Legalization from Egypt

Schmidt & Schmidt offers the legalization of documents from Egypt.

Egypt has not joined the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. Therefore, documents from Egypt cannot be legalized by apostille, they will only be recognized abroad after consular legalization, meaning their authenticity must be confirmed separately.

By consular legalization the signature and the seal of foreign documents are authenticated. Responsible is the respective embassy of the country in which the document shall be used.

The legalization of a document is a very lengthy procedure. It has to be authenticated by the Ministry of Justice. The document can then be finally legalized by the state of destination's embassy in Egypt.

The following documents can be legalized:

Extracts from the commercial register
Certificates of civil status (certificates of birth, death, marriage and divorce)
Education documents (school reports, certificates, diplomas)
Judicial decisions
Notarially certified copies of documents
Notarially certified translations
Further notarial documents (authorizations, last will, declarations)

Legalization of foreign documents for use in Egypt

Any document issued abroad can be legalized for the use in Egypt. The procedure corresponds to the legalization of Egyptian documents abroad: it has to be authenticated by both the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country concerned, before it can be legalized by the Egyptian Embassy.