Legalisation of documents

Which citizen needs to legalise official documents? Do all official documents need document legalisation? If you need to have an official document (birth certificate, marriage certificate, criminal record certificate, etc.) officially documented in a foreign country, there are three options in practice:
– An ordinary court (official) translation will suffice,
– In addition to the court translation, you must also provide an apostille,
– You must also superlegalize the translated document.

If you do not know which option is required for your official document, please contact our experts. They will arrange for the translation, certification and legalisation of your document.

 

What is the difference between legalisation and superlegalisation?

If you need to use an official document issued in Slovakia in a country that is not a member state of the Hague Convention, you will need to have it certified by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic. This process is called legalisation. You must then super-legalize the document at the embassy of the country where you will be presenting the document.

 

Translation of the document

If you have been issued with an official document that is not in English, French, German or Dutch, you will need to have it translated. The following rules apply when translating a document:

– Only a court translator can translate official documents,

– If the court translator is not registered in the Netherlands, you must also have the translation legalised.

 

Which documents must be legalised?

There are many documents which must be legalised, such as certificates or diplomas, etc. But the most common documents are:

• an official copy of a birth certificate,
• an official copy of a marriage certificate,
• an official copy of a death certificate.

These official copies will be made for you at the civil registry office (Matrika)

 

Official documents within the European Union

If you have official documents from a European Union country and you want to present them to an authority in another European Union country, you usually need to attach a standard multilingual form to the official document. You can get this form from the institution that issued your document.

Where you can have your official document legalised depends on the type of official document.

 

Document verification

If you need to obtain a visa, a temporary residence permit or, in the case of foreign students, a confirmation of admission to higher education, you must provide Slovak officials with documents issued outside Slovakia (e.g. criminal records, diplomas, etc.)

Legalisation of official documents is the certification of the authenticity of signatures and official stamps or seal impressions. Slovak authorities verify the authenticity of the previous certificate issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country of origin of the official document.

 

How do I find an official translator?

Official documents should be sent to an official translator who will translate them and send them back to you by courier service. Official documents that have been translated into Slovak by a court translator do not need any further verification (i.e. after legalisation or apostille). You can immediately submit such documents to Slovak institutions.

 

Certification of documents issued abroad

If you need to present your official documents issued in one country in another country (foreign official documents), you need to have them certified. This is the only way they can be recognised in the other country. Our translators will tell you whether they are subject to legalisation or super-legalisation under the relevant legislation.