Legalisation and the Hague 'Apostille Convention'
The Apostille Convention is the short name given to the Hague Conventions Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (1961).
As a result of this conventions many documents from one country may be used in another with only a single "legalisation", or even none at all. To understand this properly, it is necessary to take a quick look at the whole area of legalisation of documents.
What follows is not legal advice, so if you believe any of these issues are relevant to your marriage, please seek an expert legal opinion.
What is Legalisation?
Basically, the country where you are getting married needs to be convinced of the validity of any documents you provide. Legalisation convinces them.
When you get married in a foreign country, that country requires that you produce certain documents from your own country, such as birth certificates, previous marriage certificates, Divorce decrees, certificates of non-impediment etc.
Legalisation is a process by which it is confirmed that a document was issued by someone who had the proper authority to issue it and that the signatures on the document are genuine.
How are Documents Legalised?
In almost all cases documents are legalised in a countries Department of Foreign Affairs, or Foreign Office. In the USA documents are legalised in the office of the state's secretary.
Sometimes a 'legalisation chain' is needed, which means that these documents must again be legalised in a home country's embassy in the destination country. In some cases up to 4 legalisations can be required.
This is where the Hague Apostille Convention comes in!
This convention created a system that allows certain documents issued by the proper authority in one country to be automatically recognised in another country without the need for any additional legalisation.
At the core of this system is the 'Apostille'.
What is an Apostille?
An Apostille is a special seal applied by an authority to a document to certify that it is a genuine copy of the original. Only certain authorities in countries which have signed the Hague Convention can apply an Apostille to a document.
Once a document has an Apostille seal applied, it is automatically treated as a legalised document and will be accepted as such for use in any other country that has signed the Convention.
What does it mean for a Foreign Marriage?
From the point of view of a foreign marriage this means that once documents such as birth, marriage and death certificates, or a decree absolute following a divorce, bear an Apostille (and they generally do, as issued) they do not require any further legalisation. They will be accepted as genuine if presented in another country which has signed the convention.
There are two things to look out for:
- If the country is not a signatory, it may require that these documents are legalised, in which case you will need to know the process that must be followed for them to accept the documents as genuine.
- Documents other than those mentioned above, for example a Certificate of Non-Impediment, will need to be legalised. However in signatory countries this can be done in one step, by the application of an Apostille.
Signatory Countries
The following countries are signatories of The Hague Conventions Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (1961) (also known as the Apostille Convention)
| Andorra Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria the Bahamas Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria *China Colombia Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Dominica El Salvador Estonia Fiji Finland France Germany Greece Grenada Hungary Ireland Israel Italy Japan Kazakhstan Latvia Lesotho Liechtenstein Lithuania | Luxembourg Macedonia Malawi Malta Marshall Islands Mauritius Mexico Monaco Namibia The Netherlands New Zealand (excluding Tokelau) Niue Norway Panama Portugal Romania the Russian Federation Samoa San Marino Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Slovakia Slovenia South Africa Spain St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Turkey United Kingdom United States Venezuela |
* Only documents to be used in the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions.
The full text of this convention is available here.