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In 1961 many nations joined to create a simplified method of “legalizing” documents for universal recognition. This group of nations is known as the Hague Convention. They adopted a document referred to as an apostille that is internationally recognized by all member nations. Documents sent to member nations, completed with an apostille at the state level, may be submitted directly to the member nation without further action. Documents sent to non-member nations require a certification (vs. an apostille) of the official’s signature. This is done at the state level and then needs to be transmitted to the U.S. Department of State in Washington D.C. and then on to the specific embassy or consulate.

What is an Apostille?
Apostille is also a French word which means a certification. It is commonly used in English to refer to the legalization of a document for international use under the terms of the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Documents which have been notarized by a notary public, and certain other documents, and then certified with a conformant apostille are accepted for legal use in all the nations that have signed the Hague Convention.

Apostille Is a method of certifying a document for use in another country pursuant to the 1961 Hague Convention. With this certification by apostille, a document is entitled to recognition in the country of intended use, and no additional certification or legalization by the embassy or consulate of the foreign country where the document is to be used is required. An apostillized copy of the articles of incorporation or articles of organization is often required to open a bank account in another country for a US-incorporated business. Note, certain countries require a certified copy of the articles of incorporation/organization with an appropriate gold seal instead of an apostillized copy.

Apostille is certificate which verifies and confirms the seal and signature of person who authenticated the document . Some people call this ‘superlegalisation’. There are designated authorities in every country to issue apostille certificates or legalisation. Apostilles are commonly issued for various documents related to adoption cases, for commercial documents, for official documents related to vital statistics, and for court records, land records, school documents and patent applications.

Apostille: A certificate of notarial authority issued by the Secretary of State. It certifies that the notarial block is completed according to Montana statutes and that the notary was commissioned and in good standing at the time the notarization was performed. This type of certification is required for documents to be used in foreign countries which are signatory to The Hague Convention of October 5, 1961.

The sole function of the Apostille is to certify the authenticity of the signature on the document; the capacity in which the person signing the document acted; and the identity of any stamp or seal affixed to the document.
An Apostille issued by the Secretary of State is a one page document embossed with the Great Seal of a State. The Apostille includes the facsimile signature of the individual issuing the certificate.
There are currently over 60 member states of the Hague convention and in addition to those countries many other countries will also recognize an Apostille certificate (follow the link to a list of these countries).

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