What is birth certificate legalization and how to get it?

When traveling abroad, it is important for any person that his documents in another state are valid. Therefore, it is necessary to understand - what is birth certificate legalization. After all, in order to study, work or buy real estate in another country, you need a properly executed package of documents endowed with full legal force.

How to get birth certificate legalization

With the help of legalization, all official documents that are obtained from state bodies acquire legal force for further use in the territories of other states. Legalization of a birth certificate is a procedure that confirms the authority of the official, who signed your document, the state departmental structure that issued the document, as well as the fact of authenticity of the seal and signature that are recorded on the document.

The main options for legalizing documents are affixing an apostille or consular legalization. An apostille is a stamp on a document, with a fixed set of parameters and data. This option is used for countries covered by the Hague Convention.

Consular legalization is used in countries, where the Hague Convention is not widespread.

If it is necessary to legalize a birth certificate, both options require free time to visit government agencies and a serious approach to collection of the necessary documents. In case of mistakes in translation or lack of documents, you can receive a refuse of legalization of the document.

In order to pass the procedure for confirming the legal force of the document, the document itself must meet certain criteria:

• the entire amount of data specified in the document must be clearly visible;
• document lamination should be absent;
• execution of the document in the new sample.

Where can you legalize your birth certificate

Legalization of the certificate is required in countries that have not agreed with the rules of the Hague Convention, so before processing the documents, specify what kind of procedure is required – consular legalization or affixing an apostille will be enough. The first option is a more time-consuming and multi-level procedure for giving legal force to a document abroad, which includes the following steps:

• to translate the document into the language of the receiving party and notarize it;
• to affix the legalization stamp at the main department of the Ministry of Justice;
• to certify the documentation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
• to certify the collected documents at the consulate of the receiving party.

Having received information about the fact, who legalizes the birth certificate, you can decide to attract specialized companies to complete all the necessary stages, which will significantly reduce the time expenditures for you, or do it on your own.

In order to pass the legalization procedure, you will need the following list of documents: a birth certificate, a copy of your passport, for foreign citizens – a copy of a residence permit, a copy of a foreign passport. If you approach a specialized company that will deal with legalization, you will need to issue a notarized power of attorney to legalize a birth certificate on your behalf. If your surnames or names have changed after birth, you need to have documents confirming this fact.

How much does birth certificate legalization cost

When approaching a professional company for the legalization of a document, the cost of the service will include:

• legalization of the certificate in the Main or Regional Department of the Ministry of Justice is affixing two seals on the document;
• legalization of the certificate in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the seal for translation and original certificate;
• the cost of translation of the certificate into the language of the receiving country;
• legalization of the certificate at the Consulate of the receiving country.

When passing through on your own, it is important to take into account the availability of confirmation of payment for the state duty service. If there is no receipt, then even if there is a payment, you can receive a refuse of legalization of the document.