You are a business or an individual who has official business or personal dealings overseas and you have documents that are required to be presented to authorities or other companies in a foreign country. You get them notarized and send them to the foreign country only to have them returned to you with letter stating that they require an Apostille Certification. You scratch your head and wonder, "What the heck are they talking about? What is an Apostille?"
Whenever you have documents that are required for use overseas, they either have to have an Apostille Certificate attached or be cleared through the consulate of the country you will be using them in.
Apostille is a French term which simply means "to certify." In 1961, the Hague Convention for Apostille certifications were formed to simplify the process of having a document legalized for use in foreign countries. Thus, the Apostille certificate was born. Prior to the Hague Convention, any document that was required for use in a foreign country had to be presented to the embassy or consulate of that country for certification. With the establishment of the Hague Treaty for Apostille certifications, that step was removed.
An Apostille is a certificate that is issued at the state level by the various Secretary of State offices. They are issued on all notarized documents and also most document issued by local county and state officials. The Apostille Certificate is issued and attached to the original document presented for certification. With the Apostille attached, it is now ready to be sent to any of over 100 countries that are members of the Hague Convention. There is also an Apostille issued at the Federal level as well by the U.S. Department of State for any documents issued at the Federal level by agencies such as the FBI, Department of Agriculture, The Department of Commerce, etc..
What are the Requirements for Obtaining an Apostille?
What is required to obtain an Apostille and what kind of documents require it? Any document that has been notarized at the state level by a certified notary public or any official document issued by county clerk or court. Examples include notarized Power of Attorney, birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, notarized corporate documents and much more. Simply having a document notarized and shipping it overseas will not suffice.
This post was created by A-1 Apostille Services. We have been assisting clients with obtaining Apostille certifications since 2005. If you have any questions whatsoever, please feel free to log on to A-1 Apostille to have your questions answered or you may also email us at a1apostilleservice@yahoo.com.
