Consular Legalisation
What is consular legalisation?
Consular legalisation is a multi-stage process of recognising documents from one country in another. Consular legalisation is used when neither of the countries involved in the document circulation (the country from which a person obtains documents and the country to which they submit them) has signed the Hague Apostille Convention or a bilateral agreement on avoiding procedures for recognising documents issued by the authorities of one of the parties. Verification and confirmation of civil status documents, education documents (diplomas and certificates) takes place in several stages:
1. Signature of the authorised official directly upon issuance of the document (this is important).
2. Signature of the authorised official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country issuing the document (in some countries this may be the Ministry of Justice or another body).
3. Confirmation of signatures at the consulate of the country that will subsequently receive the documents.
When is consular legalisation needed?
When countries have not signed an agreement between themselves on simplified recognition of documents. Some countries may have signed such an agreement with other countries, but not with all countries.
You always need to check if your country has signed any convention on simplified recognition of documents or an agreement with the country where you need to submit the documents.
Countries that have not signed the Hague Apostille Convention and require consular legalisation or superlegalisation
- Afghanistan
- China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau)
- Iran
- Canada
- Qatar
- UAE
It should be noted that Canada will join the apostille in January 2024.
Saudi Arabia also required superlegalisation until 2022. In April 2022, the country joined the Hague Apostille Convention.
How long does the consular legalisation process take?
As a rule, such a process is quite lengthy:
– From one to ten working days for confirmation of the document by the authority that issued it.
– From one to ten working days for confirmation of the document by the ministry of foreign affairs (in some countries this is the ministry of justice).- From one to five business days for the document to be confirmed by the consulate of the country where the document is being submitted.
What types of agreements exist between countries to avoid consular legalisation?
– Bilateral agreements between countries.
– Multilateral agreements and conventions on legal mutual assistance and recognition of documents.
– The Hague Apostille Convention of 1961.
Countries that have signed the Apostille Convention but apply Consular Legalisation:
– Germany does not recognize the Apostille of the Republic of Moldova, Azerbaijan, Burundi, the Dominican Republic, India, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Mongolia, Morocco, the Philippines, Tajikistan, Tunisia, and Uzbekistan. These countries also reciprocally do not recognize the Apostille of Germany. Thus, the procedure of Consular legalisation of documents applies between Germany and these countries.
– Austria does not recognize the Apostille of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, the Philippines, Burundi, the Dominican Republic, and Kosovo. These countries also reciprocally do not recognize the Apostille of Austria. Thus, the procedure of Consular legalisation of documents applies between Austria and these countries.
– Belgium and Greece do not recognize apostilles affixed to documents from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The procedure of consular legalisation applies.
– Austria and Belgium do not recognize the Apostille of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Consular legalisation is applied.
Territories whose documents are not recognized and accepted at all:
– Austria and Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, and Ukraine do not recognize documents issued in Crimea and Sevastopol. Accordingly, they do not accept or recognize the Russian Apostille on these documents. Consular legalisation of these documents is also not recognized. The same applies to documents from the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk republics, recognized only by the Russian Federation.
Also, documents issued in Abkhazia and North Ossetia are not apostilled or legalised by the authorities of Georgia. Moreover, no country except Russia has recognized these territories. Documents of Abkhazia issued by Georgia can only be apostilled up to a certain year of issue.
Territories whose documents undergo the recognition or internal legalisation procedure:
Civil status documents and educational documents (diplomas, certificates) issued in Transnistria (Moldova) cannot be apostilled or undergo consular legalisation. However, these documents may undergo internal legalisation – re-registration or re-issuance on the territory of Moldova. After such a procedure, these documents can be apostilled or legalised at the relevant consulate.