What is an apostille?
This is an international stamp that gives documents legal validity outside the country of issue. It is affixed to originals or notarized copies and is valid in all countries that have acceded to the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961. Apostilization is a common type of legalization of personal documents, educational certificates, powers of attorney, and statutory documents. Having received an apostille once, the document will be accepted in all countries of the Hague Agreement, and there are already more than 120 such countries and their number is steadily growing.
Who needs an apostille?
It is required both for Russian citizens outside the Russian Federation and for foreigners who have arrived in Russia in the following cases:
- when enrolling in secondary school or university – applicants will need an apostille for a certificate or diploma;
- for employment – applicants need to submit apostilized certificates of qualification;
- when addressing the bank – powers of attorney issued by an authority of another state will not be accepted without this stamp;
- when applying for residence permit or citizenship - they will ask to prepare a birth/marriage certificate, certificate of no criminal record.
How do I make an apostille of documents?
Depending on the place of issuance, apostilization is performed by different government agencies:
- original certificates of marriage, divorce, birth, death relate to the activity of the Civil Registry Office archive;
- the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation is responsible for stamping the original criminal record certificates;
- diplomas, certificates of secondary education and other academic certificates are prepared through the Department of Education of the City of Moscow;
- Notarized powers of attorney, copies, translations are apostilled through the Ministry of Justice.
The latter is the most popular method because it takes the least amount of time and there are almost no restrictions on the documents that can be apostilled. There is still one limitation though – when preparing the papers, take into account that an apostille can only be made in the region where the document was issued. For example, a power of attorney certified by a notary from Samara cannot be apostilled in Moscow. The exception is the Department of Education, here you can prepare certificates from any institution in the country.
For which countries is an apostille appropriate?
More than 120 states have already joined the Hague Agreement: the whole of Europe, the CIS, several countries of the Arab world, Africa, Asia and Oceania. A complete list of where apostille is accepted in 2024 can be viewed here. All others require complete Consular Legalization, a more complicated paperwork process.
Benefits of working with BetterLetter
- Fair prices;
- We provide a complete solution: we ourselves make notarized copies and translate into any languages of the world - you get fully prepared documents;
- We accept orders remotely, personal presence is not necessary.
Examples of our work
Example of apostille on the certificate of no criminal record
