Getting documents notarized outside the U.S.
Some U.S. documents must be notarized. It is absolutely guaranteed that there will be some of these in any real estate transaction.
This notarization procedure is an arcane holdover from medieval times (as near as I can figure) where some third party examines a small subset of the known universe (looks at your document), gazes deep into your soul (aka asks for identification), mutters certain incantations ("Sign here, please") and scrawls magic marks on a piece of paper that you sign (practices vary by location). You make a small offering to the Almighty Notarization Gods ("The fee for this service is $__") to ensure long life and prosperity. Congratulations. Do you feel any different?
But I digress.
If you are outside the United States, the way to get this done is to hie thyself to a convenient U.S. Embassy or Consulate. There you will find a practitioner of the ancient art.
More information? Look at the explanation of notarial and authentication services of U.S. consular officers from the U.S. Department of State.
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Impressed with all the info on this site. Great info to assist foreign clients with US real estate holdings.
Not as easy as it sounds. Needed to get a W7 form notorized and paid $120 to get it done by an authorized signatory here in Australia (as directed by IRS). IRS then refused to recognise this, said it had to be done by someone in the embassy or consulate.
Our nearest is 800 miles away. Trying to find out if there will be someone available is impossible as they just do not answer the phone. No exageration, they do not answer the phone ever! Even the special number for US citizens (my mother in law tried this) is not answered. Tried for weeks.
God help you if you ever need them because you got into some trouble.
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