Procurement of documents in Belgium

Schmidt & Schmidt offers document retrieval services in Belgium.

If your personal documents are lost or damaged or you need to obtain current copies of documents it is necessary to request duplicates of documents. Often, those who have left Belgium face difficulties in this procedure. Our service allows you to request documents in Belgium remotely and we can carry out courier delivery of the document to anywhere in the world.

Validity of civil status documents in Belgium

Civil status documents issued in Belgium generally have a validity period of no more than 6 months, after which they must be replaced with new ones containing up-to-date data.

A duplicate birth certificate, marriage certificate, name change certificate, divorce certificate, criminal record certificate or death certificate may be required to register a marriage abroad, a newborn child, citizenship, inheritance, confirm data for pension applications, open bank accounts, find employment and resolve other bureaucratic issues.

What documents can be requested in Belgium:

Birth certificate
Extract from birth certificate
Marriage certificate
Extract from the marriage certificate
Divorce certificate
Death certificate
Certificates of good conduct
Educational documents
Other civil status documents

In Belgium, it is possible to request an extract of civil status acts of international standard for the following countries:

Germany
North Macedonia
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Cape Verde
Croatia
Spain
Estonia
Greece
Italy
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Moldova
Montenegro
Netherlands
Poland
Romania
Serbia
Slovenia
Switzerland
Türkiye

Required documents for document procurement

Since civil status documents are personal documents containing personal data, they can only be requested by their owners or persons authorized by them. That is, first of all, to request documents, we will need a signed power of attorney from the owner of the document. Additionally:

Copy of passport
Birth data and name and surname change
Data on the place of registration of civil status records

Some Belgian registry offices may refuse to request a document even with a power of attorney. In this case, the owner can order a new certificate online independently through the registry office website or by e-mail with subsequent delivery to our office in Belgium, since in most cases the sending of documents is only possible within Belgium.

Responsible authorities

Certificates of no criminal record are issued by the Central Office for Criminal Affairs in Brussels.

Civil status documents are requested from the mayor's office of the city where the marriage took place.

Education documents are requested from the relevant educational institution. Education documents may be issued as a copy certified by the educational institution.

Apostille and legalization of documents in Belgium

Belgium acceded to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documentsin 1975.

You can order an apostille for copies and duplicates of documents from Belgium from us. As a rule, certifying documents with an apostille takes about two weeks.

Deadlines for requesting documents in Belgium

Requesting documents usually takes about two weeks, in some cases, depending on the processing time of the application by local authorities, the time may differ.

Requesting certified copies of educational documents takes about two weeks.

This period does not include the time required for legalization of documents and their translation.

Notarized translation of documents from Belgium

Copies and duplicates of civil status documents can be translated into Russian or another language by a sworn translator in Belgium or the translation can be done in the destination country. Schmidt and Schmidt provides services for the translation of civil status documents with their subsequent certification. The cost of work is calculated based on the volume of a specific document.