The Hague Convention And Apostilles

The Hague Convention and Apostilles aren’t as confusing as you think they are. Keep reading below for a better understanding and if you need anything clarifying or want to ask us any questions please get in touch.

The Hague Apostille Convention was put into place in 1961 which abolishes the requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. It was drafted by the Hague Conference and since then has been signed by around 100 countries including Australia, UK & The USA.

The countries where this has come in to force, means your certificates no longer need to be legalised by the Countries Embassy or Consulate that you will be using the certificates in. Instead, all you will need to do is simply present your certificates to a Notary/ Solicitor in the issuing country for them to certify and then have this Apostilled by the home authority in the country of issue (for example the FCDO in the UK or DFAT in Australia). The Apostille issued will attest that the certifying signature on the documents are authentic and that’s it, you’re good to go. It really is as simple as that!

We have listed below the countries that are currently participants in the Hague Convention meaning an Apostille from the certificates home country is all that you should need. If the country you are going to work/ live in is not listed you will require further attestation so give us a shout if you also need help with this, we are working with Foreign Embassies and Consulates in 45+ countries so we know what we’re doing 🙂

Hague Apostille Country List

For more information please contact us and we would be delighted to help you anyway we can.