How to Get Apostille for Hague Convention Countries - Proces

---

Do you plan to go for higher studies abroad? Do you need to register your foreign marriage certificate in your home country? Do you need a passport copy authenticated internationally? If for any of these questions you responded yes, then you can find this article helpful for you. Sometimes, public documents (like birth or marriage certificates, passport copies, judgments or notarial attestations of signatures) may need to be used in foreign countries. However, before a foreign country can use or accept such a document the authentication of it has to be done. Typically, this process is done by legalization wherein the officials of the country where the document was issued as well as the foreign Embassy or Consulate of the country where the document is to be issued authenticate the document. As this process is slow and costly, more than hundred of countries have signed the Hague Convention thereby adopting Apostille Convention that aims to simplify the legalization of documents to verify their authenticity, to be valid internationally.

What is an Apostille and when do I need one?

An Apostille is a certificate that authenticates the origin of a public document (e.g., a birth, marriage or death certificate, adoption papers, affidavits, contracts, diplomas and degrees, divorce decrees, incorporation papers, patent applications, powers of attorney, and school transcripts). Apostilles can only be issued for documents issued in one country party to the Apostille Convention and that is to be used in another country which is also a party to the Convention.

You will need an Apostille if all of the following apply:

The country where the document was issued is party to the Apostille Convention; and

The country in which the document is to be used is party to the Apostille Convention; and

The law of the country where the document was issued considers it to be a public document; and

The country in which the document is to be used requires an Apostille in order to recognize it as a foreign public document.

An Apostille may not be required if the laws, regulations, or practices in force in the country where the public document is to be used have abolished or simplified the requirement of an Apostille, or have exempted the document from any legalization requirement.