes |
| B.C. corporate documents | BC Registries and Online Services | Authentication Program, Victoria | Often via a notarized copy |
| Federal corporate documents | Corporations Canada | Global Affairs Canada, Ottawa | Usually no |
| Alberta or Ontario documents held by a Vancouver family | Alberta Vital Statistics, ServiceOntario, universities elsewhere | Edmonton or Toronto | Depends on the document |
Common destinations from the Lower Mainland
Apostille is enough
China, the Philippines, India, South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Germany, France and the United States are all Convention members: once Victoria (or Ottawa, for federal documents) attaches the apostille, the document is ready. Several also want a certified translation, which we coordinate before or after the apostille as the receiving country requires.
Legalization still required
Iran and a number of Gulf, African and Southeast Asian states are not members. The document is authenticated in Victoria, then legalized by that country’s embassy or consulate, almost always in Ottawa. Embassy fees vary and are quoted before you commit. Vietnam joined the Convention on September 11, 2026, so Vietnamese files no longer need this step. See our country pages.
Special cases we see from Vancouver
Teaching and nursing contracts in East Asia and the Gulf (degree plus criminal record check, two authorities). Property and inheritance matters in China, India and the Philippines (powers of attorney, which need a B.C. notary first). Retirement visas in Mexico and Portugal. Each has its own guide.
Where we serve, and what that means here
We are based in Laval, Québec, and we handle B.C. files entirely by tracked courier: we issue the inbound label, inspect the originals against the pre-check, complete and pay the online request, courier the package to Victoria with a compliant prepaid return, and forward the apostilled set to any address in the world. For a Vancouver client the courier legs add roughly a week to Victoria’s 2 to 4 weeks, and remove every untracked leg from the journey.
If you already have the completed request and just want the logistics handled, or you only need a B.C. notary for one document, we do that too. Any single step can be ordered on its own.
Clients come to us from across the region: Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, New Westminster, Delta, Langley, Maple Ridge, North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Abbotsford and Chilliwack, and from Vancouver Island (Victoria, Nanaimo) and the Interior (Kelowna, Kamloops). The routing and price are identical from all of them, because the destination is always the same envelope to Victoria.
Where is the apostille office in Vancouver?
How much does an apostille cost in British Columbia?
How long does a B.C. apostille take?
Can a Vancouver notary public issue an apostille?
My birth certificate is from B.C. but I live in Toronto or abroad. Does that matter?
Does an RCMP criminal record check from Vancouver go to Victoria?
Do you have an office in Vancouver?
Send us scans before you send anything to Victoria
We confirm whether your B.C. document is in an acceptable form, whether it needs a notary first, which authority each document belongs to, and what the all-in total is, in writing. If your case is a simple single certificate you can mail yourself, we will tell you.
Free pre-check