Embassy of the United States Stockholm, Sweden

American Citizen Services Unit

A U.S. Consular Officer may act as a U.S. notary public for documents to be used in the United States. Some documents to be used in the United States can be signed before a foreign authority competent to notarize or legalize signatures.

If you need to sign a document in the presence of a notary public, and a U.S. notary public is not required, you can look in the Swedish yellow pages under "notarius publicus" to find the notarial official nearest you.

Notary Services at the U.S. Embassy, Stockholm

Please note that as of February 1, 2011 you must have an appointment for this service. Follow the step-by-step instructions below and click on the link taking you to another website where you can choose a date and time slot of your choice.

How to prepare for your visit to the U.S. Embassy for a notarial service:

1. Before you come to the Embassy read your document(s) through carefully and make sure you understand the document(s). If a document is not clear check with the office or organization requiring the notarized document or your legal advisor. Consular staff cannot explain your document(s) to you.
2. Mark every page where the notary needs to sign, with a marker sticker sticking out of the document. Also make clear which pages should be attached to each other, for instance with a paper clip.
3. Fill in the document(s) with the appropriate names, places and dates. However, do not sign your document – you will sign under oath at the Embassy, in front of a Consular Officer.
4. Set up an appointment. 
5. Bring a valid government-issued photo ID.  A passport is best.
6. Bring the entire document(s), even if only one page is to be notarized.
7. If your document requires witnesses in addition to the notary, you must bring these witnesses with you. Consular staff cannot serve as witnesses. Witnesses cannot be relatives, and need a passport to enter the Consulate.
8. The Notary Services fee must be paid in cash, SEK or USD, or by credit card. Effective March 7, 2011, due to a new Embassy exchange rate, the fee for notarial services will be $50.00 or SEK 350.00. Personal checks and postal money orders ("postanvisning") are not accepted.

True Copy

To obtain a certified copy of your national passport when applying for an ITIN, please set up an appointment for a notary service. This service is available by appointment only. The fee for a certified copy is $50 or SEK350.

Set up an appointment

Apostille - Authentications

An "apostille" is a certificate issued by a designated authority in a country where a treaty called the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalization of Foreign Public Documents applies. See a model Apostille. (PDF 9 KB)

Both the United States and Sweden are currently signatory parties to this Convention. This means that the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm cannot authenticate any U.S. or Swedish documents. You can see the full text of the Convention at the Hague Conference on Private International Law website, where you can also find a list of all signatory countries.

The Hague Legalization Convention is a multilateral treaty, the main purpose of which is to facilitate the circulation of public document issued by a country party to the Convention to be used in another country party to the Convention.

U.S. Embassies and Consulates in countries participating in the Hague Conventions are thus not equipped or authorized to provide Apostille Certificates (certifications and authentications) of U.S. documents.

Swedish Documents

The Government of Sweden has chosen Swedish notaries public as their officials, who are designated to certify the authenticity of Swedish public documents, seals and signatures. Under the Convention, the standard certification provided to authenticate documents is called an apostille.

We suggest that you look in the yellow pages under "notarius publicus" to find the officer nearest you to authenticate Swedish documents for use in the U.S. or another foreign country.

American Documents

Authentication (certification) of U.S. documents destined for use in countries that are parties to the Hague Convention (such as Sweden), should be certified by one of the officials in the jurisdiction in which the document has been executed. There are three levels of U.S authorities competent to issue an Apostille certificate depending on what jurisdiction executed the documents:

1. State, territories and Other jurisdiction: Each state and other jurisdiction in the U.S have an office that can issue an Apostille certificate. Listings of competent office in individual states and other jurisdictions.
2. Federal Executive and Administrative Agencies: You must obtain the seal of the federal agency that issued the document before the U.S. Department of State Authentications Office can affix an Apostille to the document. Please see the U.S. Department of State Authentication Office website for more information.
3. U.S. Courts: Clerks and Deputy Clerks of the Federal Court System can issue Apostilles. Please see the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, Statement of Effect of Apostille (PDF 50 KB) (AO 393) and other related documents (AO 390, AO 391, AO 392). The website www.uscourts.gov holds contact information for the different courts.