| Competent authority | Official Documents Services (ODS), 777 Bay Street, Toronto |
| Government fee | $16 per notarized document · $32 per government-issued document |
| Typical processing | ≈ 15 business days by mail (in person: same/next day) |
| Submission | Mail or in person (Toronto) |
What to know
- Diplomas and transcripts from Ontario public post-secondary institutions issued since January 2019, and Ontario court documents issued since January 2002, can generally be apostilled without prior notarization, a cost we help you skip.
- Other private documents must first be notarized by an Ontario notary; we coordinate this remotely with partner notaries.
- Mail-in requests are returned by regular mail unless a prepaid return waybill is included, we always include one.
- Documents thicker than 7 mm need two punched holes in the top-left corner so the certificate can be attached; we prepare this.
Apostille for a document from Toronto or the GTA
Searching for an apostille in Toronto? A document issued in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton or anywhere else in Ontario goes to the same provincial authority, Official Document Services, at 777 Bay Street in Toronto. You don't have to travel downtown or wait in line: we prepare the submission, deal with the authority, and return your apostilled document by tracked mail, fully remote. What decides the routing is where the document was issued or notarized, not where you live.
Doing it yourself: what the authority asks for
Everything below is published by the authority itself. We keep it here, up to date, because you are entitled to know exactly what it would take to skip us.
- Authority
- Official Documents Services (ODS), Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery, Toronto
Documents issued in Ontario, and documents notarized by an Ontario notary public - Form
- Authentication Service Request (Ontario form 002-35-5118, EN and FR versions)
- Send to
- Official Documents Services
777 Bay Street, Lower Level
Toronto ON M7A 2J8 - Fee
- $16 per notarized document, $32 per government-issued, court or public post-secondary document
- Payment
- By mail: certified cheque, money order, Visa or Mastercard. In person: cash, Visa, Mastercard, debit, certified cheque or money order.
- Return
- Regular mail unless a prepaid return waybill is included.
- Counter
- Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., except statutory holidays
- Processing
- Within 15 business days by mail; about 30 minutes in person when the file is complete
Published by ODS, page updated June 8, 2026. - Before
- Ontario public post-secondary diplomas and transcripts issued since January 2019, and Ontario court documents issued since January 2002, are accepted without prior notarization. Other private documents must be notarized by an Ontario notary first.
Does your document need a notary first?
This is the question that decides your cost and your timeline. Get it wrong and the submission comes back weeks later, unprocessed.
Goes straight to the authority
Public documents already carry an official signature the authority can verify. No notary, no extra fee, no extra weeks.
- Birth, marriage and death certificates from ServiceOntario — long form, not the wallet card
- Diplomas and transcripts from Ontario public post-secondary institutions issued since January 2019
- Ontario court documents issued since January 2002, including divorce certificates and orders
- Corporate records from the Ontario Business Registry
Needs notarization first
Private documents carry no official signature, so a notary certifies the signer first and the apostille goes on that certification.
- Medical certificates and physician letters
- Powers of attorney, affidavits, statutory declarations
- Diplomas issued before January 2019, and any private-school credential
- Certified copies of passports and identity documents
The Ontario rejections we see most
- The wallet-card birth certificate instead of the long form
- Documents thicker than 7 mm without two punched holes in the top-left corner — the certificate physically cannot be attached
- Mail-in requests with no prepaid return waybill come back by ordinary post, untracked
Two rules hold everywhere: never laminate a document, and never remove a staple from a multi-page one. Both are irreversible, and both are refused on sight. If you need a copy, photograph it flat.
Not in Ontario? It changes nothing.
The authority is decided by where the document was issued or notarized — never by where you live. People send us documents from Vancouver, Dubai and São Paulo, and the routing is identical.
- We prepare the request, pay the fee and submit on your behalf
- Nothing travels by ordinary mail — a prepaid tracked return envelope goes with every submission
- A PDF scan reaches you the day the document returns to us
- Originals ship anywhere in the world, tracked
Don’t have the document yet? We can order it from the issuing office on your behalf — see document retrieval from abroad.
Fixed written quote before anything moves.
Documents from different provinces travel separately
A common file — a birth certificate from one province, a degree from another, an RCMP check from Ottawa — is three submissions to three authorities, on three different timelines. They do not share a queue and they do not come back together. We run them in parallel so nothing waits on anything else.
Other authorities: Québec · British Columbia · Alberta · Saskatchewan · Federal & other provinces
How much does an apostille cost for Ontario documents?
How long does an apostille take for Ontario documents?
Who issues apostilles for Ontario documents?
How are documents submitted to this authority?
Have an Ontario document?
Upload a scan, we'll confirm the routing, screen it for refusal risks and send a fixed quote within one business day.
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