Legalizationchain

In plain words

The legalisation chain is the sequence of steps after which a document issued in one country is recognised in another. Put simply: your certificate on its own means nothing abroad until it has gone through the established confirmation procedure.

There are two routes. If both countries are parties to the Hague Convention, an apostille is enough — a special stamp of the competent authority. If at least one of them is not, consular legalisation applies: the document is certified in turn by several authorities and at the consulate of the destination country. The second route is longer and more expensive.

The main difficulty is the strict order of steps. First the document, with a notarised copy if needed, then the apostille or legalisation, and only then a translation certified under the rules of the receiving country. Swapping the steps is a typical and costly mistake: most often the whole chain has to be started again.

When legalisation is needed

What the chain consists of

The right order of steps

1. 01Obtain the document in the required form
2. 02Notarial acts if needed
3. 03Apostille or consular legalisation
4. 04Translation under the country’s rules
5. 05Filing with the receiving authority

What you need to know

• An apostille works only between convention countries
• Consular legalisation is longer and more expensive
• The translation is done after the apostille, not before
• Some documents have a limited period of validity
• The receiving authority’s requirements are checked in advance

Common mistakes

• ✕Translating a document before the apostille
• ✕Having the translation certified in the wrong country
• ✕Apostilling a copy instead of the original, or the reverse
• ✕Collecting documents too early so that they expire
• ✕Following friends’ advice instead of the authority’s requirements

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