Only nations that have ratified the 1961 Hague Convention may issue a “apostille,” which is a kind of document authentication. The United States Department of State maintains a list of countries that are willing to accept apostilles.
Singapore will ratify the Apostille Convention on September 16, 2021, making it a legally enforceable agreement. Documents that need to be generated in one of the nations that have signed the Apostille Convention should be submitted to the Singapore Academy of Law for Apostille certification. The Singapore Academy of Law and, if necessary, the relevant embassies may assist users who need documents issued by countries that are not contractually party to the Apostille agreement.
If the recipient nation is not a signatory to the Hague Convention, papers may need to be “authenticated” or “certified” before they may be sent
Apostille and authentication services are provided to foreign nationals and residents of the United States by the Office of the Secretary of State of the United States Department of State. For example: bylaws and articles of incorporation; powers-of-attorney; letters pertaining to degrees; references and work certificates; home studies and deeds of assigning; distributorship agreements; adoption papers; and so forth are some examples of documentation. Additional information on document validity and Apostille certification is provided by the U.S. Department of State in compliance with the Hague Convention of 1961.
An Apostille’s Requirements for Obtaining One
It is possible to authenticate public papers, including birth certificates, court orders or any other document issued by a federal authority and attested by a consul from the United States or another country. The U.S. and other nations’ consulate services provide apostille documents. Apostille certification ensures that the document (or papers) in issue may be accepted in other nations that have signed the 1961 Hague Convention Treaty. To have an apostille added to a document, it must have been issued by a country that signed the Hague Convention of 1961.
In order to ensure that your papers are real, you must perform the following steps:
Each and every document has to be authenticated by a public notary:
In the case of notaries public appointed by the county, the paperwork must first go via that county’s clerk of court and then go through that county’s secretary of state for certification.
For notaries public commissioned by the state, only the secretary of state of the state in which the document was notarized is allowed to certify papers Only papers notarized in that state are subject to this requirement.
Documents must be completed as follows before they may be notarized and certified:
- Your document must be provided to you in order for you to get it.
- Make sure that your paper has been authenticated by a notary public.
- If it is required, you should get your documents certified by the clerk of court.
As a best practise, the document should be authenticated by the secretary of state. Observe the dates of the clerk of court’s certification first if a document has to be authenticated by both the secretary of state and the clerk of the court.
Your requests will not be completed if you don’t have the proper notarizations before submitting your papers, so be sure to have them done before you submit them.
The original seals and signatures are required.
The only acceptable copies are “genuine certified copies” from a public notary. True copies of birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, court documents, and federal government documents cannot be attested to by a public notary. These documents must be authenticated by the secretary of state.In order to ensure that a document written in a language other than English is legitimate, it must be notarized and translated by a professional translator.