What documents need Apostille Stamp or Embassy Legalization?

An Apostille or legalization is generally necessary for common types of public documents such as court judgments and decrees, administrative and public documents (e.g., birth, marriage or death certificates), notarial acts, educational, legal, business and commercial documents. Whether you intend to marry a foreign citizen, adopt a child, send your child on vacation abroad, launch an an additional corroborative office or conduct a business in a foreign country, study, purchase property or undertake medical treatment abroad, you’ll have to go through the tedious, time consuming, documents legalization procedure. By hiring Apoling Solutions to handle your document preparation, you’ll save time and money, because our experts know how to manage the task! All Apostille requests are processed through an appropriate U.S. government department on county, state and federal levels, as appropriate, depending on the type of document and service requested:

Vital Records: Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates, Judgment of Divorce

Personal documents: IDs, Passport, Criminal Record, FBI Background Check, USA Residency Certificate, Certificate of No – Marriage Record and Single Status Affidavit, Consent, Letters of Debt etc.

Documents for the transportation of the deceased. Legal documents: Power of Attorney and Court Judgements (Judgment of Divorce, Judgement of Name Change, etc.).

Business documents: Articled of Incorporation, Corporate By – Laws, Resolutions and Minutes, Trademark Agreements, Certificates of Origin.

Educational documents: High School, College or University Diplomas and Transcripts, Record of Final Grades, College References, etc.

What is an Apostille and why you may need it?

In accordance with the Hague Convention (also known as Apostille Convention), signed in 1961 by 105 countries, any public document issued in the territory of one foreign country must be properly prepared (authenticated, apostilled or legalized in an embassy) in order to be accepted by legal authorities in another foreign country. This international agreement eliminated the need for additional legalization requirements for document use between the participating States, and made the flow and distribution of public documents faster and easier. This special process and an official stamp issued by the government stating that your documents are genuine were given a name, Apostille.

Apostille vs. Legalization

Legalization is the official process of document authentication granted by international governments. Presently, more than 200 countries accept foreign documents certified by apostille. However, there are certain restrictions regarding its acceptance. Some countries still reserve the right to deny the acceptance of apostillized documents, issued by other countries, which are also parties to the Convention.  In cases such as this, and in case the documents are intended to be presented in a country, which is not a party of the Apostille Convention, a chain, multi – step embassy or consular legalization of documents is required to be done by a foreign authorities in order to be recognized.

We’ll obtain/retrieve a proper document for you, translate it into the language of the country where it is going to be presented, legalize it, and deliver an official document ready to be used overseas. Contact us for a free quote!