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 legalisation and the apostille.
Legalisation
The legalisation is a more extensive procedure and is carried out by German embassies and consulates. In addition, in most countries, the legalisation of documents is only possible if they have first been certified by the Foreign Ministry or other authorities in the country of issue.
Legalisation 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 legalisation procedure can be obtained from the German mission abroad responsible for the area in which the document was issued.
In some cases, legalisation is not required due to international agreements, and an apostille is sufficient.
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.
In addition to the Apostille, there are other international agreements and contracts that eliminate the need for legalisation and enable documents to be recognised without additional certification:
EU Apostille Regulation 2016/1191
This regulation removes the requirement for legalisation or apostille certification for certain public documents to be presented to the authorities of another EU member state.
CIEC Conventions
Under conventions by the International Commission on Civil Status (CIEC), civil status documents and marital eligibility certificates are recognised between member states without additional certification.
Bilateral international treaties
There are also 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 legalisation.
Whether legalisation is required or whether you can take advantage of international agreements and contracts depends on the regulations that exist between the country of issue of the document 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