Schmidt & Schmidt offers the legalization of documents from the Dominican Republic by apostille.

The Dominican Republic joined the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents in 2009. Therefore, no diplomatic authentication or consular legalization of documents from the Dominican Republic is needed 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. Documents drawn up in Spanish and issued by official authorities and other eligible structures of the Dominican Republic can be apostillized.

Responsible for issuing the apostille

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The following institutions are authorized to issue the apostille for the select documents:

• Citizens Service Center of the General Prosecutor's Office - for notarial acts
• Central Office of Civil Status or District Council - for civil status acts
• Ministry of Education - for documents on basic education
• Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology - for documents on higher education
• Ministry of Defense and national police - for documents of military structures

Austria, Belgium and Germany do not recognize the Dominican Republic as a member state of the Hague Convention. Therefore, the authentication of public documents from the Dominican Republic by apostille does not suffice for legal communication with these three countries. Instead, the document is to undergo the procedure of consular legalization.

Legalizing public documents by apostille implies authenticating 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:

Only original documents or notarially certified copies can be apostillized. The underlying documents 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 can therefore provide you with extracts from the commercial register of the Dominican Republic including the apostille certification and translation into the language of the document's state of destination.