Recognition of Foreign Public Certificates
Foreign public documents are often only recognised by German authorities if their authenticity has been confirmed.
Please note that this article only offers a simplified guide and serves to provide a basic understanding of the necessary evidence. For more information, we recommend the English article on the website of the Federal Foreign Office or the more detailed German article (section: ‘Ausländische öffentliche Urkunden zur Verwendung in Deutschland’).
If you wish to use foreign public documents in Germany, it is often necessary to confirm their authenticity. Public documents include, for example:
- personal status documents (marriage, civil partnership, birth and death certificates)
- registration, residence or celibacy certificates
- testimonials, excerpts from the commercial register or similar documents.
Two common procedures for the certification of such documents are legalization and the apostille.
A foreign document can be certified by the German embassy or consulate in the country in which it was issued (legalization). In some cases, however, this is not necessary because international agreements have eliminated the need for legalisation, and an apostille is sufficient instead.
Whether a legalisation, an apostille or another procedure is required depends on the country of origin of the document.
Legalization
The legalization is a more extensive procedure in which the document is first certified by an authority in the country of issue (e.g. the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). It is then legislated by the German embassy or consulate.
Legalization confirms the authenticity of signatures and seals, but requires additional verification by the mission abroad, which makes the process more time-consuming.
More detailed information on the legalization procedure can be obtained from the German mission abroad responsible for the area in which the document was issued.
Hague apostille
The Hague apostille is a simplified form of authentication of documents and is used within the member states of the Hague Convention. An apostille confirms the authenticity of signatures, stamps or seals on a document so that it is directly recognised in another member state. The involvement of the German diplomatic mission is therefore not required.
The apostille is issued by an authorised authority in the country of issue of the document.
CIEC Conventions
In addition to the apostille and legalization, there is also the CIEC Conventions (International Commission on Civil Status Conventions).
This means that civil status documents and marriage certificates are recognised between member states without additional legalisation.
Bilateral international treaties
In addition to the procedures mentioned above, there are bilateral international treaties that can be concluded between two countries and that can simplify the exchange of documents. Such treaties may provide for the mutual recognition of certain documents without further legalization.
Whether you can use an apostille, legalization, a CIEC document or the advantages of a bilateral treaty depends on the regulations between the country of issue and Germany. You can find overviews of the countries on the website of the Federal Foreign Office in the respective sections on the various procedures.
Answers to frequently asked questions
On the website of the Federal Foreign Office you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions about the use of documents (in German only). The answers have been formulated in such a way that as few legal terms as possible are used to make them easier to understand: FAQ: Urkundenverkehr – Auswärtiges Amt