The US consulate office in downtown Geneva used to offer notary services.

the consulate in Geneva is temporarily without notary services until they get a new Consul General.  you'd have to go to the Embassy in Bern or if it can wait, wait for the new consul to be posted to Geneva.  If you work in the UN system you could check and see if anyone in the UN credit union offices at the Palais or the ILO is also a notary. 

Call the Embassy in Bern and ask whether they have a list of US notaries in the area...

Hi Amy,

I have contacted the Consular Agency in Geneva and they recommend to either go to the Embassy in Berne for a notary public as there are non in Geneva or go to a Swiss notaire who will sign the documents and ask the Chancellerie for an apostille. You can find a list of English speaking notaires here:  http://www.notaires-geneve.ch/fr/recherche-notaire/?q-search=anglais

I did this for an US patent assignment two days ago. I should receive the documents in the post today or tomorrow.

Thank you for all the great advice, MUCH appreciated!

Update:
the document comes back with:
on the document:
- the signature of the notaire
- a 2.5 CHF cantonal tax stamp
- the notaire's red frank
in the envelope:
- a 99.55 CHF invoice

At the back of the document:
A large stamp that says: Apostille (Convention de la Haye du 5 octobre 1961)
with another frank from the canton de geneve, a serial number and a signature  

There should be a notary office on Rue de Rive.

Walking from Rive towards a coffee shop / patisserie creme white/brownish with deck outside.

Right next to the shop there should be a door , there it is..

sorry only know how to find it by foot.

Just in case any other U.S. expats run into this issue, this is what we've discovered, after going by the U.S. Consulate office in Eaux Vives, calling the U.S. Embassy in Bern, and contacting a few Swiss notaries.  My partner works for the UN, so we also contacted the UN credit untion.

The U.S. Consulate DID provide notary services until October 1, 2010.  Services are now suspended, and will be until there is a new Consul General in place.  There are NO U.S. Notaries in Geneva.  The U.S. Embassy in Bern provides notary services from Monday through Friday, 9 to 11:30 a.m., no appointment required, for a fee.  We're off to Bern because we specifically need a U.S. notary for our legal docs.  Gregoire's plan of using a Swiss notary and Apostille should work for other scenarios, hopefully for you so you don't have to make the trip!

Thanks to all, you were a huge help.  Amy

Oops - I would add that I would check first with the U.S Consular Agency in Geneva to see if they have started up services again, that would be a heck of a lot easier - we are just the unlucky ones to need a notary during the gap!

Consular Agency Geneva
rue Versonnex 7
CH-1207 Geneva, Switzerland
Mailing Address: c/o U.S. Mission
11, rte. de Pregny
1292 Chambésy/GE

Tel: 022 840 51 60
Fax: 022 840 51 62
10:00 until 13:00, Monday through Friday

E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://bern.usembassy.gov

Closed on American and Swiss holidays

Will the notary (or their receptionsts!) require a French translation of a document that you sign, and they notarize and affix an apostile? 

For the glocal community: any marie in France can notarize a signatur (légaliser in french), but if the documents is not in French, the marie will require a translation. The translation is next to impossible to obtain from my mortgage refinance company in the US!

See
http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F1411.xhtml or
http://translate.google.fr/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F1411.xhtml&prev=search

For translations of official documents, you need an accredited translator who will charge you according to a fixed tariff.

If you ask at your local “Marie” they will provide the names and addresses of translators living in your area.

R.

What I require is a "légalization de signature" plus an apostile on a English-language document that is intended for consumption in the U.S. Basically, ists a signature verification.  In the US, that's called a notarized signature, but notaries do much more than their US equivalents.  

Translating many pages of mortgage refinance documents into French has got to be time and cost prohibitive. 

I am hoping that a person in a private Swiss or French notaire (I inderstand it can be a secretary or eceptionists) can take care of legalizing my signature plut add an apostile with a traslation of the document.

Suggestions?

American Consular Agency Geneva 

by appointment only – please e-mail  [email protected]

Mailing address –                       Office address -

c/o U.S. Mission                          7, rue François  Versonnex 11, rte. de Pregny                      1207 Geneva 1292  Chambésy/GE    

Hi all,

Just an update to the expat community that the Consular Agency in Geneva no longer offers notary services, as of June 10, 2016. Please see an excerpt from their email below;

''We aim to respond to enquiries within 48 hours, however more complex queries may take longer. Please do not send duplicate emails.

From June 10th, 2016 LIMITED SERVICES only until further notice (no notarial services, Report of Birth Abroad, Minor Passport renewals, ITIN numbers, certified copy of passports or 1st adult passports).
We do handle Social Security Numbers and Adult 10 years passport (not expired for more than 5 years). We provide services on an appointment-only basis.
You may want to schedule an appointment at the US Embassy in Bern. Please use their online booking system: (https://evisaforms.state.gov/acs/default.asp?postcode=BEN&appcode=1)''

Hello there,

Just wanted to share some recent experiences of mine regarding notary issues.

I recently needed to have my signature notarized for a Sworn Statement in order to obtain a copy of my birth certificate from California. Given that I wasn't willing to wait a minimum of two weeks to get an appointment at the Embassy, go all the way to Bern, and pay $50 (complete rip-off in my opinion!), I decided to go the easy route.

I had my signature notarized in Ferney-Voltaire by Jean-Marc Parizot (google his name). Mr. Parizot and his staff were super friendly so I would highly recommend going there. There was no need to translate the document and Mr. Parizot notarized it for free.

Once you have the notarized signature and stamp, you can then obtain an Apostille certificate for free by sending your documents to Lyon (http://www.ca-lyon.justice.fr/renseignements-pratiques/l-apostille). I didn't want to deal with the hassle of mailing everything in with return stamps so Mr. Parizot's office provided this service to me for 30 euros. The turnaround time was just a few days. The Swiss notaries will do all of this for you as well but they charge around CHF100.

The county register in California accepted the foreign notary with the Apostille certificate and sent me my birth certificate.  Happy ending…

Re: US Notary in Geneva

I had to have a documnet notarized for my brother's will and as everyone above discovered there isn't one here (strange). You have to go to Bern!

I found a notary office here who are so friendly, polite, quick and also handle the Apostille which you need as well (as it's not a US Notary). It was urgent so they did it in the same day I called them and 2 days later will have the Apostille.   Can't recommend them enough!!!  

Christ, Gregorc & De Candolle Notaries

5 Rue Toepffer, 1211 Geneva

t: 022 703 300,   e: [email protected]