Apostille Convention

and subsequently by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Canada. of Alabama. This apostille is sufficient to certify the document for any state where the Apostille Convention is in force. Many states require the verification of the authenticity of foreign documents, in a procedure called legalisation, for the document to be legally valid there. This legalisation is generally a chain of certifications, by one or more authorities of the state where the document was issued and of the destination state. The first authority certifies the issuer of the document, and each subsequent authority certifies the previous one, until the final certification is made by an authority of the destination state that can be recognised by the final user there. For example, to be accepted in Thailand, a document from the U.S. state of Maryland not issued by a government official must be certified by a notary public, who must then be certified by the clerk of the circuit court in the notary's county, who must then be certified by the Maryland Secretary of State, who must then be certified by the U.S. Department of State, which must finally be certified by the Embassy of Thailand in the United States. In many cases, the legalisation procedure is simplified or exempted altogether. For example, some states have agreements eliminating the legalisation requirement for certain documents issued by each other, such as between Argentina and Italy, between Brazil and France, between parties of the Convention on the Issue of Multilingual Extracts from Civil Status Records, and between parties of the Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The European Union also has a regulation eliminating the legalisation requirement for certain documents of its member states to be accepted by each other. Some states such as Canada, Japan, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States generally accept documents from any state without any certification. The Apostille Convention, drafted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), is intended to simplify the legalisation procedure by replacing it with a certification called an apostille, issued by an authority designated by the state of origin. Ideally the apostille would be the only certification needed, but in some cases additional certifications in the state of origin may be required before the apostille is issued. In any case, after the apostille, no certification by the destination state is required. ==Contracting states==

The convention permits certain states to sign and ratify the convention, becoming contracting states. For each of these states, or for an extension to one of its territories, the convention enters into force 60 days after the deposit of its ratification or territorial extension. Other states are also permitted to become contracting states by acceding to the convention, but without signing it. For each of these states, during the period of six months after it deposits its accession, the other contracting states may object to it, and the convention enters into force 60 days after this period, between the acceding state and all other contracting states that did not object to it. Potential accessions The governments of Iran, Lebanon and Malaysia have expressed interest in acceding to the Apostille Convention. In May 2025, the government of Indonesia recommended that Malaysia and Egypt accede to the convention. In December 2025, the government of Thailand approved its accession to the convention. ==Procedure==

Eligible documents The convention mentions four types of documents eligible for apostilles: Competent authorities Each contracting state designates one or more authorities to issue apostilles. Examples of designated authorities are ministries, courts, subnational governments, notaries and registries. In some states, each authority is designated to issue apostilles only on certain types of documents. For example, in Hungary, apostilles are issued on court documents by the Ministry of Justice, on notarial documents by the Chamber of Civil Law Notaries, and on other documents by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Some states, such as Italy and Japan, do not charge a fee, Since then, many contracting states have implemented electronic apostilles or electronic registers for their verification. Validity Apostilles never expire. However, a document certified with an apostille may have an expiration date, or the destination state may require that the document be presented by a certain time. Additional requirements The apostille replaces the legalisation requirement, but the destination state may have additional requirements for the document to be used there. For example, it may require that the document be translated into a certain language, although it must not require a translation of the apostille itself. ==Benefits and disadvantages==

The Apostille Convention is beneficial in cases that would otherwise require certifications by both the origin and destination states, as the convention removes the latter requirement. However, the convention is neutral in cases that would otherwise require only a certification by the state of origin anyway, similar to an apostille, or no certification at all, and it can be disadvantageous in cases where a consular certification alone would otherwise be sufficient to legalise a document. The convention requires that contracting states direct their embassies and consulates to no longer perform legalisations of documents where the convention applies, After the convention entered into force in Brazil, its embassy and consulates in the United States no longer perform legalisations, so U.S. documents must have an apostille to be accepted in Brazil. In some U.S. states, an apostille of an educational document requires more certifications or a higher fee than the Brazilian consular legalisation did. This result is an unintended consequence, as the convention still allows states to further simplify or eliminate the legalisation requirement. The Hague Conference also encourages contracting states to eliminate the need for additional certifications before issuing an apostille, and to ensure that any fees are reasonable. ==Limitations and abuse==

The apostille only certifies that the signature, signer's capacity, and seal or stamp on the document are from the stated issuer. In other words, it only certifies the origin of the document, but it does not provide information about its content. The risk comes from the fact that the various government stamps give the document an air of authenticity without anyone having checked the underlying document. To address this concern, in 2009 the Hague Conference recommended that authorities add the following statement to apostilles: "This apostille only certifies the signature, the capacity of the signer, and the seal or stamp it bears. It does not certify the content of the document for which it was issued." ==Gallery of apostilles by state==

File:Partida de nacimiento Argentina con Apostilla de la Haya.jpg|Argentina File:Apostille Armenia.png|Armenia File:Apostille Australia.png|Australia File:Apostille, Republik Österreich.png|Austria File:Azerbaijan apostille.jpg|Azerbaijan File:Belarus apostille.jpg|Belarus File:Образец Апостиль РП Беларусь 2020.jpg|Belarus File:Apostille belgien.png|Belgium File:Apostille Brazil.jpg|Brazil File:Apostille Canada Ontario.jpg|Canada File:China Apostille 2023.jpg|China File:Apostille CN (SD).png|China File:Apostille R.Hrvatska-09.png|Croatia File:APOSTILLA.jpg|Ecuador File:Apostille Attike.png|Greece File:Apostille Sample - Hong Kong, China in 2020.png|Hong Kong, China File:Apostille-Israel.jpg|Israel File:Apostille (2670529778).jpg|Japan File:Apostille Moldova.png|Moldova File:Apostille NL.jpg|Netherlands File:Apostille Norway.png|Norway File:Philippines apostille.jpg|Philippines File:Romania apostille.PNG|Romania File:20230118 Apostille.jpg|Russia File:Apostilla de official world record.png|Spain File:Apostille Ukraine.jpg|Ukraine File:Apostille UK and NI - Courtesy of Westminster Legalisation Services.jpg|United Kingdom File:Apostille US federal.jpg|United States File:AlabamianApostilleOfTheHague.jpg|United States File:California apostille.png|United States File:Apostille US Maryland.jpg|United States ==See also==