If you need to legalize a document issued in one country for official use in another country or for a visa or citizenship application, the document will often need to be legalized.
Legalization normally involves obtaining an Apostille Stamp from the country that issued the document, or a stamp from the embassy of the country receiving the document.
Below we outline some things to check to ensure that these procedures are completed smoothly.
Check the Correct Procedure
When you can use an Apostille Stamp
If both the country that issued your documents and the country you are submitting your documents to are signatories to the Apostille Convention, then in most cases, to legalize your document and have it officially recognised, all you need is an Apostille Stamp.
Check which countries are members of the Apostille Convention:
Signatories to the Apostille Convention
When you can’t use an Apostille Stamp
If either the recipient country or the issuing country are not members of the Apostille Convention, the documents will need to be legalized both by the authorities of the issuing country and by the embassy of recipient country.
Find out which Authority is competent to legalize your document
There designated authorities in each country to issue Apostille Stamps and legalise documents.
Designated authorities to issue Apostilles
There are designated authorities in each country authorised to issue Apostille Stamps, for example:
- The Ministry of External Affairs in India
- The Department of International Relations and Cooperation in South Africa
- The High Court in Hong Kong,
- The Academy of Law in Singapore
- The Prime Minister's Office in Mauritius
In some countries, there are different authorities depending on the type of document (e.g. Spain) or there may be different authorities for provincial/state and national/federal documents (e.g. Canada, United States, Germany, Mexico). UK Apostilles are issued by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), but British Overseas Territories have their own competent authorities, for example the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, BVI, and Apostilles must be obtained locally, not from the FCDO in London.
Who legalizes documents when an Apostille is not applicable
If the document needs to be legalized (not certified with an Apostille), it is usually the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that will legalize the document (the Department of State in the United States, Global Affairs in Canada).
In most countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues a separate type of authentication to legalize documents required for non-apostille countries (for example, the United States, Jamaica, France). If your document has been legalized with an Apostille, it will not be accepted by the embassy.
Documents issued in some countries require an Apostille or other pre-authentication before they can be legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
- In the United States, State-issued documents, such as birth certificates and university diplomas, must be authenticated at State level before being legalized by the State Department (Federal documents such as FBI certificates can be submitted directly to the State Department for legalization).
- Documents from British Overseas Territories, such as Gibraltar or the Cayman Islands) or the Channel Islands need Apostilles from the local authority and then a confirmation Apostille from the UK Foreign Office.
- In Germany, state documents such as birth certificates must be authenticated at State level before being legalized by the Federal Agency for Foreign Affairs (although some embassies will accept State-authenticated documents directly).
- In Spain, birth and marriage certificates require authentication from the Ministry of Justice before being legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After your document has been authenticated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the issuing country, it will need to be attested by the embassy, consulate or honorary consul of recipient country.
If the recipient country has no embassy, consulate or honorary consul in the issuing country:
- The recipient country may have an accredited non-resident embassy located in a nearby country. For example, the Qatari embassy in the Netherlands is responsible for legalizing documents from Denmark, the UAE embassy in Berlin is responsible for legalizing documents from Croatia, the UAE embassy in Havana is responsible for legalizing documents from Jamaica.
- Where there is no accredited embassy, confirm the correct procedure for legalization with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the recipient country. For example, Portuguese documents requiring UAE attestation are legalized by the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then submitted directly to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mauritius documents requiring UAE attestation are legalized by the Mauritius Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then by the Mauritius Consulate in Dubai, before final attestation by UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Things to bear in mind
Exceptions to the Apostille Convention: There are some cases where Apostilles are not valid, even between countries of the Apostille Convention. For example, Germany does not recognise Apostilles issued by India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and some other countries. Greece does not recognise Apostilles issued by Uzbekistan.In such cases, documents will need embassy attestation.
To check membership of the Apostille Convention and current exceptions, see:
Apostille Convention Status Table
Requirement for Apostille abolished by treaty or bilateral convention: In certain cases, the requirement for an Apostille is abolished or waived by treaty or bilateral convention. For example, an Apostille should not be required when submitting birth and marriage certificates issued in one European Union Country to the authorities of another European Country or where documents are covered by the Vienna Convention (although authorities, especially Italian and Spanish Embassies, may still demand an Apostille, even when one should not be necessary).
