Apostille on a Document in Foreign Language
Apostille on a Document in Foreign Language
One of the most common questions our translation desk gets is “can you put an apostille on a document in foreign language?”
What is an apostille?
Apostilles authenticate the seals and signatures of officials on public documents such as birth certificates, court orders, or any other document issued by a public authority so that they can be recognized in foreign countries that are members of the 1961 Hague Convention Treaty.
If you have a document translated for use abroad, you can only get an apostille if it’s going to the country that signed a convention. Essentially, apostille is an international certification on top of a US notarial certificate that you would normally get.
Can a document in foreign language be notarized?
Yes! A Notary Public in the US does not need to understand the language of the document, only to know what the document is about and certify the signature of the person presenting the document. When we translate a document we certify the correctness of the contents, and then our notary validates the signature of the project manager or translator who did the work.
Now, the Secretary of State can put an apostille on the document making it valid internationally in countries that signed the convention.
Do I need anything else?
Yes. In most cases, just getting an apostille is not enough – agencies in a foreign country typically demand the entire document to be translated into their country official language, so you will need to translate and certify the apostille as well. You can read more about the process here.
We provide everything end to end, so when you bring the document to us, we will provide the full service.
Do you have questions about apostille?
Contact us today!
Our translation specialists will be happy to answer all your questions and help you with all your translation needs.
Hello
I have a question, does the apostille need to be certified after it is translated ? And if so, and that is the only step I need (not all the other steps you offer) how does one go about certifying it ?
Thanks
Paula, if you are sending your documents overseas where they require that the entire package is translated, they will most likely request that the apostille itself be translated and certified. Translation agencies usually do not certify other people’s work – they will need to run it as a regular translation job through their own translators to make sure the translation is accurate and true. We can help with the last step, but we will still need to treat it as a full translation job.
I have a apostille already and I will like to know if I need to translate it to use it in Dr
Anairis,
You don’t have to translate Apostille itself, but depending on the local requirements at the particular agency, they may want to see entire package of documents translated. You should check with the recipient agency.