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Notarials
Notarial services are available for all nationalities by appointment

Schedule an Appointment

Notarial services are offered at U.S. Embassy Santo Domingo by appointment only. Please be sure to read all the information listed below and bring required identification and documentation with you to the appointment.

Schedule an Appointment

Overview

Hand signing documentNotarial and authentication services are one of the oldest traditional U.S. consular functions, dating back to 1792.  U.S. consular officers overseas may perform notarial services similar to those performed by a public notary in the United States. This service is available to U.S. citizens and to foreign nationals who need to have documents notarized for use in the United States.  Notarial services are provided by appointment only.  Please note that persons seeking notarial services who do not have an appointment will not be granted access to the Embassy.

 

Please be sure to read all the information listed below and bring required identification and documentation with you to the appointment.

-Choose the date and time of appointment
-Receive immediate confirmation and print the confirmation page
-Present the printed confirmation page to consular officials the day of your appointment, as well as your official and valid form of identification

Notarial Services are offered for

  • Scales, Seal, PenDeeds
  • Powers of Attorney
  • Bills of sale
  • True copies of U.S. passports
  • Forms DS-3053 Statement of Consent: Issuance of a U.S. Passport To a Minor Under Age 16.  Please print form bring your Form DS-3053 with the TOP section completed and NOT signed.  Also bring your passport or cedula and a PHOTOCOPY as identification. There’s no fee for this service.
  • Sworn affidavits:  A sworn statement prepared and provided by the affiant (you).  Affidavits are used in many different situations for many different purposes.  We cannot prepare affidavits, and we cannot advise on the specific language needed in individual cases.  Please consult a lawyer or other advisor for that type of assistance before bringing affidavits to be executed.
  • Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request forms

Requirements

  • Document to be notarized (either for use in the United States or to be signed by U.S. citizen). A notarizing officer cannot draft legal documents for private persons.  For help, please consult a lawyer or other advisor for assistance.
  • Official and valid Photo Identification (Passport, Cedula, driver’s license).
  • Personal appearance of the person requesting the notarial services.
  • If witnesses are required, you should bring them and they must have valid identification. Consular officers and staff cannot act as witnesses.
  • Fee payment (to pay American Citizen Services Unit cashier).
    • The fee for notarial services is $50 per each consular seal.
    • It can be paid in cash (Dominican Pesos or U.S. dollars) or with a credit card.
    • We do not accept checks or torn, marked or stained pesos or dollar bills nor debit cards.

On the day of the appointment, Notarial customers must:

  • Appear at the American Citizen Services Unit, Consular Section, 30 minutes before their scheduled appointment with the required documentation.
  • ORIGINAL and VALID photo IDENTIFICATION, and an additional PHOTOCOPY of the identification card that will be used.
  • Read the information on the sign above the ticket machine next to the stairs and then take a numbered ticket.
  • Proceed to the second floor and take a seat until called by number.
  • Follow consular officials’ instructions for the next steps in the process.

Requesting an Earlier Appointment for Notarial Service

If you need notarial service, please follow the instructions for completing an online appointment through the Online Appointment System.  You must schedule an appointment for the next available date before you can request an earlier (emergency) appointment.

Upon scheduling an appointment, you will be provided a booking confirmation number.

If you need to travel prior to the original date scheduled, please access the ACS Navigator  U.S. Embassy Santo Domingo (google.com) and select the All Other option to follow the corresponding instructions. 

Requests with incomplete information CANNOT be processed because the appointment system in place is automated.   The request must indicate the following:

  1. Applicant’s full name as written on the passport
  2. Details of the original interview schedule provided to the applicant (i.e., date, time, and booking confirmation number)
  3. Service requested (i.e., Consular Report of Birth, Acquisition, passport renewal, notarial services)
  4. Date of expected travel
  5. Purpose of the trip
  6. Reason for the early appointment request
  7. Name and contact information of the requestor, including an e-mail address and telephone number

Due to the large demand for  services we sometimes experience, we cannot accommodate all early appointment requests.  We will attempt to accommodate requests for early appointments if the urgent need to travel is the result of unforeseen developments.

If your early appointment request is approved, you will receive a response from our office within one business day.  Due to the high volume of communications received in our office, we will not respond to follow-up inquiries.

Whenever possible, early appointments will be scheduled for applicants who demonstrate an urgent need to travel.  If a request for an early appointment does not meet the above-mentioned criteria, the appointment may not be granted.

During the notarization process the officer will:

  • Confirm your identity.
  • Establish that you understand the nature, language and consequences of the document to be notarized, and are not acting under duress.
  • Conduct an oath or affirmation that the contents are true to the best of your knowledge.

Notarial Services NOT offered, due to government regulations in the following instances:

  • Notarization/authentication of U.S. State-issued documents, also known as APOSTILLES.  This includes U.S. State-issued Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, Death Certificates and Divorce Decrees.  Apostilles for U.S. documents to be used in the Dominican Republic can be obtained by the Secretary of State of the U.S. state where the document was issued.  A list of contact information for each state can be found at The Hague Convention website.
  • Notarization/legalization/authentication of U.S. academic credentials.  Contact the issuing educational institution for authentication.
  • Certified or “true copies” of original, non-U.S. documents to be used in the United States.
  • Certified copies of Naturalization Certificates.  Please visit the USCIS website for more information.
  • Certified copies of U.S. State Department Certificates of Report of Birth Abroad (CRBAs).  Please click here for more information.
  • Certified true copies of Social Security statements. Please contact the Social Security Office.
  • Validation of driver’s licenses.  Please contact the Department of Motor Vehicles of the state that issued your driver’s license in the chart on this Wikipedia page.
  • Certification of Other U.S. State-issued documents.  Please click here for more information.

Authentication of Documents

The United States and the Dominican Republic are both parties to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalization of Foreign Public Documents (Hague Apostille Convention). This Convention eliminates the requirement for diplomatic and consular authentication of public documents originating in one country (party to the Convention) that a requester intends to use in another country.  This authentication is called APOSTILLE. In the Dominican Republic, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepares apostille for Dominican documents that are to be used abroad.

The section of the Dominican Ministry of Foreign Affairs which performs this service is the Department of Document Authentications located at the following address:

Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores
Dirección de Legalización de Documentos
Avenida Independencia No.752 Estancia San Gerónimo, Santo Domingo, R. D.
Horario laboral: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
809.987.7001 Ext: 7638, 7386, 7607, 7608 / 809.535.6280
relexteriores@mirex.gob.do

U.S. consular officers do not have the authority to authenticate Dominican public documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, court decrees, school transcripts nor signatures of foreign ministers, attorneys and certified translators.

Authentications of the U.S. Consular officer’s seal

It is sometimes necessary for legal purposes to have the seal and signature of a U. S. consular official further authenticated by a higher authority. The Department of State’s Authentications Office can perform this function. The Authentications Office is located at:

Physical Address:

Office of Authentications
U.S. Department of State
600 19th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006

Mailing Address:

Office of Authentications
U.S. Department of State
CA/PPT/S/TO/AUT
44132 Mercure Circle
PO Box 1206
Sterling, VA 20166-1206

Phone:  202-485-8000

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and 
1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. EST
Monday through Friday

Appointment Services:

10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. and
2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Monday through Friday

The office is closed on federal holidays.

Remote Notary Services

The U.S. Embassy does not provide remote notarial nor authentication services.  Some states accept documents notarized online.  Please refer to the specific State Notary Handbook for the state where you plan to use your document.

Useful Information

Notarial Services of U.S. Consular Officers Abroad

U.S. Birth Certificate Apostilles