Legal documents executed in US must be authenticated by the foreign consulate in order to be used in a foreign country (document authentication). What the consulate does is to verify that the last signature (usually from the Secretary of State Office) is true and valid.

Our agency may act as your agent to obtain authentication from the Chinese Consulate in Houston (for documents from southern 8 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Flordia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas). We charge a low service fee ($29.96) for document authentication. We will be happy to answer your general questions no matter you use our service or not.

Type of documents include: birth/death certificates, power of attorney, marriage certificates, diplomas, adoption application papers, business license, etc. Authentication is sometimes also called certification or legalization.

General Procedures

1. Sign before a notary public.
2. Certified by the Secretary of State Office (or Department of State) of the state where the document is executed.
   Some states require the notarized document to be sent to the notary public's county clerk for verification before presenting to the Office of Secretary of State. Please contact Secretary of State Office of the state where your document is executed for details.
   Certain government or court document can be certified directly by the Office of Secretary of State, like Court Decree, Marriage License, Birth Certificate, etc. Please contact Secretary of State Office of your state for details.
3. Certified by the relevant Consulate General. You must apply to the correct Consulate General which holds consular jurisdiction over your area of residence.
   The Consular District of the Chinese Consulate General in Houston covers: Alabama, Arkansas, Flordia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas. We only accept authentication applications for documents certified by the Secretaries of State Office of the above 8 states plus Puerto Rico (click for their contact info).

Documents to be included

1. One Authentication Application Form (G1). The form must be completed and signed by the applicant. The applicant is the person who submits the application -- he/she may or may not be person who owns/signs the document to be authenticated.
2. Photocopy of the applicant's passport and/or other form(s) of identification (e.g. green card).
3. The original and photocopy of the document to be authenticated. For documents related to property, business or commercial use, a complete photocopy of all pages of the original documents must be enclosed. For all other documents, please enclose the photocopy of the pages with seal and signature of notary public and all other certification agencies/officers.
4. Photocopy of Articles of Incorporation, if the document to be authenticated is a corporate or company document (please provide one copy per document to be authenticated).

How to apply

• please follow the "step by step procedures" at the bottom of the main page.

Fee and processing time

• $20 consulate fee for civil documents, e.g. adoption, power of attorney, marriage, birth/death, kinship certificate, etc.
• $40 consulate fee for property or commercial documents, e.g. business license, labor agreement, inheritance, property transfer, etc. This also includes the case of entrusting somebody else to buy/sell house for you.
• The service fee of our agency is $29.96.
• The regular processing time is 4 working days. For express service, additional fees are required. [See fee table for details] (Note: The consulate no longer provides same day service for property related or commencial documents since 2006/12/01).

Link: Contact infomation for Secretaries of State Office of Alabama, Arkansas, Flordia, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas.

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