Often while doing business internationally there can be many challenges that can come about the recognition of various legal documents e.g. corporate documents, a certificate of good standing, patent/trademark certificates, and also licenses, from one country to another.
Often the vocabulary used by various authorities in different countries may be quite confusing as they may use different terms that are meant for the same purpose. Here in this article, we will try to clear a few confusion by clarifying the various difference between apostille, notarization, and legalization.
You can also discuss with London Notary Marylabone to understand the differences between all these terms.
What is an apostille?
- Apostille is considered as a legal certificate that will prove it a valid document of identity of the person.
- Generally, apostille will be issued when one is planning to move/live/study in some foreign country.
- Apostille certificates will be needed only for those countries that are registered with Hague convention.
- Any document to be proved genuine and valid outside your country will need Apostille in the countries following the Hague convention.
- While submitting or depositing your documents outside of your country, you must verify by taking the help of Apostille documents, to get the permit for living, working, or studying outside of your country or the country that follows the Hague convention.
- Almost all countries are following the Hague convention these days, hence getting an Apostille done is compulsory while thinking your future in any foreign country.
What is a notary?
- Notarization is a document that will certify the legal documents with any public notary.
- It is necessary to get your document notarized as it will ensure the proper validity and authentication of the signature used in any legal documents residing in any country.
- While obtaining apostille notarization is done.
- When you apply for a notary, then it must also have the signature of the translator who is translating the document during notarized translation.
- To prove that your document is legal in your own country too, it is compulsory to get notarized the documents for dealing with ease if you are dealing with the government or any legal issues.
What is legalization?
Mostly when the Hague apostille convention in a certain country is not applicable then legalization is another alternate procedure to authenticate any document. This procedure may vary from country to country.
Usually, legalization will imply that your document will be legalized by a certain authority of the country of origin, e.g. the foreign ministry in some countries, who own authentication. Your document will then be legalized by the receiving country’s Embassy or Consulate.
The representation’s certification can be in turn certified by Foreign Ministry. This will mean in practice, that your document has to be certified several times. Most of the international legalization process may consist of 4 or more consecutive legalizations, that will involve different authorities.
Therefore, it is preferable to handle your whole process from notarization to apostille and to legalization for avoiding your document getting rejected by the embassy due to the way it was notarized.
