Fillable Form DS 4194
DS 4194 Form is a Request for Authentication Service submitted by the U.S. citizens and foreign nationals that is used by the U.S. Department of State.
What is Form DS 4194?
Form DS 4194, Request for Authentication Services is a document by the US Department of State used by citizens to request that their important foreign documents be validated and authenticated by the Authentication Office.
The Authentication Office is an agency responsible for verifying documents by issuing them under the Seal of the US Department of State. With this seal, these documents can be submitted to foreign countries with little to no conflict.
Before you fill out your DS 4194 Form, you must first review the documents that you want to be authenticated and check if there are additional requirements for the authentication. You must also see if the document requires an apostille or an authentication certificate.
An apostille is a certification of the place of origin of public documents. This kind of certification, however, can only be issued by and for countries that are a part of the Apostille Convention or the Hague Convention. An apostille, according to this convention is only needed if all of the following criteria are met:
One hundred seventeen countries are included in the Hague Convention as of July 2019. Make sure to review the country you will submit your documents to when filling out your 4194 DS Form.
To submit your request you will need to mail your DS Form 4194 along with the following.
Mail this packet of documents to the following address:
Office of Authentications
U.S. Department of State
CA/PPT/S/TO/AUT
44132 Mercure Circle
P.O. Box 1206
Sterling, VA 20166-1206
Furthermore, it is advised to use trackable mail to keep tabs on the situation of the letter.
How to fill out Form DS 4194?
For people who are required to submit DS Form 4194, a PDF version of the form can be found in the official document database of the Department of State. You can download and print the form to fill out manually.
Alternatively, you can fill out the form manually using PDFQuick before printing it for mailing.
Section 1: Customer Contact Information
Name
Input your complete name. Input your last name first, followed by your first name, then your middle initial. If you are filling out this form on behalf of a company, input the complete name of the company (do not abbreviate)
Suffix/Prefix
If your name includes any suffixes or prefixes, input them here.
Input your business email or the email you want to receive updates in.
Home Phone
Input your complete and current phone contact information at home.
Extension
Input the phone extension of your home phone.
Cellphone
Input your complete and current cellphone contact information.
Extension
Input the phone extension assigned to your Cellphone.
Work phone
Input the complete and current phone number of your business phone.
Extension
Input the phone extension assigned to your work phone.
Case Type
Specify the nature of the business that you are involved in. If you are requesting authentication for documents on behalf of a Federal Agency, always input “Official Business”.
Country
Input the complete name of the country you are currently residing in.
Formal Mailing Address
Input your complete and current mailing address including street number, apartment number, or suite number.
Start writing your address here.
If your full address does not fit in Line 1, continue the address here.
Input the city where your address is located.
Input the state where your address is located.
Input the ZIP code assigned to your address.
Section 2: Courier or Representative Contact Information
Are you submitting or retrieving this form…
If you are filling out this form on behalf of another individual or company, input yes. If you inputted yes, then the information in Section 1 should be for the individual or company you are representing. Otherwise, input no. If you input no, you are not required to fill out this section of the form.
Name
If you inputted yes, input your complete name (last name, first name middle initial).
Company
If you represent a company, input the complete name of that company (do not abbreviate).
Phone Number
Input your phone number or the phone number of the company you are working for.
Extension
Input the phone extension of your phone or the phone of the company.
Section 3: Shipping Details
This is section is primarily for people who will only request authentication through the mail. However, due to the status quo, the Department of State has mandated to only send their requests through mail alone.
Delivery Method
Input how you want your DS Form 4194 to be returned to you:
Tracking number
Input the tracking number for your request.
Shipping Address
If the shipping address is the same as the address you entered in Section 1, check the box and you may leave the rest of this section blank. However, if it is not the same address, you will have to enter the address where you want the documents to be shipped.
Country
Input the complete name of the country you are currently residing in.
Line 1
Start writing your address here.
Line 2
If your full address does not fit in Line 1, continue the address here.
City
Input the city where your address is located.
State
Input the state where your address is located.
ZIP Code
Input the ZIP code assigned to your address.
Section 4: Document Information
This section requires you to input details about the documents that you want to be authenticated.
Country
Input the country where the documents will be used in
Number of Documents
Indicate the number of documents of these types is to be authenticated.
Document Type
Indicate what kind of public document is to be authenticated.
Document Label
This is to be filled out by the Department of State with how they will label each document. Leave this column blank.
Section 4 is continued on the second page of this form. If you have more than three different documents that need authentication, you can use the second page to list these documents. Make sure to label the second page with your name and email.
Section 5: Projected Cost
Total Number of Documents
Input how many documents in total you are requesting to be authenticated.
Estimated Cost
Input the estimated total cost of this request. One document costs $20 to have authenticated.