International business transactions have become increasingly important as the global marketplace grows in complexity and scale. Access to foreign markets is often dependent on the production and legalization of public and private documents. Securing the necessary legalization for your documents is a critical step in this process. In order for a foreign document to be valid in a foreign country, its original must have been previously legalized by the respective Consulate. The legalization is done either by means of verification of the signature on the document or by the authentication of the document itself. The legalization of documents at the Consulate in can only be made if the document was issued, signed, notarized or certified within that respective jurisdiction. For other documents issued and signed in other locations, please see the list of Consulates in The United States and their jurisdictions.