Official Canadian Documents for use in the Netherlands
Over the 30 years of providing our specialized services we have seen a steady increase in Canadian documents being processed for use in the Netherlands and the Dutch Caribbean, also known as the ABC islands. This has been both due to the high volume of applications for employment, further education, and citizenship. The changing requirements and fees for these various processes can quickly become a headache. With many requiring an updated birth certificate or marriage certificate before they can apply. Due to lengthy processing times, our services became convenient in cases where new vital statistics documents such as Canadian birth certificates, marriage, death or divorce certificates, marriage records searches, and Canadian death certificates needed to be ordered. Our clients found that they could substantially reduce their processing times by having these documents sent directly to our office for processing. This is an especially great benefit to anyone currently living outside Canada.
Authentication documents for use in Holland, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, St Eustatius, and St Maarten
Although the Netherlands is home of the Hague Apostille Convention, in order for a document to be accepted it must follow the country of origins process which for Canada is the authentication and legalization process. What does this mean? Once the correct document has been obtained the first step of authentication can take place at Global Affairs Canada here in Ottawa. Although the website of the embassy of the Netherlands refers to the first step of the process as legalization, this is referred to by Canadian authorities as authentication which may cause some confusion if you are new to this process, and most people are!
If you have a Canadian document for use in the Netherlands or any of it’s Caribbean territories they will need to go through the two step process of authentication and legalization. Your document must also be in English, French, Dutch, or German. Note that Global Affairs Canada cannot authenticate documents that contain languages other than English or French, and there will be some additional translation requirements in these cases. If you have a document you require for a passport application, it will only require authentication from Global Affairs Canada. Unfortunately we cannot assist with passport applications beyond this first step, and you will need to contact the Netherlands embassy of a Dutch consulate closest to you for further assistance. Finally, the authentication and legalization process essentially entails the verifying of the signature or stamp on your document. Authentication at Global Affairs Canada and legalisation at the Dutch embassy does not verify the content. Some authorities in the Netherlands, such as the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) may decide to check your document’s content. It’s important to also note that with Global Affairs Canada taking up to 40 business days to authenticate documents, getting started as early as possible to meet a tight time line is key. See more about our authentication services and how we assist you.
Legalisation of Canadian documents at the Netherlands Embassy Ottawa
Once the document has been authenticated it can now be legalized by the embassy. Although there are Netherlands Consulate Generals in Toronto and Vancouver any document can be processed at the Netherlands Embassy in Ottawa, which to save our clients extra fees and time which we prefer to do. Interesting note in my title you will see “Legalisation” and “Legalization” as the Netherlands spells the service either way, of course both mean the same thing.
After meeting with the embassy consular section on your behalf the document will be legalized and ready for presentation in the Netherlands or any of the ABC Islands, and will also then be the equivalent to having an Apostille certificate. For the return or forwarding of your completed sensitive document we always recommend a secure way such as one of our shipping partners or enjoy free shipping from one of our ALSC Service Centers located across Canada.
If you need Authentication and Legalization or information about Apostille in the Netherlands we can help in English and we are also proud to provide our services in Dutch!
