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Documents issued in one country that need to be used in another country must be "authenticated" or "legalized" before they can be recognized as valid in the foreign country. This is a process in which various seals are placed on the document. Such documents range from powers of attorney, affidavits, birth, death and marriages records, incorporation papers, deeds, patent applications, home studies and other legal papers. The number and type of authentication certificates one needs to obtain depend on the nature of the document and whether or not the foreign country is a party to the multilateral treaty on "legalization" of documents, The Hague Legalization Convention Procedure.

 The United States and Argentina are parties to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents.  The Convention abolishes the requirement of diplomatic and consular legalization for public documents originating in one Convention country and intended for use in another.  

Therefore, for U.S. public documents to be valid in Argentina, one should obtain an apostille (a special kind of certificate) from either (1) the U.S. Department of State, in the case of documents issued by U.S. federal agencies; (2) clerks and deputy clerks of U.S. Federal Courts for U.S. federal court document; or (3) from the secretary of state, or other authority for documents issued by authorities and notaries public in the state or other jurisdiction.   Under the Hague Convention, neither Argentine consular certification, nor any other authentication other than the apostille from one of the three sources listed above, depending upon the authority which issued the document, is required for a U.S. document to be used before an Argentine civil authority.  United States citizens who encounter difficulties in Argentina with official acceptance of a U.S. document with an apostille attached should advise the U.S. Consular Section at the following e-mail address: BuenosAires-ACS@state.gov

Documents That May Obtain An Apostille

For the purposes of the Hague Convention, public documents include:  (a) Documents emanating from a court, (b) documents issued by an administrative authority (such as civil records, for example, birth and marriage records), and (c) documents executed before a notary.   Such documents issued in the United States certified by a Convention certificate with an apostille are entitled to recognition in Argentina, or any other Convention country without any further authentication.

Obtaining the Apostille from the U.S. Authority

For documents issued by a U.S. federal agency:

U.S. Department of State Authentications Office: The office is located at 518 23rd St., N.W., State Annex 1, Washington, D.C. 20520, tel: (202) 647-5002; Email: aoprgsmauth@state.gov . There is a fee of $5.00 for each authentication payable in the form of a check drawn on a U.S. bank or money order made payable to the Department of State. For additional information, call the Federal Information Center: 1-800-688-9889, and choose option 6 after you press 1 for touch-tone phones. Walk-in service is available from the Authentications Office from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Monday-Friday, except holidays. Walk-in service is limited to 15 documents per person per day (documents can be multiple pages). Processing time for authentication requests sent by mail is 5 working days or less.

 See also, the State Department Home Page: http://travel.state.gov/law/judicial/judicial_2545.html 

For documents issued by U.S. Federal Courts
Documents issued under the seal of a federal court should be sent to Justice Management Division, Security Program Staff, Physical Security Office, 9th and Pennsylvania Avenue, Room 6531, Washington, D.C. 20530, tel: (202) 514-2314 or 514-4667

For documents issued by U.S. states, counties and municipalities:
State documents such as documents originating from a state court or agency, such as: birth, death, marriage, etc, must be authenticated by the appropriate office in the state Secretary of State's office (listed below).

For documents sealed by a notary public:
The procedure for authenticating documents executed before a notary public such as affidavits or acknowledgments varies from state to state. It is advisable to contact the state authentication authority listed below to learn what steps are necessary between the notary's seal and the state Secretary of State's seal. In some states, this requires contacting the clerk of the court of the county where the notary is licensed, and obtaining an authentication of the notary's seal. The state Secretary of State's office can then authenticate the seal of the clerk of the county court.