The Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, also known as the Apostille Convention, is an international treaty drafted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). The Apostille Convention is intended to simplify the procedure through which a document, issued in one of the contracting states, can be certified for legal purposes in the other contracting states of the convention. A certification under the convention is called an apostille or Hague apostille (from French apostille, meaning a marginal or bottom note, derived from Latin post illa, meaning "after those [words of the text]"). An apostille is an international certification comparable to a notarisation, and may supplement a local notarisation of the document. If the convention applies between two states, an apostille issued by the state of origin is sufficient to certify the document, and removes the need for further certification by the destination state.
Background
Many states require the verification of the authenticity of foreign documents, in a procedure called legalisation, for the document to be legally valid there. This legalisation is generally a chain of certifications, by one or more authorities of the state where the document was issued and of the destination state. The first authority certifies the issuer of the document, and each subsequent authority certifies the previous one, until the final certification is made by an authority of the destination state that can be recognised by the final user there. For example, to be accepted in Egypt, a document from the U.S. state of Maryland not issued by a government official must be certified by a notary public, who must then be certified by the clerk of the circuit court in the notary's county, who must then be certified by the Maryland Secretary of State, who must then be certified by the U.S. Department of State, which must finally be certified by the Embassy of Egypt in the United States.
In many cases, the legalisation procedure is simplified or exempted altogether. For example, some states have agreements eliminating the legalisation requirement for certain documents issued by each other, such as between Argentina and Italy, between Brazil and France, between parties of the Convention on the Issue of Multilingual Extracts from Civil Status Records, and between parties of the Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The European Union also has a regulation eliminating the legalisation requirement for certain documents of its member states to be accepted by each other. Some states such as Canada, Japan, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States generally accept documents from any state without any certification.
The Apostille Convention, drafted by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), is intended to simplify the legalisation procedure by replacing it with a certification called an apostille, issued by an authority designated by the state of origin. Ideally the apostille would be the only certification needed, but in some cases additional certifications in the state of origin may be required before the apostille is issued. In any case, after the apostille, no certification by the destination state is required.
Contracting states
The convention permits certain states to sign and ratify the convention, becoming contracting states. For each of these states, or for an extension to one of its territories, the convention enters into force 60 days after the deposit of its ratification or territorial extension. Other states are also permitted to become contracting states by acceding to the convention, but without signing it. For each of these states, during the period of six months after it deposits its accession, the other contracting states may object to it, and the convention enters into force 60 days after this period, between the acceding state and all other contracting states that did not object to it. Later, if a contracting state withdraws its objection, the convention enters into force between these two states at that time. A successor state of a previous contracting state may declare to continue to be bound by the convention without a waiting period or accede later as a new state.
As of September 2026, 130 states are contracting states of the Apostille Convention.
Potential accessions
The governments of Iran, Lebanon and Malaysia have expressed interest in acceding to the Apostille Convention.
In May 2025, the government of Indonesia recommended that Malaysia and Egypt accede to the convention.
In June 2026, the parliament of The Gambia approved a motion to consider acceding to the convention.
Procedure
Eligible documents
The convention mentions four types of documents eligible for apostilles:
- court documents
- administrative documents (e.g. vital records)
- notarial acts
- official certificates which are placed on documents signed by persons in their private capacity, such as official certificates recording the registration of a document or the fact that it was in existence on a certain date and official and notarial authentications of signatures.
However, the Apostille Convention does not apply to documents issued by diplomatic or consular officers, or to administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations. The reason for this exclusion is that these documents are usually already exempt from legalisation.
Each contracting state designates one or more authorities to issue apostilles. Examples of designated authorities are ministries, courts, subnational governments, notaries and registries. In some states, each authority is designated to issue apostilles only on certain types of documents. For example, in Hungary, apostilles are issued on court documents by the Ministry of Justice, on notarial documents by the Chamber of Civil Law Notaries, and on other documents by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; in Mexico, apostilles on federal documents are issued by the federal Secretariat of Governance, and on state documents by the respective state government. In South Africa, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) issues apostilles for public documents, while the High Court issues apostilles for notarised private documents.
