How do you prepare an Oregon high school, college, university transcript for an apostille?
The transcript must be certified/signed by a school official (principal, registrar, counselor, etc.) The signature of the school official must be original.
Sample certification:
According to the Oregon Secretary of State (Oregon Notary Public Guide), the required elements for getting an apostille for a school record are:
- Jurisdiction where the document was notarized.
- Statement by school official (principal/registrar) as to the authenticity and type of document being notarized.
- Signature of the school official. The document must be signed in the notary's presence.
- Statement by the notary indicating who signed the document and the date the document was signed.
- Signature line for the notary.
- Clear and legible imprint of the notary seal/stamp with the notary's name, commission number and expiration date on it.
Examples and certificate forms:
Affidavit with signature witnessing:
I, (name of School Official) , the (position, e.g. Principal, Registrar, etc. ) of (name of school) hereby certify that this is the true and original transcript for (student's name) .
Acknowledgment (representative capacity):
Acknowledgment (individual capacity):
Jurat:
Loose certificates:
An attached or “loose” certificate is filled out like any other notarial certificate, with a few additional details. Because a loose certificate is not an integral part of a document, it is very important to guard against its fraudulent use. The object is to make sure that the certificate may be used with one, and only one, particular document.
Any notarial wording on the document itself that the certificate is replacing should be crossed out and the words “SEE ATTACHED NOTARIAL CERTIFICATE” should be typed or written on the page.
The full page certificate should be stapled after the signature page, so that a recorder can easily film the certificate in sequence with the signature that goes with it.
On the certificate itself, the document’s date, type, and the number of pages should be noted at the bottom of the certificate, e.g., “Attached to the original transcript of [name of the student], signed by [name of the School Official] on [date], [number of pages] pages.”
Can a notary certify a copy of a transcript?
Yes, the State of Oregon allows copy certification by notaries public. However, please check with the receiving foreign school / agency if they will accept a notarized copy. Many foreign schools require an original transcript signed by the school principal or registrar.
In case a notarized copy is acceptable, the notary should use the following notarial certificate (Oregon Notary Public Guide):
Copy certification:
