Quite often, Canadian citizens and business persons require that certain documents be "legalized" or "authenticated" so that they can be used in Ukraine. The procedures to be followed depend on the nature of the documents and are similar to the requirements of all other governments throughout the world.

Notarization

If the document is in the Ukrainian language and requires merely notarization, then it may be signed by the signatory person before a Ukrainian consular officer at the Consular Section who will thereafter notarize it. The fee for such notarization is $25 CAD per one signature on the document. If the document affects ownership of apartments or other "realty" then the fee is $50 CAD. This procedure is known as the "notarization" process and is substantially similar to the procedures followed here in Canada.

Authentication by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada

All other documents which are issued by Canadian governmental or provincial entities, or which are business documents or are documents which have been previously notarized in accordance with the procedures of the various provinces must be "authenticated" by Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada, Authentication and Service of Documents Section (JLAC)*. The address is: 125 Sussex Drive Ottawa, Ontario K1A OG2, for inquiries call: (613) 992-6602.

* Prior to having JLAC/DFAIT authenticate any documents to be used in the process for adopting a Ukrainian child, all such documents must first be certified, signed and sealed by a Canadian notary. When sending the documents to JLAC/DFAIT, please request that after the documents are authenticated, that they then be forwarded to the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada or to the Consulate General of Ukraine in Toronto located at 2120 Bloor Street, West, Toronto, Ontario M6S 1M8, and whose telephone is (416) 763-3114, and fax is (416) 763-23-23.

Authentication by the Consular Section

After a document has been so authenticated by the  Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada, it may then be submitted to the Consular Section for "authentication".

1. Each document submitted to the Consular Section for legalization must also be accompanied by a photocopy of the entire original. When submitting any documents having any pages with overlapping attachments, a photocopy ;of each such page, both with and without the attachment, must be provided. In doing so, care must be taken not to remove any staples. Photocopies of multi-page documents must be in exact sequential order as the original, collated and attached to the original document with a clip. Failure to comply will result in the return of the documents unprocessed.

"Multi-page documents must be stapled or sealed in a way, which prevents any possibility for manipulation or changing pages in the set after its authentication by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada or appropriate provincial authority (for example, all pages may be sewn with threads which are sealed, each page may be sealed by a notary public etc.)"

2. The Consular Section will legalize only those documents which are duly authenticated by relevant Canadian authorities as outlined above.

3. The fees for legalization are:

   For private persons - $ 35 CAD per each document;

   For legal entities - $ 150 CAD per each document.

Payment should be in the exact amount of the appropriate fee as listed above. The payment should be only in the form of a certified personal check, bank check or money order, made payable to the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada. Cash is not accepted. Do not send payment for return postage. The fee is not refundable after the legalization of documents.

The fee is doubled for "RUSH" requests, i.e. legalization of documents within less than five working days

4. Legalization processing time is five business days.

5. Documents brought in for legalization are accepted by the Consular Section from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with the exception of Ukrainian and Canadian public holidays. In addition, documents may be delivered to the Consular Section by mail or courier service. The legalized documents, if to be picked up in person, may only be released to their owner or his or her designee pursuant to notarized written instructions from the owner. If the documents are to be returned by mail or a courier service, the Consular Section must be provided with a pre-paid self-addressed return envelope or a courier service waybill together with the courier service's envelope. If none is provided, the documents will be held by the Consular Section gratis pending: (a) their pick up in person by their owner or designee, or (b) such time as a pre-paid self-addressed envelope or a courier service waybill together with the courier service's envelope is provided for their return. The Consular Section disclaims any responsibility for any mail that is lost, damaged, misdirected or delivered late.