Apostille and embassy legalization became really popular nowadays, individuals who found their soulmates overseas and would like to establish a legitimate marriage; will need a Certificates of Single States apostille/legalized.
Students who are looking to continue studying in Germany, France, Spain, or any other foreign country will need to authenticate their school transcripts, and other certificate in order to complete their studies abroad. People who are dreaming about working abroad will need to authenticated their certificates as well.
The same goes for big corporations and firms that would like to expand their businesses overseas, explore new markets and export their products to the other end of the world will have to authenticate several documents in order to enlarge their businesses.
In this article, I will provide you in a detailed manner what do we mean by apostille/embassy legalization, how to authenticate document destined for use in foreign countries, and other useful information.
A simple way to define apostille and embassy legalization is that both of them are forms of authentication used to be able to make documents recognizable and usable in overseas countries.
Let’s start explaining what do we mean by apostille attestation.
Apostille is accepted by participating Hague Convention countries.
The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. The Convention abolishes the requirement of diplomatic and consular legalization for public documents originating in one Convention country and intended for use in another. Instead, officials in the jurisdiction in which the document was issued, issue a certificate called “apostille” in order to make the document valid for international use.
This Convention was held on 1961 and since then there are over one hundred participating parties agreed on the apostille treaty, to make the apostille a unified form of authentication across all participating countries.
Images below display participating Hague Convention Countries
Obtaining the apostille stamp on your document whether you have personal or corporate document depends on the Secretary of State requirements, even though most of the requirements are the same; however, there might be a slight difference.
But before jumping into the requirements to obtain the apostille, it’s important to tell you first, what makes your document eligible for the apostille attestation.
I will calcify document into two categories:
1. Documents issued by a law enforcement agency such as the Secretary of State, Health Department, or the court that have been singed and certified by a state official like court clerks, county clerks, or a state registrar DON’T need any prior notarization, as long as you have an original certified copy of the documentation. Examples of this type of documents; Vital records (birth certificates, death certificates), and Certificate of Good Standing.
2. Documents created by your entity or organization “mostly corporate document”; these documents must be notarized before a commissioned Notary Public in your state. Examples of this type of documents; Agency agreements, Articles of Incorporation, Affidavit.
A third type of documents that I haven’t mentioned yet are FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), USDA, and USPTO documents. All of these documents can’t obtain the apostille attestation from Secretaries of States, as they don’t have the authority to provide apostilles on these documents.
The authorized entity to do so is the U.S. Department of State. (We will cover how to obtain the apostille on these certificates later on).
Now, I will explain in excruciating details what are the demanded requirements in order to obtain the apostille attestation on your document.
· Have a fully notarized document (if needed, see the explaining above).
· Attach a cover letter including your name, address, email, telephone number, and indicate that country where you want to use your document.
Most Secretaries of State provide a temple cover letter under the name of Apostille request form. An example of an apostille request form from Florida Secretary of State.
Secretaries of States require nearly the same information, just visit the website of the Secretary of your state à apostille and authentication page and you will find the request form over there.
· Must include a self-addressed envelope for the return of your document.
According to a deep research; I’ve figured out that if you decided to use a two day delivery priority mail express by USPS, the shipping only will cost a minimum of $26.35, and it will cost you more if you used FedEx Express mail.
While I found a third-party agency specializes in apostille attestation and embassy legalization; it’s called US Legalization, they provide FedEx Express next delivery mail for the shipping AND return for $50.00-, and two-days delivery for shipping and return as well costing $22.00.
• Include a money order or check payable to the Secretary of State. (fee differs according to each state).
Nearly all walk-in services are suspended due to COVID-19 situation. And processing times through mail are taking prolonged time than it usually be than it takes in regular business days.
What do we mean by embassy legalization and how to obtain it?
Embassy legalization also known as; certificate of authentication, certification, or legalization is a form of authentication used to for countries that didn’t participate in the Hague Convention “Apostille treaty”.
Unlike Apostille attestation, embassy legalization has to go through several processes and procedures in order to be completed and eventually be able to use your document in the country of intent.
The image below displays Non participating Hague Convention Countries.
All the above-mentioned countries require the follow instructions in order to be able to use your document over there:
· Notarized your document before a commissioned Notary Public in your state.
· Obtain the authentication from the Secretary of State where the document was issued.
· Get the U.S. Department of State authentication on your document.
· Finally, send your document to the embassy in Washington DC to obtain Embassy legalization.
It’s worth mentioning that some of these requirements may differ according to the embassy of intent.
Processing time and fees differs dramatically in case of embassy legalization, you may go to the website of the embassy of intent to figure out more about that.
For more clarification, I will be giving you an example on how to obtain the Afghan embassy legalization.
Egypt Embassy Consulate Legalization
Egypt is a Non-Hague Convention country. Documents designated for the use in Egypt must obtain Egypt embassy/consulate legalization in order to be recognized over there.
Prepare your document to be legalized by the Egypt Embassy
Notarized company documents: A document that has been issued directly by your corporation and it is not certified by a State Official, you must have a full notarial statement for these type of document in order to obtain Egypt embassy legalization.
Certified company document: An original copy of a document that has been issued and signed by a State Official, you don’t have to notarize these types of documents in order to obtain Egypt embassy/consulate legalization.
Afterwards, your document will be authenticated from the U.S. Department of State before obtaining the Egypt embassy stamp from the embassy of Egypt.
Fee per document according to the Egypt embassy website is $125.00.
Bear in mind, you will have to pay extra fees for the Secretary of State authentications, and others.
These are most of the information you will need to know regarding legalization and apostille, I might write additional article regarding how to authenticate Federal document from the U.S. Department of States. Stay tuned.
