Prerequisites
- You need the confirmation of authenticity for a document from the Hamburg Regional Court or for a private law document that has been certified by a Hamburg notary.
- Your document was signed by an employee of the Hamburg Regional Court or
- Your document has been certified by a notary public sworn in Hamburg.
Documents required
- The documents to be legalized or apostilled
- original certificates or original documents
Please note
For countries that have acceded to the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961, Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (BGBL.II 1965 p. 876), you need an apostille. You can find out which countries these are in detail on the website of the Federal Foreign Office, see link.
Documents intended for other (non-joined) countries are certified, known as legalization. The final certification is then carried out by a consular officer at the foreign representation of the country in which you need the document.
Legalization is a confirmation of the authenticity of a foreign document by the consular officer of the state in which the document is to be used.
The apostille is also a confirmation of the authenticity of a document, but unlike legalization, it is issued by an authority in the state in which the document was issued.
Deadlines
Apply for the confirmation of authenticity early.
To ensure the validity of the confirmation of authenticity (apostille/legalization), find out from the submitting authority abroad (embassy, authority abroad) how old it may be.
The competent authority is not aware of the sovereign provisions of the respective country in this regard.
