Hague Nations is a group of 117 Countries that have come together to make several agreements to make international commerce, People’s movement easier and prevent international crimes as well.
The Hague Nation has an Agreement called the Apostille agreement. Where any document originating from Hague member countries will be accepted throughout 117 countries with a simple certification called Apostille.
Any document with Apostille is considered as Original, Genuine and given by the rightful authority. The Apostille is provided by the Government. In US there are Mainly 2 Government bodies that can issue an Apostille
4 Easy steps to get US Apostille on the documents
For Hague Nation countries the method of document verification is called apostille. For countries that are outside the Nague Nation list the document verification method is a more complicated and time consuming process.
Legalization is a broader term it simply means to verify, any document given in a country needs to verify the authenticity of it before it is being used outside the country. This makes sure that only genuine documents are being submitted or used in different countries. This removes fraudulent documents being used for illegal purposes.
Legalization for Hague country is called Apostille
Legalization for countries outside Hague nations is called Embassy Attestation.
Different Countries have different processes to provide Hague Apostille. In the US as mentioned earlier 2 Government bodies provide apostille.
When it comes to attestation or apostille process there 2 types of document
There are 2 ways you can get apostille on the State issued document
Most Hague countries Accept both types of Apostille but however some countries mandate Apostille on the original document hence it is always advisable to verify with the authorities to whom you are submitting the document, whether they accept photocopy attested documents or not.
If you are Submitting any state issued documents to countries other than that are mentioned in Hague nation list then the process is different and more complicated than that of Hague country apostille
Step 1 – Notary attestation ( for photocopy documents only, original documents no need to go through this Attestation)
Step 2 – Apostille by state ( the state in which the document is issued will provide the state apostille on the document
Step 3 – Authentication by the USDOS ( US department of state or federal government) also called as federal attestation
Step 4 – Embassy attestation – After all the above attestations are done, the document is submitted to the embassy of the target country and embassy attestation is obtained.
Note – In case of the Photocopy attestation Notary public attestation is mandatory for the photocopy some countries accept photocopy for embassy attestation check with the expert for the information.
For Federal documents you don’t need a State Apostille so you can skip step 2 for federal issued documents.
Suggestion – Some countries’ embassies accept direct submission after state apostille( Step 2) for state issued documents such as US Marriage certificates.in this case you can skip the Step 3 USDOS Federal authentication this will save valuable time and cost.
This complete process of 4 steps is called the full legalization process. This will take 8-12 weeks and the cost verified depending on the document, state attestation, federal attestation and embassy time. Please check with Apostille experts for suggestions.