While there are many countries that are party to the Hague Convention of 1961, China, unfortunately, is not one of them. That doesn’t mean you can’t get document attestation for China; it means you will most likely go through some additional steps and the process might take longer.
Legalization of Your Documents
China, like many countries that are not part of the Hague Convention, requires longer processing and additional steps before your documents can be presented to the China Embassy. This isn’t necessarily bad. It just means your documents also need to be certified by the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC and the Chinese Embassy, prior to presenting them to China.
What Can Be Attested?
There are several documents that can go through the attestation process for China. The most common documents presented for document attestation for China are:
- Birth certificates
- Marriage certificates
- Divorce decrees
- Death certificates
- Local, state and FBI background checks
- Single status affidavits
- Powers of Attorney
- Passports
- Driver’s licenses
- School transcripts
- Diplomas
- Authorization letters
- Travel consent letters
- Teaching certificates/licenses
How Long Will It Take?
The length of time to go through the attestation process depends initially on you. It’s important to gather all of your documents together so they can be processed at the same time. Sending in documents a piece at a time lengthens the process and becomes expensive. Most people want this process to be done as quickly as possible especially if they need to start a new job or do some particular contract work that requires document attestation for China.
To learn more about document attestation for China, contact US Authentication Services.