In general, documents issued by a government official can be certified directly with an apostille, while other documents must be certified by a notary, who may then be certified with an apostille. In some cases, additional intermediate certifications may be required; for example, for notarised or municipal documents in some U.S. states, the notary or municipal official must be certified by the respective county or court, which may then be certified by the respective state with an apostille.
Cost
The fee for issuing an apostille varies widely by state. In 2016, the HCCH compiled fees of 54 states and calculated an average of 15.43 EUR. Some states, such as Italy and Japan, do not charge a fee, while the Cayman Islands charge 150 KYD (180 USD), one of the highest. In some states, the fee also varies by location, authority, quantity, purpose or type of document. For example, in the United States, Indiana does not charge a fee for an apostille of a birth certificate, while Connecticut charges 40 USD for an apostille not related to adoption.
The apostille is a stamp or printed form, placed on the document itself or attached to the document as an allonge. At the top is the title Apostille, followed by (Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961) (French for "Hague Convention of 5 October 1961"). The convention specifies that this text must be in French. After this text, the apostille contains ten numbered fields, which may be in English, French or the language of the competent authority, and may be repeated in one or more additional languages. The numbered fields contain the following information:
- Country: [e.g. Hong Kong, China]This public document
- has been signed by [e.g. Henry CHO]
- acting in the capacity of [e.g. Notary Public]
- bears the seal/stamp of [e.g. High Court of Hong Kong]Certified
- at [location or authority issuing the apostille, e.g. High Court]
- the [e.g. 16 April 2014]
- by [e.g. Louis TANG, Registrar, High Court]
- No. [e.g. 2536218517]
- Seal/stamp: [of the authority issuing the apostille, e.g. Emblem of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region]
- Signature: [of the official issuing the apostille]
Verification
Each competent authority must maintain a register of apostilles issued, for verification on request by anyone.
In 2006, the electronic apostille program (also known as e-APP) was launched to support the electronic issuance and verification of apostilles around the world. Since then, many contracting states have implemented electronic apostilles or electronic registers for their verification.
Validity
Apostilles never expire. However, a document certified with an apostille may have an expiration date, or the destination state may require that the document be presented by a certain time.
Additional requirements
The apostille replaces the legalisation requirement, but the destination state may have additional requirements for the document to be used there. For example, it may require that the document be translated into a certain language, although it must not require a translation of the apostille itself.
Benefits and disadvantages
The Apostille Convention is beneficial in cases that would otherwise require certifications by both the origin and destination states, as the convention removes the latter requirement. However, the convention is neutral in cases that would otherwise require only a certification by the state of origin anyway, similar to an apostille, or no certification at all, and it can be disadvantageous in cases where a consular certification alone would otherwise be sufficient to legalise a document. The convention requires that contracting states direct their embassies and consulates to no longer perform legalisations of documents where the convention applies, so in this case the apostille is the only method available to certify the document, not only an alternative to consular legalisation, even if the latter would be simpler or less expensive.
For example, before Brazil acceded to the Apostille Convention, to legalise an educational document from the United States for academic use in Brazil, it was sufficient for the document to be certified by a Brazilian embassy or consulate in the United States, for a fee of 5 USD. After the convention entered into force in Brazil, its embassy and consulates in the United States no longer perform legalisations, so U.S. documents must have an apostille to be accepted in Brazil. In some U.S. states, an apostille of an educational document requires more certifications or a higher fee than the Brazilian consular legalisation did.
This result is an unintended consequence, as the convention still allows states to further simplify or eliminate the legalisation requirement. The Hague Conference also encourages contracting states to eliminate the need for additional certifications before issuing an apostille, and to ensure that any fees are reasonable.
Limitations and abuse
The apostille only certifies that the signature, signer's capacity, and seal or stamp on the document are from the stated issuer. In other words, it only certifies the origin of the document, but it does not provide information about its content. In 2008, the Hague Conference expressed serious concerns about diplomas and certificates issued by diploma mills, citing their possible use "to circumvent migration controls, possibly by potential terrorists." The risk comes from the fact that the various government stamps give the document an air of authenticity without anyone having checked the underlying document. To address this concern, in 2009 the Hague Conference recommended that authorities add the following statement to apostilles: "This apostille only certifies the signature, the capacity of the signer, and the seal or stamp it bears. It does not certify the content of the document for which it was issued."