On numerous occasions, doubts arise related to the apostille of a birth certificate. What is an apostille? What is its utility? How and where is it obtained? You will find the answers to all these questions in this article.
What is the birth certificate apostille?
To understand the birth certificate apostille, we must refer to the XII Hague Convention of October 5, 1961. Specifically, this treaty entirely abolishes the need to legalize foreign public documents. In other words, the signatory countries of the agreement accept the validity of foreign documents as if they were national, but without the need to submit them to a complex legalization process by their internal authorities. Of course, as a counterpoint, a new, much less burdensome requirement was introduced: the apostille.
The apostille consists of a procedure based on the placement of annotation (often called an apostille) on a public document placed by the authorities of the country of origin. It certifies the authenticity of the document's signature for the rest of the countries belonging to the Hague Convention.
Therefore, if you have a birth certificate apostilled by the Spanish authorities, it must be accepted as a valid document by foreign authorities. In other words, it must be admitted by the authorities of any of the 122 signatory countries of the treaty without requiring further formalities.
The apostille's importance lies in speeding up procedures before foreign administrations. If the certificate does not include an apostille, it may be inadmissible or require legalization through much more complex protocols.
Next, we will show how this certification is obtained.
How is a birth certificate apostilled?
Among the procedures that guarantee international mobility are those related to the apostille. For this reason, you need to know how to apostille a birth certificate to benefit from it.
Requirements to apostille a birth certificate
To obtain the apostille of a birth certificate, a series of requirements must be met:
- All the signatures that appear must be holographic, that is, be written in handwriting.
- The apostilled document must always be original, not on a copy, even if it is notarized.
- The document translation, if necessary, must always be carried out after the apostille.
How do you get an apostille for a birth certificate?
To obtain the apostille of a birth certificate, you must go to the competent national authority in this field and request the annotation. To do this, you will have to meet the requirements mentioned above.
Once obtained, you can present it to the foreign authorities that have required it. If these authorities belong to a signatory to the Hague Convention, they will be obliged to accept its entire validity.
Where is the birth certificate apostilled?
Usually, mistakes are made when investigating where to apostille a birth certificate. The reasons are found in the confusion that takes place between the authority that issues the document and the one that apostilles it. Every state has an authority that produces the document in question and a different one that grants the annotation.
In Spain, birth certificates are obtained from the Civil Registry where the birth of the person in question was registered. We want to clarify that this Registry is the one that delivers a copy of the valid document in the national territory, but not abroad.
Once obtained, the next step is to visit the Government Secretariat of the High Court of Justice of the Autonomous Community where the birth occurred. In other words, the Registry issues the birth certificate, and the Government Secretariat of the TSJ places the apostille.
These locations are equally applicable to the rest of the events registered in the Civil Registry: marriage and death certificates follow the same procedure to be validated abroad.
In conclusion, the birth certificate apostille will help you speed up many procedures abroad. At Lex Documents, we are experts on these procedures and know how to respond to all the needs related to this certification.
Don't hesitate to contact our experts to avoid unnecessary displacements and queues at public administrations or any other inconvenience that may arise. You can contact us by clicking here.
