Over-authentication of civil status documents

A civil status certificate issued by the registry office of the pilgrimage town of Kevelaer that you wish to use abroad may require legalization in individual cases. The legalization is carried out in the form of an apostille or legalization. The apostille is issued by the Düsseldorf District Government, Department 21, Am Bonneshof 35 in 40474 Düsseldorf (telephone: 0 21 14 75 20 23) for documents issued by the registry office of the pilgrimage town of Kevelaer. Below you will find the explanations of terms.

Source: Federal Foreign Office Berlin:

Apostille on German civil status documents:

"In contracting states to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents of 5 October 1961, the otherwise required legalization is replaced by the so-called Hague Apostille."

The apostille confirms the authenticity of a public document, which must be presented in the original. For German documents, the apostille is issued by a designated German authority. The foreign representation of the country in which the document is to be used does not need to be involved.

The agreement applies to the following countries in relation to Germany (as of August 2016):

Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium*, Belize, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, China (only for documents from the Special Administrative Regions Hong Kong and Macau), Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Denmark* (except Greenland and Faroe Islands), Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France*, Georgia, Grenada, Greece*, Honduras, Ireland, Iceland, Israel, Italy*, Japan, Cape Verde, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Croatia, Lesotho, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg*, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Macedonia, Mexico, Monaco, Montenegro, Namibia, New Zealand (excluding Tokelau), Nicaragua, Netherlands (also for Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten and the Caribbean part of the country, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba), Niue, Norway, Oman, Austria*, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Sweden, Switzerland*, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, South Korea, Suriname, Swaziland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Czech Republic, Turkey, Ukraine, Hungary, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, United Kingdom (also for Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Saint Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands), United States, Cyprus.

* There are additional bilateral agreements with these countries (see Section II) which provide for the waiver of all formalities, including the apostille, for certain documents.

Albania, Azerbaijan, Burundi, Dominican Republic, India, Kyrgyzstan, Kosovo, Liberia, Moldova, Mongolia, Paraguay, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have also acceded to the Apostille Convention. However, Germany has lodged an objection to the accession of these countries, meaning that the Convention does not apply between Germany and these countries.

Legalization of German public documents

German documents that are not subject to the Apostille Convention can be legalized. You can find out whether legalization is required from the foreign office to which the German document is to be submitted. Legalization is carried out by the diplomatic or consular mission of the foreign country concerned in Germany.

How the foreign representation obtains certainty about the authenticity of the document is at its discretion.
If it does not itself always keep up-to-date specimen signatures and seals from all the relevant authorities for comparison purposes or consult the registers of the document issuer for each legalization, the foreign representation must develop auxiliary procedures. This is especially true in a country like Germany, where the number of document authorities is difficult to keep track of, especially for the representations of foreign countries. Usually, a preliminary legalization of the document by German authorities is required for this purpose, occasionally also a further legalization, which is referred to as final legalization or also as over-certification. You can obtain binding information on the requirements for legalization and the fees from the relevant foreign representation in Germany.

The information is provided without guarantee, as changes in international agreements and relations with other countries can occur at any time