Legal Services
Notary Services (Notarisoinnit)
Notarizing Documents Using the Hague Legalization Convention
Effective October 15, 1981, the United States of America became a party to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. Finland is also a signatory to this Convention.
The Hague Legalization Convention abolishes the need for diplomatic and consular legalization or authentication of public documents originating in one Hague country, like Finland, for use in another Convention country, like the United States. Instead, public documents bearing a certificate of apostille are recognized in any Convention country with no further authentication or legalization.
Neither the Consulate General nor the Embassy is authorized to provide apostilles or assist in obtaining them.
The Convention simplifies the procedures which one has to follow in order to have a document originating in any country which is a party to the Convention legalized for use in any other country which is a party to the Convention.
If you have a document which you want legalized, you should contact the competent local authority who will affix a certification (apostille) on your document.
Public notaries or Maistraatti are located in almost every city in Finland (www.maistraatti.fi). They are able to notarize all public documents to be used in the United States, or in any other country which is a signatory to the Hague Convention. The public notary can affix the apostille which will legalize the document for use in the United States. This means that you may have your documents notarized by a Finnish notary recognized by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and these documents are acceptable in the United States. The fee for this service is approximately 8 euros.
In Helsinki Maistraatti's office is located at Albertinkatu 25, 2nd floor, 00181 Helsinki. The telephone number is 09-695-441.
Notarial service by the U.S. consulate
Notarial Services are available to all U.S. passport holders and to foreign nationals with documents destined for use in the United States. Notarial Services are executed by Consular Officers and may include documents to be signed before them, statements made under oath, affidavits and acknowledgments.
To notarize a document, you must make an appointment to come to the office with the following documents:
- A valid passport or piece of identity issued by a Government agency. E.g: driver licenses are acceptable, student ID's are not.
- The document to be notarized.
- US$ 30.00 or 21.00 euros per first seal and $20.00 or 14.00 euros for each subsequent seal, in cash or with major credit cards or travelers checks
- If your document must also be witnessed, please bring your witnesses with you. Consular officers and staff may NOT be witnesses for notarial purposes.
The office hours for this service are 9:00 a.m-11:30 a.m, Monday through Thursday, American and Finnish holidays excepted. Please call in advance to make an appointment. For further information, please call (09) 616-25730, between 3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.