Notary Public: Are Apostilles Effective? | CM Law Blog

September 20, 2013

When it comes to getting certain documents moving through the right channels, you may find yourself needing the services of a special type of lawyer or solicitor: a Notary Public. There are plenty of Notary Publics in Sydney’s Inner West alone, but how can an Apostille Certificate from a Notary Public help you and your documents?

An Apostille Certificate from Japan

For whatever reason you may find that you need to have official legal documents for use outside of Australia. It’s not as simple as getting any old lawyer to look at them. A Notary Public has to sign, stamp, and seal them to say that yes, they are legitimate and official. An Apostille Certificate will see your document glide through international channels. If you don’t choose to get an Apostille Certificate, it’s a long and complicated process to prove that the document is genuine. So are there any drawbacks to an Apostille Certificate?

Unfortunately, yes. An Apostille Certificate only works in countries that are part of the Hague Convention. What’s the Hague Convention you ask? The Hague Convention is an agreement between certain countries to get rid of the need for the legalisation of foreign public documents. Countries that follow the Hague Convention include Albania, France, and Japan. For a full list of countries that have agreed to the Hauge Convention go to http://www.apostille.com.au/hague-convention.php.

So what exactly does an Apostille Certificate let your document skip? Well, since there’s no issue about legalising your document in a Hague Convention country, it won’t need to go to that foreign country’s diplomatic representative in Australia to be reviewed and authenticated. If you want your document to be used in a number of countries and none of them are part of the Hague Convention, then you’ll be visiting a lot of foreign diplomats representing their country in Australia. However, if you do get an Apostille Certificate, your document is instantly accepted in all the countries of the Hague Convention.

By choosing to get an Apostille Certificate included with your public documents for international use, you save yourself a huge deal of time, and not to mention money and stress, because you can bypass a great number of legal channels.

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