The Apostille of The Hague is an administrative procedure through which a foreign citizen can legalize in their country of residence the academical or professionals titles or legal documents obtained in their country of origin. The procedure by which the Apostille of The Hague is completed consists of an annotation on the title or as a continuation of the legal document to be regularized by the applicant.

This annotation confirms de facto the authenticity of the document provided and grants it validity in the country of residence of the applicant, as long as both the country of origin and the country of residence are signatories of the 1961 Treaty of The Hague. Only citizens of countries that have signed this treaty can apply for the Apostille of The Hague.

Apart from this essential consideration, you should bear in mind the following issues to avoid having your Apostille request rejected: :

• Documents issued by consular or diplomatic officials will not be accepted.
• Documents of a commercial or customs nature will not be valid and cannot be apostilled.
• Documents that can be legalized under other international conventions or treaties cannot be apostilled.
• The documents on which the Apostille of The Hague can be completed must always be either of a public nature, whether legal or administrative, or official certifications of private documents, such as notarial authentications of signatures.

It’s important to know where you should present your application for the Apostille of the Hague. In the case of Spain:

• Administrative documents can be presented at any of the Territorial and Delegate Offices of the Ministry of Justice, as well as at the Central Office.
• Notarial documents and official certifications must be presented before the Chamber of Notaries or, where appropriate, before the notaries in whom they delegate.
• Finally, those applicants who must submit judicial documents issued by the National High Court or the Supreme Court must do so before the Secretaries of Government of the respective courts, or before those in whom they delegate.

Bearing these points in mind should help avoid documents being lost, applications being rejected, or being forced to reapply.

For more information about how to apply for the Apostille of The Hague, we recommend visiting the Ministry of Justice website, where you will find a list of the documents required.

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