Schmidt & Schmidt is offering to legalize your documents from the African states with accordance to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents and the procedures of consular legalization.
An apostille is a stamp of rectangular shape. The heading „Apostille (Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)“ must be in French. Every apostille issued is registered and contains the issuing date as well as a unique number. The issuing authorities vary depending on the country and the type of document. Our country pages contain detailed information about the specifics of the procedure as well as the authorities responsible in each country.
The apostille has to be obtained in the country that has issued the document.
Today only a few countries in Africa are members of the 1961 Apostille convention. These include Botswana, Burundi, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Tunisia, Swaziland and South Africa.
When a country is not a member of the 1961 Apostille convention, its documents are subject to the procedure of consular legalization. This is a more complicated procedure compared to obtaining an apostille stamp. It includes certification at a corresponding ministry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and lastly, at the consulate of the country of destination.
NB: The document is only valid in the country whose consulate legalized it.
