The U.S. Embassy in Asmara performs the following document services: Notaries, Certified True Copies and Authentications / Attestations. You must make an online appointment system for each service.
NOTARIES
If you have a power-of-attorney, affidavit, sworn statement, acknowledgement of execution, etc. that must be signed in the presence of a notary public, you may come in person to the Embassy for this service. U.S. citizens, in general, may notarize any documents. Non-U.S. citizens, may notarize documents for use in the U.S. or for a U.S. government agency only.
To apply for Notary services, please make an appointment on our online appointment system and bring the following with you on the scheduled day:
- The document, completely filled in except for your signature and notarization section – do not sign the document.
- Your valid passport and/or another form of valid government ID.
- If your document requires a witness signature, please bring an (unrelated) friend or colleague with you. Embassy staff may not act as witnesses.
- Fee of $50USD or nakfa equivalent per notary.
- Blank affidavit and power-of-attorney forms are not available at the Consular Section. We encourage you to have all documents prepared before your visit to the Embassy.
A note about Medallion Signature Guarantees: Unfortunately, consular officers are not authorized to provide a signature guarantee/medallion guarantee service. A Medallion Signature Guarantee is not a notary service, but a special procedure related to securities, which can only be performed by an authorized representative of a financial institution participating in a medallion program approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may be contacted at www.sec.gov.
Step One - Obtain the document and complete the first authentication.
Education institutions (college degrees, vocational/educational certificates, transcripts)
Documents issued by educational institutions should be originals and be obtained from the educational institutions themselves. Most schools have notaries public to provide certified copies of the degrees or transcripts. Contact the school to determine how best to have your document authenticated by the state’s Secretary of State. In some cases, you may be required to bring the document to a county office for authentication, and then authenticated by the state’s Secretary of State.
Documents issued by a U.S. state
State documents are those originating with a state court or agency (birth, death, and marriage certificates, etc.). They must be authenticated by that state’s Secretary of State. Contact them or send your original document or its certified copy for initial authentication of the town/county/state’s issuing officer. Information on the offices of Secretaries of State for the U.S. states: http://www.statelocalgov.net/50states-secretary-state.cfm
Notarized Documents
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 to learn what steps are necessary between the notary seal and the state level authentication.
Documents issued by federal courts
Documents issued under the seal of a federal court should be sent to:
Justice Management Division, Security Program Staff
Physical Security Office, Room 6531
9th and Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20530
Telephone: (202) 514-2314 or 514-4667
Documents issued by federal agencies
If your document was issued under the seal of a federal agency, it does not require a state level authentication. You may proceed directly to Step Two.
Step Two - Get your document authenticated by the U.S. Department of State Authentications Office
Once you have completed the state level authentication, you must get your document authenticated by the U.S. Department of State Authentications Office.
- All documents that in a foreign language must be accompanied with a certified (notarized) English translation.
- Please submit a completed Request of Authentications Service DS-4194 form with all of your requests. In Section 4 of the DS-4194, the Country of Use for each document must be specified before the document(s) can be processed.
- Printable, PDF version DS-4194 (PDF 36 KB)
For the mailing address and contact information, please see the office’s website at: Office of Authentications
Processing time for authentication requests sent by mail is at least 15 working days. There is a walk in service, open 7:30 am to 11:00 am, which allows for the authentication of documents on the same day. For additional information, call the Federal Information Center at 202-485-8000.
All seals and signatures must be original and all the dates must follow in chronological order.
Step Three – Eritrean Embassy
The final step of the authentication process is done at the Eritrean Embassy in Washington DC. Please contact the Eritrean Embassy for more information:
Embassy of Eritrea
1708 New Hampshire Ave, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20009,U.S.A
Tel: 202-319-1991
FAX: 202-319-1304
EMAIL: embassyeritrea@embassyeritrea.org
Step Four – Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Eritrea
Once you have finished the Final Authentication with the Eritrean Embassy in Washington, DC. You may take your document to the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Asmara. With this final authentication, you should be able to use your U.S. document in Eritrea.
