What's the Difference Between Apostille and Legalization?

Do you want to know the difference between apostille and legalization? If yes, then in this blog you will know everything in detail. You may need to use a document in another country. This could be a birth certificate, marriage license, or school transcript. To make the document valid in that other country, you need to get it authenticated. There are two ways to authenticate a document - apostille and legalization. Both processes confirm that the document is genuine. Read on to learn the difference between apostille and legalization.

What is an Apostille?

An Apostille is a legalization of your document, which lets them consider it official in another country. It is applied in situations where a person requires forwarding of official documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, or school records from one country to another. Not all countries accept Apostille, only those countries that are in a group known as the Hague Apostille Convention.

For instance, if you have your birth certificate from the United States but now need it for use in France, you will consider an Apostille. The Apostille stamp affirms the genuineness of your birth certificate, and France will take it.

What is Legalization?

Legalization is relatively closer to Apostille, but it’s more complex than the latter. It is applied to nations that are not members of the Hague Apostille Convention. Several steps are followed to ensure that a document is real and acceptable in another country.

The document is legalized by the local competent authority in the country of your permanent residence. It then goes to the government office of the respective country, like the foreign ministry. Last of all, there may be the test and approval by way of the applicable embassy or consulate of the US wherein you intend to apply the file.

In case you want to illustrate or speak about your birth certificate from the United States of America in China, you may be capable of doing this plenty less difficult inside the Arabic script than within the Latin script. If it's so, you ought to legalize the files because China isn't always a member of the Hague Apostille Convention.

Key Differences

 Here are the main differences between Apostille and Legalization:

 1. Countries Involved: Apostille is issued by the countries that are parties to the Hague Convention of 1961 on apostille. Legalization is applied by countries that do not belong to this group.

 2. Process Steps: On average, getting an Apostille is less complicated and less time-consuming. Legalization requires more actions and can be longer as it is usually done through several offices.

 3. Stamp vs. Multiple Approvals: An Apostille is one stamp or certificate. Legalization requires a certain number of approvals from different offices.

Which One Do You Need?

Technically, to determine whether or not one will require an Apostille or a Legalization, one must discover whether the United States to which the document is being sent is a member of the Hague Convention Apostille. You can easily find lists of these international locations on the Internet.

It depends upon us. In case you are going to serve the documents as a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, you require an Apostille best. If no longer, the legalization procedure has to be followed.

Conclusion

Apostille and Legalization are two procedures that allow documents to be stated as legitimate in other international locations. Apostille is less difficult and is applied using the nations participating in the Hague Apostille Convention. At the same time, legalization is more complicated and used by the countries that are not included in this list. Understanding which one is required out of the two will help you save time, and this way, your documents will be accepted wherever they are needed. Contact Washington Consular Service to know more about Why is an Apostille Certificate Important for Legalization?