Iran does not use the apostille. Documents follow the older legalisation chain, and because there is only one Iranian office in the United States, the final stamp always comes from Washington, whichever state the document was issued in.
Quick facts
The chain is the familiar one: notary where the document is private, then the Secretary of State of the issuing state, then federal authentication in Washington, then the Iranian office.
The chain
| Step | Who does it | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Notarisation | U.S. notary public | For private documents |
| State certification | Secretary of State | Of the issuing state |
| Federal authentication | U.S. Department of State | Slowest stage |
| Consular legalisation | Iranian Interests Section | Washington only |
| Certified translation | Official translator | Usually required in Iran |
Iranian institutions generally want the Persian translation produced by an officially certified translator in Iran, so ask before paying for one here.
How to prepare a document
- Ask the receiving office in Iran exactly which certifications it requires.
- Order a certified copy, or have the private document notarised.
- Obtain the state certification and then the federal one.
- Register the request through the Mikhak portal where a consular filing is needed.
- Send the package to Washington with a prepaid tracked return envelope.
- Arrange the Persian translation as the receiving office instructs.
Required documents
- Original document, intact and unaltered.
- State and federal certifications already attached.
- Mikhak reference where applicable.
- Copy of your identification.
- Prepaid tracked return envelope.
What the Interests Section does
It renews passports, issues national identity cards, registers births of children born abroad, processes visas, legalises documents and authenticates powers of attorney for use in Iran.
Additional notes
Budget for the whole chain
Three or four separate fees plus several rounds of tracked postage add up well beyond what an apostille would cost.
The federal stage is the bottleneck
It takes weeks and cannot be skipped. Build it into the timetable rather than discovering it late.
Order two copies
Iranian offices keep what they receive, and repeating this chain is genuinely expensive.
Names in Persian
Transliteration varies widely across documents. Fixing the spelling once and using it consistently avoids years of mismatches.