What is an Apostille?
What Is An Apostille?
It is common for foreign governments to use apostilles to verify an official signature on a document and identify any stamps or seals attached to the record. For the Secretary of State to lend “full confidence and credit” to an official’s seal and signature, the Department of State must authenticate the document with an apostille or other certification form.
Hague Convention Abolishing Requirement for Foreign Public Documents has been in effect in the United States since October 15, 1981. In nations that have ratified the Convention, public papers (including notarized ones) may be more easily certified.
Signatory parties to the Hague Convention have agreed to accept public papers issued by other signatory countries, provided an internationally recognized form of authentication known as an “apostille” is attached to such public documents. Signatory countries may trust the validity of each other’s public papers with the apostille seal. An apostille does not need to be authorized by the diplomatic or consular community.
The following nations and territories have signed on to the Hague Convention
Click link :https://www.hcch.net/en/states/hcch-members
The Department of State issues certification for papers used outside of nations that have ratified the Hague Convention. Certificates of authenticity, unlike apostilles, may need further diplomatic or consular approval before they may be delivered abroad. Foreign Embassy and U.S. Department of State approval may be required before this may be used.
The function of an apostille is the same as that of a certification, but the look and locations in which it is used are different.
Substituting an apostille for certification can cause delays in the usage of your papers. You must notify the Department of State of the intended destination of the documents.
Stapling is the only method of attaching apostilles and certificates from the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the dossier paper. In Pennsylvania, this is the sole method of attachment. The documents cannot be sewed, riveted, glued, or fastened by ribbons by Pennsylvania state law and tradition. To secure papers, Pennsylvania does not number pages or use seals. Stapled documents were also found to comply with the Hague Apostille Convention by a 2003 special commission of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.
Requirements for obtaining an Apostille
Apostilles certifies official seals and signatures on public papers, such as birth certificates, court orders, and any other document issued by the federal government or certified by an American or foreign consul. Apostilles are recognized worldwide. For a document to be accepted in nation’s members of the 1961 Hague Convention Treaty, an apostille must be obtained. Our apostilles may only be used in countries affiliated with the 1961 Hague Convention on the legalization of documents.
The following steps must be taken before submitting a document needing authentication:
A notary public must be present for each document to be notarized:
In the case of county-appointed notaries, documents must first be certified by the clerk of court in that county and then by the Secretary of State in that state where the document was notarized for it to be valid. The Secretary of the State where the document was notarized is the sole official who may certify the document.
Notarize and certify your document in this order:
- Provide a copy of your certificate.
- Your paper should be notarized.
- Check with the clerk of the court whether this applies to your situation.
The Secretary of State must authenticate your document. Notice: If a record needs certification from both an administrative and a judicial official, the date on which each certification was performed must be marked.
Complete your request if you do not provide us with the required notarizations in advance of submitting your paperwork.
All seals and signatures must be authentic
They cannot accept them unless they are “genuine certified copies” from a notary public. A notary public cannot certify “true copies” of birth, marriage, death, divorce decrees; court papers; federally issued documents; and court records. The Secretary of state must certify these papers.
A translation of any document written in a foreign language must be performed by a professional translator and notarized.
How many nations demand an Apostille?
The Apostille is only required in nations that have signed the Hague Convention.
As of March 2018, the Hague Conference (Apostille Convention) has 83 member nations, 82 states, and one regional economic integration organization (as of March 2018). The Apostille Convention includes the Unites States as a member state. Here are the other nations that are members of the organization.
https://www.hcch.net/en/states/hcch-members
The Apostille is not required in any nation that is not a party to the Hague Convention. To utilize these papers outside of the Unites States, they must be validated or legalized.
When will I need an Apostille?
In most cases, an Apostille is necessary to reside or work overseas. An Apostille may be needed for other reasons as well.
Wherever it is necessary to produce public documents across borders, such as in cross-border marriages, relocations, studies, residency or citizenship in a foreign country, inter-country adoption procedures, international budding, the issuing nation must be a signatory to the Hague Convention; the recipient country must be a signatory to the Hague Convention; and whenever it is necessary to produce public documents across borders, such as in
Any of the above scenarios necessitates confirmation and complete assurance that the notarized document is entirely above reproach. Consequently, foreign governments will demand that a foreign public document be authenticated by an official acquainted with the document’s content. And it is here that the High Court of Justice comes into play. An Apostille, which certifies the Notary’s seal and signature on a public document, will be attached by that jurisdiction’s High Court to the document that the Notary has authenticated.
