What is Consular or Embassy Legalisation?
This is the process of certifying the authenticity of a document, granting it full legal value at international level, for the foreign country’s diplomatic representations: Embassies or Consulates. Acts and documents issued by foreign authorities, to be valid in Italy, must be legalised by Italian diplomatic representations abroad or, alternatively, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They must therefore be translated into Italian and sworn. In countries where there is the legal figure of the official translator, conformity is attested by the translator, alternatively by the consular office.
The Apostille and countries with exemption from consular legalization
In countries that are party to the Hague Convention, affixing an apostille replaces the need to legalise deeds and documents issued by foreign authorities. The apostille is a certification that validates, with full legal value, at the international level the authenticity of any public deed, certificates, school documents, notarial deeds, etc. For these countries, therefore, there is no obligation for consular legalisation; it is sufficient to affix the apostille on documents or deeds at the Prosecutor’s Offices/Prefectures/Courts in the country that issued the document rather than at foreign diplomatic representations.
Therefore, a person from a country that has signed this Convention does not need to go to the consular representation and ask for legalisation, but can go to the competent domestic authority designated by each State to obtain an apostille on the document. Following this procedure, the document is recognised in Italy. Acts and documents issued by States that are parties to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 are exempt from legalisation provided they bear the Apostille:
A – Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan
B – Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria
C – China (Hong Kong), China (Macao), Colombia, Cook Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic
D – Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic
E – Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia
F – Fiji, Finland, France, FYR of Macedonia
G – Georgia, Germany, Greece, Grenada
H – Honduras, Hungary
I – Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy
J – Japan
K – Kazakhstan, Korea (Republic of)
L – Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg
M – Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro
N – Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niue, Norway
P – Panama, Poland, Portugal
R – Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation
S – Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland
T – Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey
U – Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA
V – Vanuatu, Venezuela