The Apostille and Its Effect on the Legalization Process

Today many people ask themselves the following questions: Why do I have to legalize a document that will be sent abroad with the Apostille, if it wasn’t necessary before? Why are public institutions not accepting foreign documents without the Apostille legalization? These inquiries are causing anxiety for those who perform legal procedures or present documents abroad and do not know much about the Apostille legalization, to the extent that even the same government offices demonstrate confusion regarding this new process.

 

The Apostille is a certificate placed in front of the document that will be presented outside the country where the same was issued. It guarantees the authenticity of the signature and the quality of the person signing the document. The text and format of the Apostille is similar in all countries that are authorized to use the same.

 

The Apostille arises from the “Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents” adopted at the Hague, Netherlands on October 5, 1961 which recently came into effect on August 30th, 2009. Since its first proposal at the Hague Convention, the purpose of the Apostille was to eliminate the requirement of consular legalizations for public documents issued and approved in a country part of the agreement which at the same time would be presented in another country party of the agreement. For example, for those foreigners applying for Dominican residence whom are required to present their birth certificate, the same must contain the Apostille for it to be accepted at the General Migration Department, government institution where residence applications are filed.

 

The great advantage of this new legalization requirement is that once the apostilled document is presented in a country member or signatory of the convention, the same does not have to be legalized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic, nor by its equivalent in the country where it will be presented. An additional benefit is that the person submitting the apostilled document does not have to legalize the same before the consulate of the country where it will be presented. This results in significant time and money savings for the process that is being conducted since fewer requirements must be fulfilled.

 

It is important to mention, the Apostille does not alter in any way the document and does not change the essence and content of the same. The Apostille certificate contains the following information: Country of origin of the document, name of the person who signed the public document, quality of the person signing, seal or stamp corresponding to the institution who issued the document, name of the city where the document was certified, name of the authority that certified the document, serial number and date of the Apostille, and signature of the official authorizing the apostille and its rights.

 

Summing up, the Apostille will be only required for documents issued by government institutions, public and private education institutions, official certifications of private documents or official and notarial authentications. The documents that do not need to be apostilled are those issued by diplomatic or consular agents, administrative documents relating

to a commercial or customs operation or those documents that will be presented in countries that are not members of the agreement.

 

There are currently 92 countries members of the convention: Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Cook Islands, South Korea, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Slovakia, Spain, USA, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Grenada, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakstan, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Namibia , New Zealand, Niue, Norway, Netherlands, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, South Africa, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela.

 

Bibliography

· Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents, adopted at the Hague, Netherlands October 5, 1961.

· Resolution No.441-08 dated September 10 which approves the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents.

· www.serex.gov.do