Canada's Department of Global Affairs recently publicly stated that it will improve certification services outside of Canada.
From January 11, 2024, the legalization process for certain Canadian documents will be more convenient.
In addition, public and notarized documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, academic certificates, ZF export licenses and corporate archives can be verified. Each year, more than 200,000 Canadian public documents are certified as official Canadian documents.
For example, public documents may need to be authenticated for different purposes, such as immigration, work or Xi abroad, marriage registration in one's own country, major events such as birth or death, repatriation of remains, international business activities, or estate processing.
When the Hague Convention enters into force in Canada on January 11, Canadian public documents will be certified as "apostille". This would allow the use of these documents in more than 120 States members of the Convention, thus removing some of the measures that countries other than Canada are currently required to take in order to accept them.
Under this change, the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan will have the right to issue or notarize endorsements in their own provinces.
The remaining provincial, territorial and Canadian ZF documents will be annotated by International Affairs Canada.
In fact, Global Affairs Canada issued a statement in May announcing that Canada had officially become a party to the Convention on the Abolition of Legalization Requirements for Foreign Public Documents, which is also a party to the Hague Convention, which is part of Canada's becoming a party to the Apostille Convention. This statement is a statement issued by Global Affairs Canada.
At the same time, China acceded to the convention in March this year, becoming a party to the convention along with Canada.
In other words, from the 11th, Chinese and Canadian citizens can skip the "consular legalization" link when they need to use legalization documents in another country, which greatly saves time and expenses. This means that Chinese citizens in Canada do not need to be notarized for the domestic documents or documents required to use or invest in Canada.
For example, British Columbia residents who originally needed to be certified by B.C. official documents will only need to add a "Hague Certificate" to the "British Identification Program" after the Hague Convention comes into effect, and they do not need to go to the consulate or embassy for additional certification.
British Columbia Attorney General Nikki Sharma said: "Anyone who previously needed documentation knows that the process is scary. We all know that if the documents are submitted late, it will affect our work and Xi. I am pleased that Canada is a party to the Convention. Now, people across B.C. can do this with ease and without too much stress. ”
When I was preparing to study in China, I had to travel from Victoria to the Chinese embassy in Vancouver to verify my documents," said Matthews, a former international exchange student at the University of Victoria. It is difficult for a student to want to have enough time and enough money to complete this step. I'm glad to hear that prospective students don't have any stress when it comes to preparing for their study abroad Xi. ”
International students, temporary workers and immigrants would also benefit from Canada's acceptance of apostille of foreign official documents from other Member States, as Canada became a party to the Convention.
During the transition to the new process, all documents submitted to the BC Certification Program from December 18, 2023 to January 11, 2024 will be processed on or after January 11, 2023, which is between December 18, 2023 and January 11, 2024. Waiting until the Convention enters into force before implementing it would reduce costs. Canada immigration