On 5 October 1961, the Hague Apostille Treaty was held to abolish the requirement of legalization for foreign public documents. The conference introduce a single form of certification called “Apostille” to replace the long bureaucratic requirements of embassy legalization. The Hague Apostille countries are increasing every year to facilitate the process of foreign document certification.
Apostille in the United States
US documents destined for use in any of the Hague Convention Participating Countries will require an apostille stamp from the appropriate designated authority in the United States.
California residents can get an Apostille from:
- California Secretary of State office in Los Angeles for State issued documents.
- US Department of State in Washington DC for federally issued documents
Hague Apostille Countries
Albania, Botswana, El Salvador, Ireland, Marshall Isl, Panama, Slovenia, Vanuatu, Andorra, Brazil, Estonia, Israel, Mauritius, Paraguay, South Africa, Venezuela, Antigua, Brunei, Fiji, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Yugoslavia, Argentina, Bulgaria, Finland, Japan, Moldova, Poland, Suriname, Armenia, Cape Verde, France, Kazakhstan, Monaco, Portugal, Swaziland, Australia, Chile, Georgia, Korea, Mongolia, Romania, Sweden, Austria, Colombia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, Russia, Switzerland, Azerbaijan, Cook Islands, Greece, Latvia, Morocco, Saint Kitts, Tajikistan, Bahamas, Costa Rica, Grenada, Lesotho, Namibia, Saint Lucia, Tobago, Bahrain, Croatia, Grenadines, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Saint Vincent, Tonga, Barbados, Cyprus, Herzegovina, Lithuania, Nevis, Samoa, Trinidad, Barbuda, Czech, Honduras, Luxembourg, New Zealand, San Marino, Turkey, Belarus, Denmark, Hong Kong, Macau, Nicaragua, São Tomé, Ukraine, Belgium, Dominica, Hungary, Macedonia, Niue, Serbia, United Kingdom, Belize, Dominican R., Iceland, Malawi, Norway, Seychelles, Uruguay, Bosnia, Ecuador, India, Malta, Oman, Slovakia, Uzbekistan