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You are about to mail a stranger your only birth certificate
That is the real question behind every enquiry we get, and no amount of marketing answers it. So this page does three things instead: it shows you what our clients say on Google, in their words; it sets out exactly how your originals are handled and what happens if something goes wrong; and it tells you who we are, with the registration to check it.
Where your original actually is, at every moment
An apostille file has a handful of legs, and each one is a place a document can go missing. Here is how each is handled.
1. From you to us
We issue a prepaid tracked label, so the leg is in a carrier’s system from the moment you hand it over, and you hold the tracking number. In Greater Montréal we collect in person instead, and nothing goes into the mail at all.
2. In our hands
Originals are processed at an access-controlled location under continuous recorded video surveillance and are never left unattended. We inspect every document against the pre-check on arrival, before anything is submitted, and email you if something does not match.
3. To the authority, and any preliminary body
Tracked courier, or hand delivery where the authority is local to us, which for the Chambre des notaires and the Ministère de la Justice in Montréal it is. You get a notification at each handoff.
4. Back from the authority
Every Canadian authority returns documents by ordinary untracked mail unless a compliant prepaid tracked return is included in the package. We always include one. This is the single leg where most losses in this industry happen, and it is entirely avoidable.
5. The scan
The day your documents are back with us, you get a PDF scan of the complete apostilled set by email. If anything were to happen afterwards, you and the receiving authority both have a full-resolution record of what was issued.
6. Final delivery
Tracked courier to any address in the world, with signature required. Your address, your lawyer, your family, the receiving institution. One destination or three makes no difference to the price.
What we promise, in plain terms
The quote is the price
The written pre-check quote is what you pay. Government fees are billed to the exact dollar with the receipt attached, never marked up. No invented bank fees, no postage margin, no line item that appears after you have committed. If a government fee changes between your quote and your order, we show you the difference before charging it.
Nothing is paid before the pre-check
The routing check, the refusal screen and the written quote are free and carry no obligation. If your case is simple enough to do yourself, the pre-check will tell you that and point you at the right form and address. We would rather lose the order than take money for work you did not need.
Certified best price
Find a lower all-in price from another Canadian apostille service and send us the quote with your pre-check. We will beat it. All-in means service fee, government fees and shipping compared on the same basis, which is the only comparison that means anything in this industry.
The three failures that actually happen, and who carries them
Any service can promise that nothing will go wrong. What matters is what is owed when it does, so here it is in advance rather than in a dispute.
| What happens | Why | What we do |
|---|---|---|
| The authority refuses the document | Wrong version, unacceptable format, missing preliminary step, a signature they cannot verify | If we missed it at pre-check, we fix it and resubmit at our cost: no second service fee from us. You pay the government fee again only if the authority itself charges again, and we show you their receipt. If the refusal is because you sent something different from what you showed us at pre-check, we tell you plainly and quote the correction. |
| A document is damaged or lost in our custody | Rare, but it is the risk you are actually weighing | We refund our service fee in full, pay the cost of ordering a replacement from the issuing registrar, and run the replacement through the apostille chain at no service fee. Where a document is genuinely irreplaceable, our liability is set out in writing in your quote, before you order, rather than buried in terms you find afterwards. |
| A carrier loses a tracked shipment | It happens to every courier eventually | We open the carrier claim ourselves, with the tracking and the scan we took, and we manage it to conclusion. You do not spend your evenings on hold with a courier. The replacement process above applies in parallel, so your file moves while the claim runs. |
The company behind the service
Viapostille is a service of Technologies Antecia, a private company registered in Québec, Canada. Our processing address is 1220 Montée du Moulin, Laval, Québec. You can reach a human at info@viapostille.ca or +1 (514) 437-3938, in French or English, with a reply within one business day.
We are not a law firm, we do not provide legal advice, and we are not affiliated with or endorsed by any government. Apostilles are issued exclusively by the designated competent authorities. You can always apply directly to them yourself, and our processing times page and each province page publish their forms, fees and addresses so that you can.
Three things we publish that most of this industry does not: our full price list, including the government fee for every authority; the current processing time for every authority, with the date each was checked; and the exact official route for doing it yourself on every city and province page.
We think a service that is worth paying for survives its customers knowing what it would cost to skip it. Everything on this site is written on that assumption.
Is it safe to mail an original birth certificate to a service like this?
What happens if you lose my document?
What if the authority refuses my document?
Can I see reviews from real clients?
Are you a government agency or a law firm?
Can I just do this myself?
Start with the free pre-check, decide afterwards
Send scans and the destination country. You get the correct routing, a refusal screen and a fixed all-in price in writing, with no deposit and no obligation. Then you decide whether to use us or do it yourself.
Free pre-check