Not all countries require Apostilles on foreign documents. In general countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy require Apostilles for most documents, whereas the UK may accept the original document without an Apostille depending on the recipient authority and issuing country (obtaining an Apostille will not do any harm but may be unnecessary - you should check with the authority you are submitting the document to whether an Apostille is necessary).
In a few cases, documents cannot be legalized. For example, Germany will not legalize documents issued by certain countries, such as documents from Nigeria, Ethiopia and Bangladesh.
Don’t assume that Apostilles can be obtained from embassies
Few countries now issue Apostille stamps through their embassies and consulates (Australia being one exception). As a rule, Apostilles must normally be obtained from the designated authority in the country of issue, so if you are abroad you may need to send your original documents to obtain Apostilles. Otherwise, you can use the services of a specialist company to handle the procedure locally, such as Isarey Certification Services
Check how long it takes to obtain an Apostille or Legalization
Some countries issue Apostilles in 1-2 days (such as Brazil, the Cayman Islands), others take around one week (for example, the UK, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea). Others, such as France, Germany, South Africa, Canada) can take longer. In the US, processing times vary by state, whereas Federal documents take 2-3 weeks when using the State Department’s expedited service.
If the document must also be legalized by the embassy of the recipient country, because either the issuing country or the recipient country is not a member of the Apostille Convention, allow additional time. In some cases, the country you are submitting to will not have an embassy in the issuing country and will have an accredited non-resident embassy in a third country – for example, a St Lucia marriage required for submission to the United Arab Emirates would need to be legalized first by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in St Lucia and then, because there is no UAE embassy in St Lucia, at the UAE embassy in Havana.
Some embassies can take time to legalize documents or may have limited appointments to submit legalizations (for example Portuguese embassies). In a few cases, embassies require the owner of the document to attend in person (for example, the Spanish consulate in Nigeria).
Make sure your original documents are in order
As a rule, to obtain an Apostille, original documents are required (with the original “wet” stamp/signature of the issuer or official digital signature). Documents should be signed by a recognized public official or by a notary public commissioned in the country you need the Apostille from.
Certain documents may require pre-certification by another authority before being submitted for an Apostille. For example, academic certificates and degrees, may require pre-certification by the Ministry of Education or other Authority (e.g. South African degree require certification by SAQA).
Checking the suitability of your original documents
Documents that are laminated are generally not acceptable for an Apostille.
Check when your document was issued: Some countries require documents to be recently issued to obtain an Apostille, especially France, Italy and Germany (especially civil status certificates). Criminal records often have a fixed validity. Some US states will also only accept documents issued after a certain date. Even if there is no rule, signatures on older documents may not be recognised by the Apostille authority – for example, in South Africa, DIRCO may not recognise signatures on older birth or marriage certificates, and birth certificates from Hong Kong dated before 1990 may not be recognised by the High Court. In such cases a new original certificate will need to be obtained before an Apostille can be applied.
Check the rules of the country you are submitting to: Some countries require documents to be recently issued and will not accept documents not issued within the last 3 months even if correctly apostilled (for example, Italy, Spain and Portugal). Most countries will require criminal record certificates to be recently issued.
Check if a specific form of your document is required: Sometimes, specific types of documents are required (such as long form birth and marriage certificates), especially for citizenship applications. Some countries, such as South Africa and Brazil issue different types of birth certificate or criminal record, and a specific type may be required, depending on the procedure you need it for.
Check if the Apostille needs to be applied to the original: Documents can often be certified either as originals (where the Apostille is applied to the original document and certifies the signature of its issuer) or as notarized copies (where the Apostille is applied to the copy and certified the signature of the notary). While both forms of Apostille are valid, depending on the document and the procedure you need the document for, an Apostille on the original may be required by the recipient country. This is especially true of criminal record certificates and civil status certificates.
Check if your document has already been stamped: if your documents already has an Apostille or legalization stamp, it may not be possible to obtain another one, and a new original document will be needed. Likewise, some embassies will not legalize documents that have already been legalized by the embassy of another country.
