Legally valid documents issued in the territory of one country can be used in the territory of another country after being duly formalized. Currently, there are two types of such formalization:
- Issuance of an apostille;
- Consular legalization.
In short, if you intend to use documents issued in the territory of any state in another state, you must have them apostilled. Or you have to get them properly consular legalized.
Apostille is authentication process of the seals and signatures of officials on public documents. Competent authorities may give apostille according to the original or a notarized copy or translation of the document.
Documents drawn up by diplomatic and consular agents, and administrative documents directly related to customs and commercial operations shall not be apostilled.
Consular legalization consists of determining and certifying the authenticity of signatures on documents (acts) and the compliance of these documents (acts) with the laws of the receiving State. Legalization confirms the legal force of documents and acts in the international world.
I. What is the difference between Apostille and Legalization?
Legalization requires the approval of several institutions as a longer-term procedure.
Legalization:
- provides for approval by the consulate of the foreign country where the document is intended to be used;
- a legalized document can be used only in the territory of the state that legalized it.
However, the issuance of an Apostille is a one-step procedure for the approval of the document by only one body. That apostilled document can be presented in 124 countries that are members of the Hague Apostille Convention. (You can check this link to find out if your country is a member of this convention.)
In general, the following documents are apostilled:
- Documents issued by state authorities;
- Court documents;
- Notarized documents (including notarized copies or translations of documents issued by a legal entity; documents signed by an individual, if his signature is notarized).
Apostilled signatures, seals and stamps do not require revalidation or legalization.
II. Which state authorities issue the Apostille and Consular Legalization?
Competent authorities determined by the state carries out issuance of an apostille. In Azerbaijan, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs are competent authorities for issuing Apostille.
The Ministry of Justice issues the Apostilles for the following documents:
- Documents issued by courts;
- Documents of prosecutor’s offices;
- Documents of judicial authorities;
- Notarized documents;
- Documents on state registration of civil status acts.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues apostille for other official documents in Azerbaijan.
The Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Azerbaijan and the consulates of the Republic of Azerbaijan in foreign countries carries out consular legalization functions.
Consular legalization of the original of the document is carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
III. What documents need to be submitted for Apostille in Azerbaijan?
The following documents should be submitted for the issuance of Apostille to the official documents:
- Petition of the person applying for the issuance of the Apostille;
- Original and copy of official document;
- Original and copy of the identification document of the person submitting the official document;
- Original and copy of the document confirming the close relationship, when the official document is presented by the close relatives;
- Original and copy of the power of attorney or letter of request;
- Receipt on payment of state fee.
The Ministry of Justice checks the documents within 5 working days after receiving, then these are being apostilled. This period can be extended for 5 days and more if additional verification needed or number of documents exceed 10 or more.
