AUTHENTICATION OF DOCUMENTS BY THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS KENYA
In Kenya the State Department of Foreign Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs is the body mandated with the responsibility of authenticating official documents issued by any entity/registry in Kenya for international use.
Authentication of documents is the process by which an original document, issued by any registry in Kenya, is verified to ascertain that the document is legitimate and authentic for use in another country. Some documents once authenticated may require legalization by the Embassy or Consular of the State where the documents are to be used. In other words, some counties may require that after a document has been authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the same be legalized by the Embassy of that country in Kenya.
Depending on the nature of the document, the authenticity of each document must be certified and verified by the respective issuing authority or registry in Kenya. Below is the list of documents that may be authenticated by the Ministry of foreign Affairs and the verifying registry or authority:
| NO. | TYPE OF DOCUMENT | CERTIFICATION & VERIFYING BODY |
| 1. | Academic Certificates | Ministry of Education |
| 2. | Islamic Marriage and Divorce Certificates | Chief Kadhi or Deputy Chief Kadhi |
| 3. | Adoption Orders/ Adoption Certificate/ Court Orders | High Court |
| 4. | Certificate of Birth/Death | Registrar of Births/Deaths |
| 5. | Certified copy of Marriage Certificate | Registrar of Marriages |
| 6. | Certificate of no impediment to Marriage | Registrar of Marriages |
| 7. | Driving Licence | National Transport & Safety Authority (NTSA) |
| 8. | Medical Certificate Report | Kenya Medical & Dentists Practitioners Council (KMPDC) |
| 9. | Police Clearance Certificate | Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) |
| 10. | Notarized Documents | Registrar of the High Court |
| 11. | Trade Documents (Original/Copy) | Kenya National Chamber of Commerce & Industry or the Joint Arab-Kenya Chamber of Commerce & Industry |
| 12. | End User Certificate | Relevant Competent Authorities |
VERIFICATION AND AUTHENTICATION PROCEDURE
Any applicant intending to use above listed documents outside Kenya must first apply for verification and certification by the issuing registry or authority. You can do this by either writing to the registry or authority seeking verification of the document. Thereafter once you obtain the verification letter, you can proceed to make an application for authentication on Ecitizen State Department of Foreign Affair section.
In both the verification and authentication stages, requisite fee is applicable and the authentication by the State Department of Foreign Affair will take a maximum of 3 working days to issue the Authentication Certificate.
At A.O.WANGA ADVOCATES we are happy to assist you with both Verification and Authentication of your documents in Kenya.
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