Certified True Copy in Toronto: Notarized Copies of Passports, Degrees and Records

Civitas Law is a team of legal professionals under the leadership of lawyer Nasibeh Mehrpouyan, a lawyer and a notary public. We certify copies of passports, permanent resident cards, diplomas, transcripts, court orders, corporate records and many other documents for offices in Canada and abroad, and we work in English, French, Farsi, Russian and Serbian at 4789 Yonge Street, Suite 402, at Yonge and Sheppard in North York.

Offices ask for certified copies because they do not want to keep your original. A school, a bank, a foreign registry or an immigration office can rely on the notary's certificate that the copy matches what the notary saw. The certificate says nothing about whether the original itself is genuine or valid; it confirms only that the copy is identical to the document presented.

Our notary public services page covers the other notarial services we offer.

Ontario has two separate offices that people often confuse:

• A notary public, appointed under the Notaries Act, can certify and attest a true copy of a document, witness signatures and take oaths.
• A commissioner for taking affidavits administers oaths on affidavits and takes declarations. The province's guide for commissioners notes that the Commissioners for Taking Affidavits Act does not itself authorize certifying true copies.

Every Ontario lawyer is a commissioner, but a lawyer must also hold a notary appointment to certify copies. Nasibeh Mehrpouyan holds both. Bank employees, guarantors on a passport application and other professionals are not notaries unless they hold an appointment, so before you rely on anyone else's stamp, check that the office receiving the copy accepts it.

Some offices set their own lists. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, foreign governments and universities sometimes say who may certify a copy for their purposes, and some exclude relatives of the applicant. Follow the receiving office's instructions where they are stricter.

• Passport copies, usually the photo page and sometimes visa or stamp pages, for banks, foreign registries, landlords, employers and immigration applications.
• Degrees, diplomas and transcripts for licensing bodies, employers and universities in Canada and abroad.
• Permanent resident cards, citizenship and status documents where an office asks for a certified copy instead of the original.
• Birth, marriage and divorce documents, including foreign certificates that you need to keep but must show to an office in Canada.
• Court orders and parenting arrangements to carry while travelling or to give to a school.
• Corporate documents such as articles, bylaws and resolutions for a bank or a foreign partner.
• Driver's licences and identity documents for financial institutions and foreign offices.

A ServiceOntario certified copy of a birth or marriage registration is a different thing: it is a government-issued document, not a notarized photocopy. If an office asks for a "certified copy" of an Ontario vital statistics record, it may mean the version ServiceOntario issues, so ask which one it wants.

The process takes a few minutes per document once the notary has the original in hand:

• You bring the original, and either a clear photocopy of every page or we make the copy at the appointment.
• The notary compares the copy with the original, page by page, including the back of any page with printing, stamps or signatures.
• A notarial certificate is attached, stating that the copy is a true copy of the original document produced, with the date, the notary's signature and seal.
• Multi-page copies are bound or stamped across the pages so a page cannot be swapped out later.

The notary must see the actual original, not a scan on a phone and not another photocopy. A copy of a copy can only be certified as a true copy of the photocopy that was produced, and most offices will not accept that. If your original is already with another office, ask that office for a certified copy instead.

• The original document, complete and unaltered, with every page.
• Valid government photo identification.
• The receiving office's instructions, if it has given you wording, a form or a list of who may certify.
• The number of copies you need. Each certified copy carries its own certificate, so tell us when you book.

If the original is not in English or French, we can still certify that the copy matches it, but the receiving office may also want a translation. Tell us the language and the destination when you book, and we will tell you what the next step is.

How we measured this: we reviewed the fees that 15 notary offices and law firms in Toronto and the GTA publish on their own websites, checked in November 2026. Figures are before HST unless stated. These are typical market fees, not Civitas Law's fees. Civitas Law tells you its fee in writing before any work starts, and any government fee is paid on top of the notary fee.

How Civitas Law can help

If a document is not in English or French, the translation can be attested before Nasibeh Mehrpouyan as an Ontario notary public, one of the translation routes that Official Documents Services accepts. Mobile appointments at a home, hospital or office in Toronto can be arranged for an additional fee, which we confirm in writing before the visit.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada allows supporting documents to be submitted as originals or certified photocopies, depending on the application. Where a document is not in English or French, the translation must be of the document submitted: if you send a certified copy, the translation must be of that copy, and the translator stamps both the copy and the translation. If the translator is not a certified member of a translation association, the translator swears an affidavit before a notary public or commissioner about the accuracy of the translation and their language ability.

IRCC does not allow the applicant, family members or the applicant's representative to translate documents or swear those affidavits, even if the family member is a lawyer, notary or translator. Its current rules are on the IRCC translation requirements page. Our page on notary services for immigration documents covers declarations and invitation letters, and our immigration lawyer page covers the applications themselves.

A foreign office will often accept a certified copy only if it also carries an apostille or a certificate of authentication. In Ontario, Official Documents Services can authenticate the notary's signature and seal on a certified copy, for a government fee of $16 per notarized document as of November 2026. The notary's signature and seal must appear in full on the same page of the certificate.

There are limits. Ontario will not authenticate documents issued outside Canada unless an Ontario notary witnessed a signature on them, and documents in a third language must be issued in Canada and accompanied by an accepted translation. In practice, a notarized copy of a Canadian degree or passport can usually go to ODS, while a notarized copy of a foreign birth certificate usually cannot. For Ontario public college and university credentials issued since January 1, 2019, the original can go to ODS without a notary. The details are on our apostille page.

Related services: commissioner of oaths for affidavits and declarations, and travel consent letters for children. To book, call (647) 271-1646 or use our booking page. If the copy is part of a legal matter, a 30-minute consultation is $150 plus HST, paid when booking.

Book a consultation online or call (647) 271-1646 (the phone is answered Monday to Friday, 9 am to 8 pm, and Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm). 30-minute consultation, $150 plus HST, paid when you book. Legal fees after that depend on the work involved, and we explain them in writing before you retain us.