What is “certification and authentication” of dossier documents?
Each of the documents that comprise your dossier will have a notarized signature or a seal (in the case of vital records certificates). Most countries require certification and authentication of the notary’s seal, which serves ultimately to verify the validity of the document itself. The process involves sending each of your documents through a series of steps. For example, if you work in the state of Ohio and an Ohio notary notarizes your employment verification document signature the document will need to be sent to the county in which the notary is registered. Next it will be sent to the Ohio Secretary of State and finally to the foreign country embassy in the United States which serves the state of Ohio. Each of these local, state and embassy levels affixes a seal to the document. If you were born in the state of Washington, your birth certificate would follow a similar path, but within the state of Washington. Each document or set of documents that is transmitted from government o
