Where the Ministère is, and why you cannot walk in
Every Québec apostille comes out of one office in Old Montréal. It has a street address, which is why so many people search for it, but it has no public counter: you cannot bring a document to the door and wait for it.
Délivrance des apostilles
Ministère de la Justice du QuébecDélivrance des apostilles
276, rue Saint-Jacques, bureau 301
Montréal (Québec) H2Y 1N3
This is the mailing address for every apostille request in Québec, whether the document was issued in Gatineau, Québec City or Montréal. The office covers documents issued in Québec and documents signed by a Québec notary or lawyer. Federal documents and documents from other provinces are handled elsewhere, even if you live in Québec.
How a request reaches it
- The request is completed and paid online at apostille.justice.gouv.qc.ca, then printed. A request whose documents have not arrived within three months is cancelled.
- The printed form travels with the originals, never stapled to them, by mail or courier only. The Ministère offers no counter service and no paid rush option.
- Return is by regular mail, without tracking, unless a prepaid courier label and an envelope of at least 8.5 × 11 in. are enclosed.
With us, nothing travels by regular mail. We collect your documents in Greater Montréal, or you ship them to our office with the prepaid label we email you, and we hand-deliver the file to the Délivrance des apostilles and collect it the day it is issued.
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
- 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 1 to 5 business days at the office, plus mail
On October 22, 2026 the Ministère was processing applications received on October 21, 2026. Processing times vary with volume. - 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).
The French-only apostille
Unlike the bilingual certificate from Global Affairs Canada, the Québec apostille comes in one language. The official page says it in one line: « Le Québec la délivre en français uniquement. » Here is what that means for a document going to an English-speaking country.
It is a standardized form
An apostille is the same ten-field certificate in every Hague Convention country, with the title Apostille (Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961) printed in French by design. Foreign registrars read it by field number, not by language, and the Québec certificate is accepted on that basis in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and elsewhere every week.
When English is asked for
Some universities, licensing boards and HR departments want to read every word. When your receiving institution asks for English, we add a certified English translation of the apostille certificate, signed by a certified translator, and deliver it with your apostilled original in the same package. It is quoted at pre-check, before anything starts.
Your document itself
The certificate's language and your document's language are two different questions. A Québec birth record is in French; a McGill degree is in English. Whether the document needs translating, and whether that translation goes before or after the apostille, is decided by the destination country. See apostille and certified translation in one order.
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 Ministère
Public documents already carry an official signature the Ministère can verify. No notary, no Chambre des notaires, no extra weeks.
- Civil status records from the Directeur de l’état civil, meaning the copie d’acte, long form, not the small-format certificat
- Diplomas and transcripts from Québec public universities and CEGEPs
- Court documents issued by a Québec court
- Corporate records from the Registraire des entreprises
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 any letter signed by a physician
- Powers of attorney, sworn declarations, affidavits
- Certified true copies of passports and diplomas from outside Québec
- Private contracts and company resolutions
Notarial act: the three stops, and what each one costs
A document signed before a Québec notary does not go straight to the Ministère. There is a mandatory, often overlooked stop in between, and it explains most of the unpleasant surprises on timing and price.
The notary
Certifies your signature, or the copy, and applies their seal. Without this step a private document carries no signature the Ministère can verify. Notary’s fee: billed by the notary, usually $50 to $150 depending on the act. We book the appointment, in person in Montréal or Laval, or by video if you are abroad.
The Chambre des notaires du Québec
Issues an authenticity certificate confirming the notary is a member in good standing and the signature is theirs. The Ministère requires this certificate before it apostilles anything. Chambre fee, taxes included: $77.03 regular (20 working days) or $206.96 urgent (3 business days). We drop off and collect in person at 2045, rue Stanley.
The Ministère de la Justice
Apostilles the Chambre’s certificate, which is stapled to your notarial act. Together they form the document the destination country accepts. Ministère fee: $66.50 per document. Hand-delivered to the Délivrance des apostilles, then collected as soon as it is ready.
How long a Québec apostille takes
The Ministère does not publish a fixed number of days. It posts a live notice on quebec.ca instead: on October 22, 2026 it read « Nous traitons actuellement les demandes reçues à nos bureaux le 21 octobre 2026 », and the page adds that processing times vary with the volume of requests. In September 2026 the same notice showed a gap of about two weeks. The figure only covers time inside the office; the mail on either side is yours to add.
| Your file | Québec apostille step | Door to door, within Canada | What sets the pace |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public document (copie d’acte, diploma, court or corporate record) | Within 5 business days | About 1 to 2 weeks | Same-day pickup in Greater Montréal; 1 to 3 days by courier from the rest of Canada; Xpresspost back in 1 to 2 days |
| Notarized document, Chambre urgent service | Notary 1 to 2 days, Chambre 3 business days, then within 5 business days at the Ministère | About 2 weeks | Being in Montréal: all three stops are filed by hand. By mail, the same route easily takes six to eight weeks |
| Notarized document, Chambre regular service | Chambre 20 working days, then within 5 business days at the Ministère | About 6 weeks | The Chambre’s regular queue. We recommend it only when nothing is waiting on the document |
Abroad, add 3 to 5 days for DHL Express. We update these estimates from the official notice and our files in progress; the processing times page covers every Canadian authority.
Don’t have the copie d’acte yet? Or does it contain an error?
Order the long-form copie d’acte
The Ministère only apostilles the copie d’acte from the Directeur de l’état civil, not the wallet-size certificate. If you only have the small one, or you are abroad, we order the right version on your behalf and apostille it the day it arrives.
Correct a record before apostilling it
An incomplete name, a missing second surname, a wrong date: an apostille does not erase the error, it makes it official. The destination country will compare the record to your passport. Better to correct it first, and we can coordinate the request.
The Québec rejections we see most
- The small-format certificat instead of the copie d’acte, by far the most common Québec rejection
- A commissioner for oaths instead of a notary, since the Ministère holds no signature specimen for them
- A notarial act sent without the Chambre des notaires certificate
- Laminated, glued, illegible or unsigned documents, and card-format documents such as a driver’s licence
- A Directeur de l’état civil certificate or copy of act issued before 2015: the Ministère cannot verify the older signatures, so the record has to be reissued first
The full list, with what we do about each one: Québec apostille requirements, the 9 reasons a request is refused.
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. Our free pre-check catches all of the above before any fee is paid.
Not in Québec? It changes nothing.
The authority is decided by where the document was issued or notarized, never by where you live. People send us Québec 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: your documents reach us with a prepaid tracked label and leave the same way
- A PDF scan reaches you the day the apostille is issued
- 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
Take a common file: a birth certificate from Québec, a degree from Ontario and an RCMP check from Ottawa. That 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: Ontario · British Columbia · Alberta · Saskatchewan · Federal & other provinces
Québec apostille FAQ
How much does a Québec apostille cost?
How long does a Québec apostille take?
Is the Québec apostille in English?
Where do I send my documents for a Québec apostille?
Can I get a Québec apostille in person in Montréal?
What is the Chambre des notaires step?
Do I need a translation as well as the apostille?
Who issues apostilles for Québec documents?
My birth certificate is the small plastic card. Is it accepted?
My document was signed before a commissioner of oaths. Is that enough?
How are documents submitted to the Ministère?
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