Certificate of Status Authentication for Lebanon

A Florida certificate of status proves a company is active, which Lebanese banks, partners and registries ask for before opening accounts or registering an agency. Order it from the Florida Division of Corporations close to when you'll use it. Since the embassy asks for a company letter confirming the signer's authority on commercial documents, prepare that letter at the same time.

The original certificate of status, or a new certificate requested together with the apostille; never a photocopy or scan. It can only show the company as active if the annual report is filed and the entity hasn't been dissolved, and it speaks only for the date it was issued.

Order it from the Division online or by mail (listed at $8.75 for corporations, $5 for LLCs and $8.75 for partnerships by mail), or let us request a fresh certificate with the apostille using the two separate payments the state requires. The Division's fee is not included in our $220.

State fee for this document: $10 — included in our price. Full details on the certificate of status page.

After we return your document with its Florida authentication certificate, it goes to the U.S. Department of State for authentication, which Lebanon's embassy requires for documents such as powers of attorney and life certificates. Next, the Embassy of Lebanon in Washington, D.C., whose jurisdiction includes Florida, legalizes it. Ask the office in Lebanon whether the document also needs to be certified by Lebanon's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We don't handle, arrange or refer anyone for these steps.

We don't handle or arrange the U.S. Department of State or embassy steps. See how non-Hague authentication works.

Florida falls under the Embassy of Lebanon in Washington, D.C., according to its published jurisdiction list; there is also an Honorary Consulate of Lebanon in Tampa. The embassy legalizes documents and registers births, marriages, divorces and deaths of Lebanese citizens. In Lebanon, documents go to the personal status registry, religious and civil courts, the land registry, notaries, banks and pension funds.

Lebanon's embassy translates Lebanese documents into English but doesn't publish a rule for translating U.S. documents into Arabic. Lebanese courts, registries and notaries generally work in Arabic and may require a translation, often made in Lebanon. Ask the receiving office. If it accepts a Florida translation, the translator certifies it, a different notary notarizes it, and it is authenticated in Florida with the original.

The embassy's published pages don't set a document-age rule for most documents. Lebanese registries and courts may want recent certified copies, so order fresh Florida records and ask the receiving office how recent they must be.

Consular office serving Florida: Embassy of Lebanon, Washington, D.C. (its jurisdiction includes Florida).

$220 per document, $380 for two and $160 each for three or more — the state fee, request form, in-person filing in Tallahassee and FedEx shipping inside the U.S. are included. Shipping the finished authentication to Lebanon is a flat $100 per order.

Not included: whatever the issuing office charges for the certified copy or certificate, and notarization (online notarization is $40 for the first document — $10 notarization fee + $30 technology platform fee — and $20 for each additional one).