Notary Public Services Pretoria
Notary Public Certification of Your Documents
Many original documents have the required signature or stamp and do not need further certification. For example birth certificates, marriage certificates normally do not need to be signed by a Notary Public
Other documents and copies of documents need to be notarised or attested by a Notary Public. These documents are not typically signed by a recognised public official.
In simple terms a Notary Public will check a document and then add a statement why they are certifying or attesting the document and then add their signature, red seal and notarial stamp to an separate page. The whole set of documents are then bound an sealed and legalised by Apostille or Authentication Certificate.
The type of certification added to a document will depend on what the document is and why it is being certified. In many circumstances a document may simply be certified as a copy, or as an original. If you are having your signature witnessed then the Notary will add an attestation certificate signed in my presence’ or ‘witnessed by’ to confirm they saw the document being signed and the identity of the signatory.
Certification on documents needs to be done correctly. It is important to use the services of an experienced Notary Public as getting the notarisation and legalisation of your documents wrong can be costly and frustrating.
Documents our Notary frequently Notarise or Attest before document legalisation:
Unabridged Birth Certificates
Unabridged Marriage Certificates
Death Certificates
Last Will and Testament
Affidavits and Declarations International Contracts
Permission for Children to Travel
Notarial Copies of document that cannot be replaced
Documents to old to Verify
International Property Transfers Many more. Please enquire via message regarding your document
Benefits of using our Notary Service to Legalise your documents
We offer a total legalisation service to save you both time and money. South African documents certified or attested by our Notary are guaranteed to be correctly legalised with an Apostille or Authentication certificate.
- We save you time – Do you really want to spend time researching document legalisation, making appointments and travelling to and from the various parties involved?
- We save you money – Not only do we save you travel costs but our Notary services are fairly priced and included in the document legalisation costs.
- Quick service – If we are certifying your documents this is included in our normal processing time. You do not lose any hours or days organising your own Notarisation.
- Complete Service – We will check, certify, legalise and attest your documents.
- Document Legalisation Experts - After 10 years and thousands of document legalisations we are very experienced in the document legalisation process.
Apostille or Authenticate Notarised Copies of South African Documents
True Copy or Notarized copy. What is it?
This is a photocopy of an original document which is verified by a notary public to be an accurate copy of the original. This is done when an official document (such as an ID, government papers, educational credentials etc.) needs to be provided/submitted to a third party. Often the original document is one of kind and it becomes impractical to give it away. Normal photocopies could be doctored or altered. The True Copy is objective evidence of the accuracy of the imageHow is it done? To do this, the notary must compare the original document to the copy (we can do the photocopying). He/she verifies that the copy is accurate, unaltered and all details match the original. We are happy to certify true copies. This is done quickly and easily. We are here to help you with your true copy needs.
When (and relevant types of documentation) to follow the route of the Public Notary or Sworn Translator and Registrar of the High Court:
There are documents pertaining to customary marriages; travel documents (passport) or identity documents; or documents such as an affidavit, power of attorney; work contracts; and / or translations, which has to be verified by a Public Notary (Attorney registered with the High Court) or translated by a Sworn Translator (if this service is required), where after the verified documents must then be taken to the Registrar of the High Court of South Africa – in the same jurisdiction as the Public Notary or Sworn Translator, before submitting to the Legalisation Section:
Step 1: Documents must be verified by a Public Notary (an Attorney registered at the High Court) or translated by a Sworn Translator (if the customer wishes the documentation to be translated) – of your choice.
The Public Notary will basically make a certified copy of the original document (which is the procedure, by which the copy of the original document, is “certified” as being “a true copy of the original document”).
If a country is signatory to Apostille Convention, the High Court should issue and affix an Apostille Certificate to the document. This document should not be submitted to the DIRCO – Legalisation Section. If the Convention applies, an Apostille is the only formality that is required to establish the origin of the public document – no additional requirement may be imposed to authenticate the origin of the public document.Step
2: The certified documents or translated documents must then be taken to the Registrar of the High Court of South Africa – in the same jurisdiction as the Public Notary / Sworn Translator. The Registrar will verify the signature and/or the seal of the Public Notary / Sworn Translator. (Note: Documents to be Apostilled (for countries that are signatory to the Apostille Convention) and Authenticated (for non-signatory countries).
Step 3: After Authentication (for non-signatory countries) by the High Court, the documents must then be submitted to the DIRCO – Legalisation Section for further authentication.
The signature of a Notary Public A Registrar can only verify the signatures of a) an Attorney who is registered at the High Court as a Public Notary practising in the same jurisdiction of the relevant court or b) a Sworn Translator who is registered at the High Court in the same jurisdiction of the relevant court.The country of destination should be clearly specified to ensure the correct procedure is followed by the High Court.
Sign Documents, Affidavits & Contracts before Notary Public - Legalise for use in any country
It's not feasible to to travel overseas to sign contracts, company resolutions. Such documents can be signed by one or multiple parties in South-Africa before a Notary Public who will attest to the identity and signature of the parties on the document. This attested document can in turn be legalised for international use by means of a an Apostille or Authentication Certificate depending on the destination country where the document will be used.We provide a Notary Signature Service for such documents and contracts to be used outside the borders of South-Africa.
Complete the online quotation form to receive a no obligation cost quotation and time estimates to apostille or authenticate.
