Documents issued in one country that need to be used in another country must be “authenticated” before they can be recognized as a valid document in a foreign country. This process uses various seals placed directly on the document. These documents range from powers of attorney, birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, affidavits, patent applications, home studies, and other legal papers. The number and type of authentication certificates you need to obtain will depend on the nature of the document and whether or not the foreign country is a party to the multilateral treaty on “legalization” of documents (i.e., “Hague Legalization Convention”).
Official documents that are issued in one country that will be used in countries abroad need to be legalized or ‘authenticated’ by the appropriate authorities in the issuing country as proof that the document was issued by a competent official. I.e., proof that the certificate is genuine and not fraudulent.
The type of legalization/authentication required depends on the country in which the documents come from.
- Apostille.
- Legalization.
An Apostille is a certification issued by either a Secretary of State or the US Department of State (holds jurisdiction for federal documents – i.e. FBI Clearance) when a document will be used in another country that is a member nation of the Hague Treaty. This treaty allows for the expedited processing of documents by simply requiring the Apostille certificate to be attached to the document to make it legal for use in that country. Countries that are not member nations of the Hague Treaty require additional processing through the US Department of State and the respective embassy/consulate before the document is legal for use in that country.