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Portugal has joined the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents in the year 1968. Therefore no diplomatic authentication or legalization of documents from Portugal is required for the legal communication with another member state of the convention. The documents only need to be stamped with an "apostille" by the issuing state's authorities in order to be valid in the state of destination.
Responsible for issuing the apostille is the Public Prosecutor's Office. In April 2009, the apostille function was officially delegated to a number of district prosecutors (Coimbra, Evora, Porto) and autonomous regions.
Documents issued by the Portuguese authorities and published in Portuguese can be apostilled.
The process of legalization of documents through apostilization in the Portuguese Republic includes verification by the prosecutors of the authenticity of the signature with which the document was certified. After passing through this procedure, a special stamp - an apostille - is placed on the document (or on its certified copy). Most often, the apostille is placed on the back of the document, or on a separate sheet, after which the document is stitched.
An apostille is a stamp of rectangular shape. The heading "Apostille (Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)" must be in French.
The following documents can be authenticated by apostille:
- Certificates of civil status (certificates of birth, death, marriage and divorce)
- Education documents (school reports, certificates, diplomas)
- Trade register excerpts
- Judicial decisions
- Notarially certified copies of documents
- Notarially certified translations
- Further notarial documents (authorizations, last will, declarations)
- Commercial documents legalized by a state organ of registration (articles of incorporation, registration certificates, tax registrations etc.)
Requirements for the documents:
An apostille can be issued exclusively on an original document. Therefor, the latter must be in an apparent good condition, all stamps and signatures have to be clear and readable. Furthermore, it must not contain alien marking and labels.
Additional services
In addition to the legalization of your documents, we can provide you with high quality translations.
If you want to bring company information before the court, it needs to be legalised as well. We are therefore offering extracts from the commercial register of Portugal including apostille and translation.
Portugal Apostille Service - Original Documents Express Service
Express Service 7-10 Business Days