How Long Does an Apostille Take in Canada?
One of the first questions people ask about the apostille process is how long it will take. The honest answer is that timelines vary — sometimes considerably — depending on which competent authority handles your document, how you submit it, and whether your document is properly prepared when it arrives. This guide explains the factors that determine apostille turnaround in Canada and, more usefully, what you can do to keep your file moving.
Who Issues Your Apostille Matters
Canada does not have a single apostille office. Since joining the Apostille Convention on 11 January 2024, apostilles have been issued by Global Affairs Canada for federal documents and for documents from most provinces and territories, while Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan have designated their own provincial competent authorities to apostille documents issued or notarized within those provinces.
Each of these offices manages its own queue, staffing, and procedures, which means processing times are not uniform across the country. An apostille on an Ontario-notarized document is handled by Ontario's competent authority, while an RCMP criminal record check goes through Global Affairs Canada — and the two offices may be operating on quite different timelines at any given moment. Demand also fluctuates seasonally, so the same office can be faster or slower depending on when you submit.
Mail-In vs In-Person Submission
How your document reaches the competent authority affects the overall timeline. Mail or courier submissions involve transit time in both directions on top of the office's internal processing queue, and a document sitting in a mailroom awaiting intake is part of the real-world turnaround even though it is not 'processing' in the official sense.
Some competent authorities offer in-person or drop-off options that can shorten the intake stage, though these are subject to appointment availability and local procedures — and they help only if you or a representative can be physically present in the right city. For most Canadians, the practical route is a well-organized courier submission with tracked, prepaid return shipping, which removes at least the avoidable delays around delivery and return.
Preparation Problems Are the Biggest Cause of Delay
In our experience, the delays people can actually control almost always happen before the competent authority ever sees the document. A submission that arrives incomplete or improperly prepared will be returned unprocessed — and the round trip of receiving it back, correcting the issue, and resubmitting can add far more time than any queue.
Common preparation issues include photocopies submitted where signed originals are required, notarizations that do not meet the authority's requirements, vital statistics certificates in the wrong format for international use, documents signed by officials whose signatures are not on file with the competent authority, and missing forms or return shipping arrangements. Every one of these is avoidable with careful preparation.
- Confirm which competent authority covers your document before you submit anywhere
- Order fresh originals from the issuing registry or institution — not photocopies
- Ensure notarizations are complete, with the notary's full signature, seal, and commission details
- Include all required request forms and prepaid, tracked return shipping
- If consular legalization or translation follows, plan those stages into your timeline too
The Apostille May Not Be Your Last Step
When estimating your total timeline, remember that the apostille is only one link in the chain. If your document first needs to be ordered from a provincial registry, obtained from the RCMP, or notarized, those steps come before the apostille and have their own turnaround times. If your destination country is not an Apostille Convention member, an apostille is not the right tool at all — your document instead needs authentication followed by legalization at the destination country's embassy or consulate, which adds a further stage with its own queue.
Even for member countries, some receiving authorities require certified translations, and some want documents issued recently — meaning an old certificate may need to be reordered before anything else can happen. Mapping the full chain from first document order to final delivery abroad is the only realistic way to estimate how long the whole project will take.
How Visa Jet Can Help
Visa Jet cannot speed up any government office — no private agency can, and you should be wary of anyone who claims otherwise. What we can do is eliminate the delays within your control: confirming the correct competent authority, checking your documents before submission so they are not returned for corrections, and coordinating the full chain including any translation or consular legalization stages.
We are a private Canadian agency serving clients across the country remotely by email and secure courier. If you are working against a deadline, contact us early at info@visajet.ca or +1 819-635-8787 and we will help you plan the process realistically.
Frequently asked questions
Expedited options depend entirely on the competent authority handling your document — some offer priority processing in certain circumstances, others do not. No private agency can jump a government queue. The most reliable way to save time is submitting a correctly prepared document the first time.
It depends on where the document was issued or notarized. Documents from Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan generally go to those provinces' designated authorities, while federal documents and documents from other provinces and territories go to Global Affairs Canada. Confirming this before submitting avoids a misdirected file.
The apostille itself does not carry an expiry date, but many receiving authorities abroad require that the underlying document — such as a police check or civil status certificate — be recently issued. Check your destination's recency requirements before ordering documents.
As early as possible. Because timelines vary by office, season, and document type, and because preparation steps such as registry orders or notarization come first, we recommend building in generous lead time rather than working backwards from a fixed processing estimate.
Important: Visa Jet is a private travel, visa, and document support agency. We are not a government office, embassy, or consulate. We assist with document preparation, legalization support, application review, embassy submission, and tracking. Final approval and processing times are determined by the embassy, consulate, government office, or destination country.
Need help with this service?
Contact Visa Jet today and we'll guide you through the next step.