We offer a comprehensive Japan Apostille Stamp Authentication service to assist you in validating your Japanese documents issued in Japan for use in another country.
What We Offer:
Japan Apostille Stamp Services from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Japan.
For instance, you may have an official document such as a marriage certificate, birth certificate, family registry, or a school-issued document such as a university diploma that must be Apostille authenticated for use in a country within the Hague Convention.
In many cases, we may need to reissue a copy of the document since documents issued from the city office must be printed and are only valid for Apostille Authentication within three months of the date of printing.
Common Situations We Can Help With:
Situation 1: If your child was born in Japan at a Japanese hospital, and you are registering the birth in the European Union, these countries require the birth certificate from Japan to be Apostille authenticated.
Situation 2: If you are entitled to an inheritance in another country and need to prove your relationship to the court to establish your eligibility, having your Family Register (Koseki Tohon) Apostille authenticated will prove the legitimacy of the document’s authenticity.
Situation 3: If you attended a school or university in Japan and your diploma is in Japanese, and you are applying for work or additional schooling in another country, the institution you are applying to may require your Japanese diploma to be Apostille authenticated.
Common Documents we authenticate
(click to learn more)
1.) Koseki Tohon (戸結績紙)
2.) Marriage Certificate (婚姻届受理証明書)
3.) Divorce Decree (離婚届出証明書)
4.) University Diploma (大学卒業証書)
5.) Death Certificate(死亡届出証明書)
Authenticating Diplomas, Private Documents, & Copies (non-originals)
Other situations may arise where the university you attended is considered a private university school not run by the public sector but owned and operated under a private company.
This situation is very common and requires an extra step of having the document notarized by a Japanese notary and authenticated with the Legal Bureau, all of which we will complete for you.
Apostille Workflow for Private Documents
(Japanese Diplomas, Non-public (Private) Documents & Copies)
1. Reissue or Submission
You have several options for Apostille authentication:
- We can obtain a reissued original Japanese Diploma or Private Document on your behalf.
- You can send us the original document.
- Alternatively, we can Apostille a copy if an original is not required.
2. Translation
The next step is translating the document into either English or Japanese. This translation is required as part of the Apostille process, and it must be completed by me as the signatory. Translations done by external parties will not be accepted by the notary office.
3. Notarization
Once the document is ready, we submit it to a notary office in Japan. We will verify that all requirements are met and schedule an appointment for notarization. The documents are then physically notarized.
4. Legalization
After notarization, the documents must be authenticated by the official Legal Affairs Bureau. We can typically complete this step on the same day as the notary appointment.
5. Apostille Authentication
Finally, the documents are sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Apostille Stamp authentication. Once authenticated, we will scan the documents and send them to you via PDF before dispatching the originals to you by courier.
To Get Started:
Contact us by sending a copy of the document you would like Apostille authenticated. We can examine the document to confirm it can be Apostille authenticated or determine what additional steps may be necessary.
We will also need a copy of your passport, mailing address, and phone number, so please include all of this in your email to us.
You can reach us for any questions here: davehigginsoffice@gmail.com
See our Apostille Prices Page
Notary & Apostille
Dave Higgins Office offers legal Japanese Notary Services and Apostille Stamp legalization.
Before you consider using our services please note that an Affidavit for Competency to Marry is only notarized by the US Embassy, Consulate or at a Military Legal Services Office
What is a Japan issued Apostille Stamp and what is it used for?
If you were married or had a child in Japan you would be issued a legal document such as a Japanese marriage certificate or a Japanese birth certificate.
Documents issued in Japan would be in Japanese and you would need it translated into English or your home country language to report your marriage or birth of a child.
In most cases your home country would not understand what is written on the document you are providing and they would have to rely solely on the translation of it that you are providing.
This is where the Apostille Stamp adds the authentication that countries in the Hague Convention use to confirm that the document is and official document issued from Japan and not a forgery.
Below is an example of a legally document issued from Japan.
Next is that same document with an Apostille stamp that authenticates it from any type of forgery or reproduction.
Our company Dave Higgins Office offers the service of Apostille authentication in Japan.
Please consider the following when sending us a document for authentication.
• The document must have a print date of within 3 months of issue. If the document is over the 3 month validity period we can obtain a reissue of that document for you even if you are outside of Japan.
To authenticate the document for an Apostille Stamp you must send us the original.
What is a Japanese Notary Stamp and what is it used for?
If you have a Japanese Private School University Diploma in English it cannot be Apostille Stamped. This type of document will need to be legalized by a Japanese Notary for use outside of Japan.
If the document is issued in English it will have to be translated into the Japanese. From this point our office must send the Japanese Notary the document to approve so that it can be notarized and that it meets Japanese Notary requirements.
Once the Japanese Notary approves the document, it can then be notarized. We will set up an appointment at the Notary’s office to have the document notarized (an appointment can take up to 5 business days). Once the document is notarized we are required to bring the document to another Prefectural Judicial Head Legal Office at a different location for an additional notarization stamp.
This process is handled by our office and the normal processing time from the time of contact until you have the document notarized is about 10 business days.
From this point on we can mail you the notarized document via Worldwide EMS courier which usually takes about 7 business days depending on your location. The cost is 2500YEN to 4500YEN. (depending on your country)
If you have any additional questions about our Japanese Notary Stamp Services or any other inquires please or if you are searching for reliable professional interpreters, translations and legal services please contact Dave Higgins Office.
