Legally, a document issued in Valais falls under State Chancellery in Sion. In practice our standard route frees you from that counter: a notarized certified copy is made from your upload and the apostille goes on it — a copy suffices, whatever the canton. The original only enters the picture if your destination expressly requires the apostille on the original.
Order an apostille →Upload a PDF or photo; a notary establishes the certified true copy (included) and that copy receives the apostille — processed through our Vaud office. Nothing to post, and identical turnaround whether the document comes from Valais or anywhere else.
Some authorities insist the apostille sit on the original issued in Valais: we then file with State Chancellery in Sion. Send us the original by registered mail after ordering (address confirmed by e-mail) — it comes back apostilled.
Criminal records and other federal documents belong to the Federal Chancellery in Berne, not to Sion. Tick «federal document» in the form — we route it.
the canton of Valais is bilingual, and that can save you a translation. Documents are available in French or in German — so a file going to Germany, Austria or a German-speaking employer is better ordered in German from the start, and one going to France in French. Tell us the language when you order; it costs nothing then and a full document later.
Valais runs a French-speaking lower valley and a German-speaking upper valley, and the same surname is often spelled differently on either side. If your document carries a name from the Upper Valais, check the spelling on the extract against your passport before we file — a mismatch between the two is a common reason foreign registries refuse a file.