Schmidt & Schmidt offers assistance in legalizing your public documents from the Bahamas by apostille.
The Bahmas acceded to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents in 1973. Therefore, no diplomatic authentication or consular legalization of documents from the Bahamas is required for successful legal communication with other member states of the Convention. The documents only need to be attested by an apostille certificate with an "apostille" stamp on it by the issuing state's authorities in order to be valid in the state of destination.
The apostille is a stamp of rectangular shape. It should be filled in in the official language of the issuing authority. The heading "Apostille (Convention de la Haye du 5 octobre 1961)" written in French is a necessary requirement for the apostille's validity.
Responsible for issuing the apostille is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These functions are delegated to a number of employees of the department, however, in practice, documents are often certified by the deputy permanent secretary of the Ministry.
Documents issued by official authorities and other authorized bodies of the Bahamas can be apostilled.
To certify a document with an apostille, an application form should first be submitted.
The apostillization of public documents in the Bahamas includes the authentication of the origin of the document and the authority of the officials who have affixed the signature, seal or stamp on the document. After such verification, a special stamp - the apostille - is affixed to the public document or its certified copy. The apostille is usually placed on the back of the underlying public document or on a separate attached page.
The following documents can be authenticated by apostille:
- Certificates of civil status (certificates of birth, death, marriage and divorce)
- Education documents (school reports, certificates, diplomas)
- Trade register excerpts
- Court decisions
- Notarially certified copies of documents
- Notarially certified translations
- Further notarial documents (authorizations, last will, declarations)
- Commercial documents legalized by a state registration body (articles of incorporation, registration certificates, tax registrations etc.)
Requirements for the documents:
The apostille can be exclusively issued for the original document. Therefore, the latter must be presented in good condition, with all stamps and signatures clear and readable. Furthermore, it should not contain alien markings or labels.
Additional services
In addition to the legalization of your public documents, we can provide you with high-quality translations.
Should you require company information for use in court, it needs to be legalized as well. We are therefore offering extracts from the commercial register of the Bahamas including apostillization and translation.
On average, processing the documents takes up to 14 days.
