Apostille

An Apostille is an authentication or certification of a public document issued pursuant to the 1961 Hague Convention, which abolishes the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. The Convention provides for the simplified certification of public (including notarized) documents to be used in countries that have joined the convention. Under the Hague Convention, signatory countries have agreed to recognize public documents issued by other signatory countries if those public documents are authenticated by the attachment of an internationally recognized form of authentication known as an Apostille. It is a form of numbered fields, which allows the data to be understood by the receiving country regardless of the official language of the issuing country. The Apostille ensures that public documents issued in one country will be recognized as valid in another country. But you must also keep in mind that certificates of authentication may also require an additional certification from the United States Department of State prior to submission to the foreign country.

Each subscribing county may designate the authorities which are allowed to issue Apostilles for their jurisdiction. The United States has appointed the Secretary of State of the various states as this authority. The Secretary of State can also expand this authorization to include government divisions. For example, The Department of State can authenticate birth, marriage and death certificates, hence only authenticating public documents issued in the State, which are signed by a State official or county clerk. For educational documents, you will need to contact the school, college or university that you attended. The document must be certified by an official at the educational institution stating that the document is an official record or a true copy of the original document. The official’s signature on the certification must be notarized by a notary public.

To request an apostille, you will need to contact the state that issued the legal document that you are looking to certify for international use. The Apostille must be affixed at the government agency in the country which issued the original document.