Notary Services and Apostilles

Notary services are available to all U.S. citizens and to foreign nationals for documents to be used in the United States. Notary services are executed by Consular Officers and may include documents to be signed before them, statements made under oath, powers of attorney, certified translations, affidavits and acknowledgements.

The American Citizen Services Section provides these services Monday and Thursday between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. by appointment, with the exception of American and Ecuadorian holidays. Check our Make an appointment section to schedule your appointment.

Notary appointments may only be used to obtain a notarial. If you would like to obtain other American citizen services, such as renewing a passport, you may make an appointment for that service.

To have a document notarized, you must come in person with the following documents:

1. The document(s) to be notarized,unsigned.
   
2. A valid photo ID. (i.e. passport, driver license or national ID card).
   
3. If your document needs to be witnessed, please bring your witness(es) with you. Witnesses are required to bring a valid photo ID. Consular Officers cannot serve as witnesses.
   
4. Completely fill in all blank spaces on the document.
   
5. Notarial service fee US $50.00 per document. (Please keep in mind that some documents such as mortgages may require more than one notarial therefore, you will be charged for each Consul's signature required).

Apostilles

The United States and Ecuador are parties to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. The Convention abolishes the requirement of diplomatic and consular legalization for public documents originating in one Convention country and intended for use in another.  Therefore, for U.S. public documents to be valid in Ecuador, including birth or marriage certificates, divorce decrees, court documents, school transcripts or diplomas, one should obtain an apostille. An apostille can be obtained from either (1) the U.S. Department of State, in the case of documents issued by U.S. federal agencies; (2) Clerks and Deputy Clerks of U.S. Federal Courts, for U.S. Federal Court documents; or (3) the Secretary of State, or other state authority, for documents issued by authorities and notaries public in one of the fifty states or other jurisdiction. Under the Hague Convention, neither Ecuadorian consular certification, nor any other authentication other than the apostille from one of the three sources listed above, depending upon the authority which issued the document, is required for a U.S. document to be used before an Ecuadorian civil authority.

Neither the U.S. Embassy in Quito nor the U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil certifies/apostille U.S. issued documents.

For more information about the apostille process, please visit the following website:

• The Hague Convention.