What Is An Apostille?

Apostille is a confirmation enabling the legal validity of a document issued in a country to continue in another country. The principles of apostille have been set in The Hague Convention in 6th October, 1961.

The purpose of this convention is to enable the use of an official document issued by any of the agreeing countries in other agreeing countries without having to deal with diplomatic procedures. The apostille process of a document has to be realized in the issuing country.

Documents Requiring Apostille

• Documents obtained from judicial authorities or from relevant officers require an apostille.
• Documents issued by notary offices also need an apostille.
• Documents directly related with commercial or customs procedures, diplomatic and consular documents are also among the documents requiring an apostille.

Validity Period Of An Apostille

There is no specific period of validity for an apostille. But if the document with apostille has a validity period, apostille loses its validity once the validity period of the document expires.

Countries in Apostille Convention

Israel, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Colombia, Northern Ireland, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Hungary, Malta, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Moldova, Mexico, Monaco, Namibia, Norway, Niue, Panama, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Romania, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Serbia, USA, Andorra, Germany, Antigua, Albania, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Barbuda, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belize, UK, Botswana, Bulgaria, Brunei, Cook Islands, People’s Republic of China, Czechia, Denmark, Dominic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Armenia, Estonia, Finland, Fiji, France, the Grenadines, Grenada, South Korea, South Africa, Georgia, Croatia, Netherlands, India, Honduras, Ireland, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Kingdom of Eswatini, Kingdom of Tonga, Turkey, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, New Zealand, Venezuela, Greece.

Apostille is often required by foreign government institutions. In this case before choosing a translation agency, you should make sure they have an opportunity to provide document translation service with an apostille. To get an apostille service for your documents you can choose an apostille option for your sworn translation order from online translation platform Protranslate.