An apostille (french for certification) is a special seal applied by a government authority to certify that a document is a true copy of an original.
Apostilles are offered in countries, which signed the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization of Foreign Public Documents, popularly identified as The Hague Convention. This convention replaces the previously employed time-consuming chain certification procedure, where you had to go to 4 distinct authorities to get a document certified. The Hague Convention provides for the simplified certification of public (such as notarized) documents to be used in nations and territories that have joined the convention.
Documents destined for use in participating nations and their territories should really be certified by a single of the officials in the jurisdiction in which the document has been executed. With this certification by the Hague Convention Apostille, the document is entitled to recognition in the nation of intended use, and no certification by the U.S. apostille services fort worth of State, Authentications Office or legalization by the embassy or consulate is expected.
Note, while the apostille is an official certification that the document is a correct copy of the original, it does not certify that the original document’s content material is right.
Why Do You Have to have an Apostille?
An apostille can be utilized whenever a copy of an official document from another nation is required. For example for opening a bank account in the foreign country in the name of your corporation or for registering your U.S. organization with foreign government authorities or even when proof of existence of a U.S. business is essential to enter in to a contract abroad. In all of these cases an American document, even a copy certified for use in the U.S., will not be acceptable. An apostille need to be attached to the U.S. document to authenticate that document for use in Hague Convention nations.
Who Can Get an Apostille?
Because October 15, 1981, the United States has been component of the 1961 Hague Convention abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. Any person who requires to use a U.S. public document (such as Articles of Organization or Incorporation issued by a Secretary of State) in one of the Hague Convention nations may well request and get an apostille for that distinct country.
How to Get an Apostille?
Obtaining an apostille can be a complicated process. In most American states, the course of action entails getting an original, certified copy of the document you seek to confirm with an apostille from the issuing agency and then forwarding it to a Secretary of State (or equivalent) of the state in question with a request for apostille.
Nations That Accept Apostille
All members of the Hague Convention recognise apostille.
Nations Not Accepting Apostille
In countries which are not signatories to the 1961 convention and do not recognize the apostille, a foreign public document will have to be legalized by a consular officer in the nation which issued the document. In lieu of an apostille, documents in the U.S. normally will acquire a Certificate of Authentication.
Legalization is commonly achieved by sending a certified copy of the document to U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., for authentication, and then legalizing the authenticated copy with the consular authority for the country exactly where the document is intended to be made use of.