Notary Fees, by Country
Slovakia (EUR 4) and Spain (EUR 6.01) have the cheapest statutory rate of the six countries here for certifying one signature; the United States is the most expensive at $15 — and that's just California, one of the few US states that caps notary fees by law at all. Most common-law countries have no official rate to cite: notary fees there are market-set, not government-regulated.
Last updated 2 November 2026.
Notary fees are not a uniform global tariff. Civil-law countries typically set a statutory fee scale by law — notaries there are quasi-public officials who can't legally charge outside it. Most common-law countries leave notary fees to the market entirely, with no official source to cite; a handful of US states are the main exception.
This table prices one specific, comparable act: certifying that one person signed one document, where the document states no monetary value. It's the simplest, most commodity-like thing a notary does anywhere — not a property transfer or company formation, both of which scale with transaction value and aren't comparable across countries.
| Source | ||
|---|---|---|
🇨🇿 Czech RepublicCertifying one signature (legalizace, ověření pravosti podpisu), under the Czech notarial tariff regulation (vyhláška č. 196/2001 Sb.): 70 Kč per signature, excluding VAT. | 70 Kč | [4] |
🇵🇱 PolandCertifying a signature (poświadczenie własnoręczności podpisu) on a power of attorney or other document not stating a sum of money (§13.1.b of the regulation on maximum notarial fee rates): 20 zł, excluding 23% VAT — a statutory maximum, so notaries may charge less. A published amendment raises this to 60 zł, in force from around 4 November 2026; 20 zł is the rate in force as of this page's last update. | 20 zł | [3] |
🇩🇪 GermanyCertifying a signature (Beglaubigung einer Unterschrift; GNotKG Kostenverzeichnis Nr. 25100): a statutory 0.2-fee on the matter's value, floored at €20 and capped at €70. For a document with no stated value — the standard case for certifying a private signature — the €20 floor applies. Excludes VAT (19%) and the standard notary expense allowance. | €20 | [2] |
🇺🇸 United StatesCalifornia, Government Code §8211(a): the statutory maximum a notary may charge for taking an acknowledgment of a deed or instrument (or an oath/jurat, §8211(b)) is $15 per signature. The US has no national notary-fee law — fees are set state by state, and most states don't cap them at all; California is one of a minority that does. A newly enacted law (AB 1597, Statutes of 2026) raises this cap to $20 from 1 January 2027. | $15 | [1] |
🇪🇸 SpainCertifying a signature (legitimación de firma), first signature (Arancel Notarial, Real Decreto 1426/1989, Anexo I, Número 6, converted to euros by DGRN Instrucción of 14 December 2001): €6.010121, conventionally rounded to €6.01. Each additional signature on the same document is €3.01. Notarial acts are VAT-exempt in Spain. | €6.01 | [6] |
🇸🇰 SlovakiaCertifying the authenticity of one person's signature on a document, per signature (osvedčenie pravosti podpisu jednej osoby na listine, za každý podpis; notarial fee schedule, Položka C.3): €4 per signature. VAT isn't stated in the schedule itself; most Slovak notaries are VAT payers, so expect roughly 20% added in practice. | €4 | [5] |
Why one simple act, not property transfer or company formation. Notary fees scale enormously with what's being notarized — certifying a property deed or a company's founding documents can cost hundreds or thousands of euros/dollars, set by formulas tied to transaction value. That's not comparable across countries with different property markets and company-capital rules. This table instead prices the one notarial act that's genuinely standardized worldwide: certifying that one person signed one document, with no stated monetary value attached.
The civil-law / common-law split is real, and this table doesn't paper over it. In civil-law countries (Germany, Spain, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia here), notaries are quasi-public officials appointed by the state, and their fees for routine acts are set by statute or ministerial decree — they cannot legally charge outside that schedule. In common-law countries, "notary public" is usually a market-rate service with no profession-wide tariff; a handful of US states are the main exception, capping fees by statute (California here). Where no statutory fee exists and could be confirmed — the UK, Canada, most of Australia — the country is left out rather than represented by an invented or merely typical market rate.
What's excluded. Travel or mileage allowances for notarial acts performed away from the notary's office (several schedules charge these separately), VAT/sales tax where it's layered on top of the base fee (flagged per row where known), and fees for any other notarial act — drafting a will, certifying a copy, authenticating a deed all carry different fees, even within the same country's own schedule.
