In today’s globalized time, you can easily get into a living or trading situation when you need to use an official document abroad. If you need to legalize a public document to prove its authenticity for use abroad, namely in one of the countries of the Hague Convention, it is necessary to provide it with an apostille.
All documents issued by the court or judicial worker, notarial documents, administrative documents and official certificates are considered public documents. The public documents within the meaning of the Hague Convention are not documents issued by diplomatic and consular officials and administrative documents related to commercial and customs activities. The private documents are not authenticated.
All public documents of a personal nature, such as a birth certificate or a marriage certificate, public documents of a business nature, such as an extract from the commercial register or a certificate of registration of a trademark can be apostilled. The most common situations when it is necessary to present the apostilled public document are as follows:
You want to get married abroad and need to present your birth certificates or identity cards.
You want to enroll your children in school abroad and need to present their birth certificates.
After studying abroad, you return to your home country and you want to use your diplomas or training certificates.
You are applying for a job abroad and need to submit the documents that prove your education.
You have authorized someone to act abroad on your behalf and that person needs to produce the power of attorney.
You want to buy a property abroad or you are a party to the court proceedings and you need to prove your identity, possibly grant power of attorney to the person who will represent you.
A person has died abroad and you need to present their death certificate for purposes such as insurance payment.
You want to open a branch or a bank account for your company abroad.
In United States, each state has different requirements for a document to be apostilled. For example, if you need something apostilled in Houston, Texas, you can only get that apostille in Houston, Texas, or you could hire an apostille service Houston. Apart from the situations mentioned above, you will need the apostille in all situations when it is necessary to use the public document and prove its authenticity in the country that has joined the Hague Convention.
