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The United States have joined the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents" in the year 1981. Therefore no diplomatic authentication or legalization of documents from the USA 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 are the following institutions:
- The United States Department of State legalises documents issued by federal authorities.
- Court secretaries legalise documents issued by the federal courts.
- Secretaries of state legalise documents issued by their respective state.
Documents issued by US authorities, published in English or other official language in this state can be apostilled.
The process of legalization in the United States includes verification by an authorized official of the authenticity of the document. After passing this procedure, the applicant, as a rule, is issued a special certificate - an apostille.
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 legalised by apostille:
- Extracts from the commercial register
- 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 the United States including apostille and translation.
USA Apostille Service - Original Documents Express Service
14 Business Days Service