CREDENTIALS (lettres de creance)  , a document which ambassadors, ministers plenipotentiary, and charges d'affaires hand to the government to which they are accredited, for the purpose, chiefly, of communicating to the latter the envoy's diplomatic rank . It also contains a request that full credence be accorded to his official statements . Until his credentials have been presented and found in proper order, an envoy receives no official recognition . The credentials of an ambassador or minister plenipotentiary are signed by the chief of the state, those of a charge d'affaires by the foreign minister .