How do I make a power of attorney for Lebanon from Canada?

Also asked as: “Lebanese embassy Ottawa power of attorney” · “Power of attorney for Lebanon signed in Canada” · “Does Lebanon accept a Canadian apostille?” · “Wakala for Lebanon from Canada”

Two ways to make the POA from Canada#

A power of attorney for Lebanon is signed in one of two ways. You sign in person at a Lebanese embassy or consulate, or you sign before a local notary, have it authenticated by the local authorities and then legalised by the Lebanese embassy or consulate^[1,2,3,4]. From Canada, that means signing at the Lebanese embassy, or before a Canadian notary followed by the Canadian and Lebanese stamps. Signing at the mission skips the Canadian authentication step that the notary route needs.

We found no official page from a Lebanese mission in Canada, so we cannot tell you its document list, its fees or whether it wants witnesses. Rules differ between missions. For a property POA signed before a local notary, the New York and Detroit consulates require two witnesses who are not relatives^[2,9], and some missions ask older applicants for a medical certificate, from 70 (Washington, Dubai) or 80 (Netherlands)^[1,3,13]. Ask the embassy which of these apply in Canada. The general rules for every country are in giving a power of attorney from abroad.

Why a Canadian apostille is not the end of the chain#

Canada is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention and issues apostilles for its own documents; Lebanon is not a party^[5]. The Hague Conference status table shows 130 parties; Lebanon not among them (30 June 2026). Lebanon expects documents signed abroad to be legalised by its own embassy or consulate instead. More on this in apostille or embassy legalisation.

UK government guidance from 31 July 2025 says that for a country outside the convention, an apostille is attached first and that country's embassy in London then stamps the document^[14,15]. We did not find whether the Lebanese embassy in Canada works the same way, or which Canadian office's certificate it wants. iDocs Canada, a private legalisation service, says only that documents must first be authenticated by the appropriate government office, and that the embassy returns documents that do not meet its requirements unprocessed^[10].

Kallas Law Firm says documents signed abroad, such as a POA, generally pass through the Lebanese mission and then Lebanon's Ministry of Foreign Affairs before they can be used in Lebanon^[16,17]. The US, UAE and Belgian mission pages we read stop at the mission's legalisation. Ask the notary in Lebanon who will use your POA, and read whether the foreign ministry step applies.

What the POA must say#

Missions ask for the property number and location, plus a copy of the deed or a Land Registry extract^[1,3,9]. On paper, a Lebanese property is identified by its governorate, district, real estate zone and property number, plus the section and block where they apply^[18,19]. In a building divided into units, each flat has its own number added to the plot number^[20]. Copy these exactly from the extract, and give each party's full names, parents' names, date of birth and registry number^[4,9], matching your Lebanese civil-registry papers.

Decide what your agent may do. According to Kallas Law Firm, selling a property needs an express special mandate to sell, and a general POA is not enough^[12]. See general and special powers of attorney. Think twice before signing an irrevocable POA: Kallas says you can then withdraw it only with the consent of the person it was made for.

Check the property yourself before your agent signs#

Rely on the registry, not on the seller's papers or anyone's word. The Land Registry extract shows the owner, charges, mortgages and restrictions on the plot^[21,22], and Kallas says any charge left on it passes to the buyer unless it is cleared first^[22]. Requests go to the Land Registry office for the property's area^[19,23]. According to Legalmondo (June 2025), the official extract must be requested there in person and costs USD 5^[19].

Copies viewed online or at OMT are unofficial, and any transaction needs the official certificate^{[18,19,24,25]}. Legalmondo put the unofficial online form at USD 4 in June 2025^[19]. Those sources date from June and October 2025, and we could not check whether the registry's website still runs that service or now issues an official electronic extract.

Where the cadastral plan and the boundaries on the ground disagree, the plan prevails^[21,26]. The sources do not say how to get a copy of the plan or a survey from abroad. Ask the Land Registry office for the plot, giving its zone and property number. Here is how to check a title deed.

Ownership passes only when the sale is registered at the Land Registry^[22], so your agent should register right after the notarial deed. In a Halat forgery case the Internal Security Forces reported in June 2026, the buyer learned the deed was invalid only when he tried to register, after he had already bought the property^[27].