Two figures here are mid-change. Poland and the United States (California) both have an enacted fee increase that lands within weeks to a few months of this page's last update — flagged inline on those rows so a reader checking back later isn't confused by a jump.
Currency and comparability. Each figure is in the country's own currency at face value, not FX-converted — treat "cheapest/most expensive" as directional, not a precise ranking once exchange rates are applied.
Why isn't the UK (or Canada, or most of Australia) in this table?
Because no official, government-set fee exists to cite. In the UK, "notary public" is a small profession separate from solicitors, and fees are set by each notary individually with no statutory tariff. Canada and most Australian states are the same. Western Australia may be a partial exception with a binding fee determination, but we couldn't confirm a comparable figure from it this round.
Why does this table price a signature certification instead of something like a property sale or company formation?
Because those scale with the value of the transaction and aren't comparable across countries with very different property markets and company-law rules. Certifying one signature on one document is the simplest, most standardized thing a notary does anywhere, and the case most likely to have one flat official fee.
Is the United States really the most expensive country here?
Among the countries we could verify, yes — but with a big caveat: the US has no national notary-fee law at all. Fees are set state by state, and most states don't cap them by statute. California, used here, is one of a minority that does; many US states would show no citable figure at all, and some that do cap fees set them lower than California's $15.
These figures look tiny (Slovakia's €4, Spain's €6.01) — is that really the whole cost?
Yes, for exactly the act priced here: one notary certifying that one person signed one document, where the document states no monetary value. These are statutory minimums or fixed rates for the simplest possible notarial act; a notarized contract, property transfer, or multi-page document costs substantially more under the same countries' own fee schedules, and that's excluded here by design.
Cost to Register a Company by Country
Germany's company-formation notary costs, a different (and much larger) notarial fee than the one priced here.
Work Visa Fees by Country
The other official cost of relocating for work.
Probate Fees by Country
A related court/registry fee, often paired with a notarised document in the same estate.
- 1California Government Code §8211
California Legislature, via california.public.law
$15 cap per signature for an acknowledgment or oath/jurat. leginfo.legislature.ca.gov, the official source, returned an access challenge on every attempt by both the researching agent and us this session; california.public.law, a legal-publishing site that mirrors the official code text verbatim, was used instead. AB 1597 (Statutes 2026) raises the cap to $20 effective 1 January 2027, confirmed via legislative-tracking sources, not the primary chaptered text.
- 2Gerichts- und Notarkostengesetz (GNotKG), Anlage 1, Nr. 25100
Bundesministerium der Justiz (gesetze-im-internet.de)
Beglaubigung einer Unterschrift: 0.2-fee, minimum EUR 20, maximum EUR 70. Confirmed directly against the primary source 2 November 2026.
- 3Rozporządzenie Ministra Sprawiedliwości w sprawie maksymalnych stawek taksy notarialnej (consolidated text; amended by Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1370)
Dziennik Ustaw Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, via api.sejm.gov.pl
§13.1.b: 20 zł for signature certification on a power of attorney or other document not stating a sum of money (current rate). The amending regulation, published 21 October 2026, raises this to 60 zł about 14 days after publication. Fetched directly by the researching agent 1-2 November 2026.
- 4Ověření pravosti podpisu – Legalizace
Portál veřejné správy (Czech Government Services Portal)
70 Kč per signature, excluding VAT, under vyhláška č. 196/2001 Sb. Fetched directly by the researching agent 1-2 November 2026.
- 5Vyhláška č. 390/2023 Z. z. (amending vyhláška č. 31/1993 Z. z.), Príloha, Položka C.3
Zbierka zákonov Slovenskej republiky (slov-lex.sk)
EUR 4 per signature for certifying the authenticity of one person's signature on a document, version effective 1 January 2025. Fetched directly by the researching agent 1-2 November 2026.
- 6Real Decreto 1426/1989, Anexo I, Número 6 (Arancel de los Notarios), as converted to euros by the DGRN Instrucción of 14 December 2001
Boletín Oficial del Estado (BOE)
Legitimación de firma: EUR 6.010121 (first signature), EUR 3.005061 (each additional signature). Independently corroborated 2 November 2026.