If you need to obtain new original documents
If you need to obtain new original documents, because your original is too old to obtain an Apostille, because you have lost your original or it is damaged, or because the recipient country requires a newly issued document, allow enough time to obtain a replacement copy. Procedures to obtain official copies of documents such as birth certificates vary by country and in some countries, it can take months to obtain a new copy (e.g. Italy).
Where can I use my Apostille, legalized document?
In most cases, an Apostille issued by one country can be used in any other country of the Apostille Convention. However, certain countries (e.g. France, India and some US States) will specify the country of use on the Apostille Stamp.
Documents legalized by an embassy can only be used in the country of that embassy.
Certified translations
Check the requirements of the recipient authority before proceeding with the translation. In most cases, the best option is a translation certified locally in the destination country.
Translations that are done before the original document is fully certified often have to be repeated because they don’t include the certifications placed on the original document during the Apostille process.
What an Apostille does and does not do
An Apostille certifies that the signature of the public official who signed the document is authentic and it confirms the name and office of that official (e.g. registrar, clerk of court, notary public). An Apostille does not certify the authenticity or accuracy of the document’s content.
Mistakes people make when legalizing documents
These are some of the most common problems from clients that we have experienced in legalizing documents:
- Original documents are laminated (laminated documents cannot normally be authenticated and a new original will be required)
- Original documents are too old, damaged or not appropriately issued or certified (a new original will be required)
- Lack of supporting documents: in some cases supporting documents are required. This is especially relevant when legalizing university diplomas – course transcripts may be required. For example, to attest UK degrees, the Qatari embassy requires the diploma, transcripts and also a confirmation letter from the university.
- The document is not the original signed document, but a photocopy or unsigned document (a new original will be required - it is sometimes but not always possible to certify a copy or unsigned document)
- Documents are translated before the original is certified (in most cases any translation should be done after the original documents is fully authenticated and must include any Apostille or authentication stamp applied to the original).
- Translations are not properly certified. A translation that is certified in one country, may not be accepted in another – for example a translation certified by a UK translation agency will not generally be accepted by Spanish or Italian authorities.
- Apostilles not obtained from the country that issued the original document – while it may be possible to apostille a Spanish document in Sweden, this does not mean it will be accepted. In general, the Apostille should be obtained from the same country that issued the original document.
- Private documents, such as employment contracts or powers of attorney, cannot be apostilled without notarization. A private document must normally be notarized before it can be authenticated with an Apostille and must be notarized by a notary commissioned in the same country as that will issue the Apostille. Documents cannot always be notarized remotely.
- Apostilles from Embassies: it’s a common misconception that Apostille Stamps can be obtained directly from Embassies. In general, this is not the case – Apostilles must be obtained locally in the country where the document was issued. For example, Apostilles to authenticate Indian documents cannot be obtained from Indian Embassies, only from the Ministry of External Affairs in India.
- Non-accredited embassies: another misconception is that an embassy can attest a document issued by any country. In most cases, this is not the case. For example, the UAE embassy in London will not attest documents issued in countries for which it is not accredited – the embassy in London will not attest a document from Hong Kong. Only the UAE consulate in Hong Kong is accredited to attest Hong Kond documents. Note that even if a document is legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the country to which the embassy is accredited, the embassy may refuse to legalize it if it considers that the original document is from another country – for example the Qatari embassy in Washington DC may refuse to legalize a BVI corporate document or a power of attorney related to a company in the Bahamas, even if the document has been duly notarized in the USA and legalized by the US State Department.
- Not leaving enough time. It is sometimes thought that Apostilles can be obtained in a few days. In many cases, they can be obtained quickly, but it often takes longer, and documents must often be couriered abroad. Sometimes pre-certification is required or new original documents must be obtained.
Plan ahead. Contact us in advance. We will be happy to check your original documents free of charge. We will confirm whether they are valid or if you need new originals or additional supporting documents, and we will advise on how long the Apostille procedure should take.
It’s nearly always possible to obtain Apostilles and legalizations on your own, but by using an experienced and reputable agency, you can be sure that all procedures are followed correctly and avoid delays and expenses resulting from rejected or invalid documents.