An Apostille can refer to a marginal annotation or an international certificate that acts as a substitute for another document. It is valid in 87 countries and is useful for submitting legal paperwork. It must contain ten pieces of information to be considered valid.
An Apostille or Apostille can describe two things in the English language. In its original meaning it was sometimes referred to as a postil and came into the English language from the French verb apostiller, to annotate. In this primary context it means a marginal annotation or gloss of a religious text, usually one of the four canonical books of the New Testament, a homily or an epistle. However, the context in which this sense of the word has been used has widened in recent times and it is now commonly used to describe the marginalia, annotation, textual gloss or commentary on any text, religious or secular.
In its secondary meaning, the word Apostille describes an international certificate which acts in place of another document and which has legal personality among all signatories to the Hague Convention on the Abolition of the Obligation to Convey Foreign Public Documents, approved on 5 October 1961. The Apostille eliminates the need to bring and submit original paperwork and is especially useful when a citizen of a foreign country needs to submit legal paperwork or documents to a local government or bureaucratic body. Under the terms of the Hague Convention, an Apostille is now valid in 87 countries, of which the United States of America is one, and has jurisdiction over all territories and possessions belonging to a signatory to the convention.
Documents that often require an Apostille include birth, marriage and death certificates, divorce papers, company registration documents, academic qualification certificates, and certified translations of documents bearing the signature and seals of a notary or solicitor. An Apostille confirming a divorce certificate, for example, would need to be issued to someone who wishes to remarry in a second country to a foreign national before the ceremony can take place.
An Apostille must contain ten pieces of information to be considered valid. These data are: the country of issue, the name of the signatory, the quality in which the signatory signed the document, details of the relevant seals and stamps on the document, the place of issue, the date of issue, the issue of the issuing authority, the certificate number, the seal or stamp of the issuing authority and, finally, the signature of the representative of the issuing authority. In the United States, Apostilles are generally issued and affixed by the Secretary of State in the issuing state or territory.
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