Notaries Public

Please note: The U.S. Embassy in Riga assumes no responsibility or liability for the professional ability or reputation of, or the quality of services provided by, the entities or individuals whose names appear on the following lists. Inclusion on this list is in no way an endorsement by the Department or the U.S. government. Names are listed alphabetically, and the order in which they appear has no other significance. The information on the list is provided directly by the local service providers; the Department is not in a position to vouch for such information.

If you would like to make an appointment, please click here.

Consular Officers may perform the following notarial services for documents which will be used in the United States.

Affidavits/Acknowledgements. The witnessing or notarizing of a signature on a document. The person signing the document must have photo identification and sign the document before the consular officer. The fee for this service is $50 or the equivalent in local currency.
Certification of a True Copy. Consular Officers may perform the following notarial services for documents which will be used in the United States. The fee for this service is $50 or the equivalent in local currency.

If you need to sign a document in front of a public notary and a witness(-es), you must appear at the Consular Section together with them. The witness must be personally known to you, because their function is to be available to testify in the event a dispute arises at a later date concerning the circumstances surrounding the execution of a document.

If you require services of a Latvian notary, you can find a list of notaries on the website of the Latvian Council of Sworn Notaries. The Embassy assumes no responsibility for the professional ability or integrity of the individuals or firms listed there. However, if you encounter unsatisfactory services from any of the notaries, please set forth the circumstances in writing so that we can note your complaint in our files.

Apostille and Authentication of Documents

The U.S. Embassy in Riga does not provide authentication of documents issued in the USA. The embassy does not issue, nor can confirm authenticity of an Apostille.

Documents issued in Latvia: If your document is notarized at the U.S. Embassy in Riga, Latvia, Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia will issue Apostille certification on your document. On all other documents that have been issued to you in Latvia, the authority to issue the Apostille belongs to sworn notaries, see the website of the Latvian Council of Sworn Notaries.

Please consult these tabs as relevant for information on authentication of the U.S. issued and notarized documents:

U.S. issued documents to be used in Hague Convention countries (including Latvia)

For certifying documents that originated from the United States and are to be used in a country that is party to the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents, you should submit them for affixing the Apostille certificate to a competent authority.

There are three tiers of authorities in the United States competent to issue an Apostille certificate on specific types of documents. U.S. embassies and consulates abroad cannot issues the Apostille certificates.

U.S. Department of State Authentications Office

Documents requiring certifications with an Apostille by the U.S. Department of State are those that have been signed by:

a) A federal official with the official seal of that agency;

b) American consular officer;

c) U.S. military notary (10 USC 1044a);

d) Consul of a foreign embassy to the United States (diplomat officials must be registered with the U.S. Office of Protocol).

The U.S. Department of State will not issue an Apostille for documents issued by authorities of individual U.S. states.

Clerks and Deputy Clerks of the Federal Courts

The clerks and deputy clerks of U.S. Federal Courts of the United States are authorized to issue the Apostille certificates on documents issued by those courts. List of courts is available here: http://www.hcch.net/.

As an alternative, the U.S. Department of Justice may authenticate the seal of a federal court and the U.S. Department of State Authentications Office will then place an Apostille over that seal.

Officers of individual states

Public documents, such as birth, death, or marriage certificates, notarial acts, issued by authorities of individual U.S. states, the District of Columbia (D.C.), and other U.S. jurisdictions may be legalized with an Apostille by designated authorities in each jurisdiction, generally the state Secretary of State’s office. Instructions and contact information is available on National Association of Secretary of State website –www.nass.org.

Authentication for U.S. Academic Credentials for Use Abroad

I Colleges, Universities and Other Post-Secondary Institutions

a) Obtain from the registrar of the university an official true copy of the credentials. The registrar should then execute an affidavit attesting to the validity of the document before a notary public in the registrar’s office or elsewhere at the university.

b) Submit the document, with the notarial certificate to the Secretary of State’s office for affixing an Apostille certificate. No further authentication is necessary.

II Public Primary and Secondary Schools

a) Obtain a transcript from the school, the principal or other authorized official should then execute an affidavit attesting to the validity of the document before a notary public.

b) Take the document, with the notarial certificate to the Secretary of State’s office for affixing an Apostille certificate. No further authentication is necessary.

III Private Primary and Secondary Schools

You should follow the instructions for colleges and universities above.

Please consult the link travel.state.gov for further information provided by the U.S. Department of State on notarial and authentication services.

U.S. issued documents to be used in non-Hague Convention countries

For authenticating documents that originated from the United States and are to be used in a country that is NOT a party to the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961, you should follow the procedure described on this webpage.

Step 1 – Get required certification

General Documents (i.e., originals of diplomas, power-of-attorneys, agreements, bylaws, school transcripts, deeds of assignments, etc.)

Validity of the document must be acknowledged before a notary public;
After, one must submit the documents to the Secretary of State’s office in the same state wherein the notary was licensed or commissioned for certifying to the officials signing the documents.

All documents in a foreign language must be accompanied with a notarized English translation.

Documents originating in the District of Columbia (D.C.) must be certified by the Notarial Section of the District of Columbia, Room 810 South, 441 4th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20001, U.S.A.

State and Local Documents and Court Records (i.e., copies of birth, marriage, and death certificates, divorce decrees, probate will, judgments etc.)

Documents must be certified by the custodial of the records;
After, one must submit the documents to the Secretary of State’s office in the same state where the documents are recorded for certifying to the officials signing the documents.

Federal Agency Documents (documents executed by Courts of the District of Columbia and federal agencies, i.e., the U.S. Department of Justice, Library of Congress, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Court of Appeals, Department of Commerce, etc.)

Certified under the official seal of the agency or the Court.

Animal Health Certificates

Certified under the official Seal of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in the State in which the document originates.

The Hague Convention and the list of countries that are signatories

(The Hague, October 5, 1961)

The purpose of the Convention is that it abolishes the requirement of diplomatic and consular legalization for public documents originating in one Convention country and intended for use in another. Documents issued in a Convention country which have been certified by a Convention Apostille are entitled to recognition in any other Convention country without any further authentication. Such recognition is an obligation on the part of the United States to the other countries party to the Convention and the federal courts and state authorities have been alerted to this obligation. Consular officers in Convention countries are prohibited from placing a certification over the Convention Apostille.

Public documents include:

Documents emanating from an authority or an official connected with the courts or tribunals of the state, including those emanating from a public prosecutor, a clerk or a process server;

Administrative documents;

Notarial acts; and

Official certificates which are placed on documents signed by persons in their private capacity, such as official certificates recording the registration of a document or the fact that it was in existence on a certain date and official; and notarial authentication’s of signatures.

If you have a document which you want legalized for use in another Convention country, the Convention certification called an Apostille must be affixed to the document by a competent authority. The Apostille is a preprinted form prescribed by the Convention.

For the list of countries party to the Hague Convention, please click here.