Authentication & Apostille for Iraq citizens in the United States — 2026

Iraq is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille is not valid for a document destined there — whatever a notary or a courier service may tell you. What applies instead is the full consular legalisation chain: four steps, in a fixed order, each with its own fee. They are set out below.

The legalisation chain for this country

1. Have the document notarised, if it is a private document rather than one issued by a government office.
2. Certify it at the Secretary of State of the state that issued it.
3. Authenticate it at the U.S. Department of State in Washington.
4. Legalise it at an Iraqi career consular post covering your state. An honorary consulate generally cannot perform this step, and with a network this size most of the offices listed below are honorary — confirm before travelling.

Each stage charges its own fee and each adds time. Ask the consular office what it charges for the final step before paying for the federal stage, which is the slowest and least refundable part.

Iraqi consular offices in the United States

Iraq has five offices across four cities — Los Angeles, New York, Southfield and Washington, D.C. That is enough offices for the kind of office to matter as much as the distance to it.

Documents this usually applies to

• Birth, marriage and death certificates.
• Court orders, including divorce decrees.
• FBI background checks and other federal records.
• Diplomas and academic transcripts.
• Powers of attorney and company documents.

Two things to settle first

Ask the receiving institution what it will accept. It is the only authority on its own requirements, and a document certified the wrong way has to start again from the beginning.

Ask whether a translation is needed, and into what. For Iraq that normally means Arabic or Kurdish. Some offices require the translation itself to be certified alongside the original.

Office names, addresses and telephone numbers on this page come from our directory, and the count above is taken from the same records as the listing. Procedural rules come from the authority itself — always confirm with the office that covers you. Apostille status checked against the HCCH official status table on 2026-10-05.