What is
The apostille procedure consists of placing on a public document, or an extension thereof, an Apostille or annotation that will certify the authenticity of the signature of public documents issued in a country signatory to the XII Hague Convention of October 5, 1961, abolishing the requirement of Legalization of Foreign Public Documents to be effective in another country signatory thereto.
Thus, documents issued in a signatory country of the Convention that have been certified by an Apostille shall be recognized in any other country of the Convention without the need for any other type of authentication.
You can find the list of States that have acceded to the above-mentioned Convention on the website of the
Hague Conference on Private International Law.
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*In the case of the People’s Republic of China, it only applies to the territories of Macau and Hong Kong. The Agreement with Spain does not apply to Albania.
What documents can be apostilled? Public documents
– Judicial documents: Documents emanating from an authority or official linked to a State jurisdiction, including those emanating from the Public Prosecutor’s Office or from a clerk, officer or bailiff.
– Administrative documents.
– Official certifications that have been placed on private documents, such as certification of the registration of a document, certification on the certainty of a date and official and notarial authentications of signatures on documents of a private nature.
However, it shall not apply to:
– (a) documents issued by diplomatic or consular officials.
– b) administrative documents directly related to a commercial or customs operation.
– (c) documents which, in application of other
other International Conventions
c) documents which, in application of other International Conventions, are exempt from being legalized or apostilled.
The Hague Apostille may be requested by any bearer of a public document whose authenticity he/she wishes to certify.
In the case of Apostilles in electronic format, the citizen, after submitting the application to the corresponding competent authority, may download the Apostille through the Electronic Headquarters of the Ministry of Justice.
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Administrative documents that require prior recognition of signature to be apostilled: |
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| Document Type | Prior Acknowledgment of Signature by |
| Degrees and Certificates of Official University Studies. | Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport and High Inspectorates of Education in the Autonomous Communities (only in some cases), see link ). |
| Non-university degrees and official academic certifications. | Departments of Education of the Autonomous Communities. |
| Tax Agency documents. | Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations. |
| Documents from the State Public Employment Service and Social Security Entities (such as recognition of unemployment, work life, etc.). | Ministry of Employment and Social Security. |
| Non-educational documents of the Autonomous Communities. | In some cases, such as the Community of Madrid, prior recognition of signature by the Ministry of the Presidency is required. |
| Documents from Local Entities (such as census certificates). | Prior acknowledgement of signature is not required, as long as it is signed by an authority whose signature is recorded in the system, with the exception of the Madrid City Council, which requires prior acknowledgement of signature. |
| Consular documents (in its Civil Registry or Notary functions). | Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. |
| Certificates of Property, Mercantile and Movable Property Registries. | Head of the Mercantile Registry (for the Registries of Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia) or Dean President of the Association of Property, Mercantile and Movable Property Registrars of Spain. |
| Documents AENA, Merchant Marine, Flight Pilots, or ship crew. | Ministry of Public Works. |
| Bank Documents. | Current Accounts Department of the Bank of Spain. |
| Official State Gazette. | Prior recognition by the State Agency of the BOE is not required for documents issued after June 2011. |
| Documents issued by the State Security Forces and Corps. | Ministry of the Interior. |
| Documents of the Dirección General de Tráfico. | Ministry of the Interior or General Directorate of Traffic. |
| Others. | Consult the Citizen Service Center of the Ministry of Justice. |
