Legalization guidelines

Your documents and their translations require an apostille. The issuing state of your documents is a member of the Hague Conference and has ratified the Apostille Convention.

The apostille is issued by the appropriate national public authority designated by the individual state that is a ratifying party to the Apostille Convention.

Only official documents can be legalized by an attached apostille. Each individual contracting state defines independently which documents are regarded as official and which as private. Private documents must be certified by the appropriate authority before being legalized by apostille. The authority must certify the authenticity of the signature of the person who has issued the document.

Please note:

• The apostille must appear on the original document itself or on an additional paper sheet attached to the original document. We also accept an electronic apostille (e-apostille) - in this case, you must present the original document in paper form in addition to the e-apostille.   

• The apostille must confirm the authenticity of the signature of the person wo has issued the document or the signature of a UK public official that certified the original document (solicitor or notary).
  We do not accept documents that are certified to be a true copy of the original document.

• Documents issued by universities require verification of the university documents by the solicitor/notary before the apostille is affixed to it. Therefore, a statement made by the solicitor/notary verifying the university document is required. An example of such a statement may contain the following sentence “... has been compared to the records held at the university...”.

• For documents issued by the Examination Boards (AQA, CCEA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR - Oxford, Cambridge and RSA, WJEC), verification of the respective qualifications is not required.

Translation guidelines

You can present your documents either in German or in English. If documents were issued in a language other than German or English, they must be translated by an officially certified court interpreter.

Please note:

• The original document must contain all the required legalization stamps before it is translated.

• All stamps/seals and legalization notes on the document (including e.g. items on the back of the page) must be translated as well. The apostille itself does not need to be translated.

• The translation must be permanently attached to the original document by the interpreter.

Required procedure for translations made in Austria:

1. Legalization of the original document by apostille

2. Translation of the legalized original document
   Click here for a list of all Austrian certified court interpreters (in German)
    

 

Required procedure for translations made in the issuing country:

1. Legalization of the original document by apostille

2. Translation of the legalized original document

3. Legalization of the translation attached to the original document by apostille