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Authentication & apostiles
Different countries want to be sure about the status of the other country’s documents. Authentications and apostilles are used to establish this with an official stamp.
An apostille is a standardized statement replacing an often cumbersome authentication procedure. Only countries that are members of the Apostille Convention can use apostilles.
Sometimes a sworn translation is not enough and the authenticity of the sworn translator’s signature has to be confirmed with an apostille.
An apostille is placed by the Clerk of the Court where the translator’s signature is filed. This is placed on a translation with a statement, a signature and the official stamp of the translator.
With the statement the translator indicates that the translation is a truthful representation of the source language translated into the target language of the original attached text.
If a country is not a member of the Apostille Convention, an official document that you want to use in that country has to be authenticated. The authentication procedure depends on the document.
Authentication is an extensive process to establish that a document was issued by a competent party and that the signature on the document is in fact that of the signatory.
If a country is a signatory of the Apostille Convention, an apostille will suffice. This is a quicker procedure and requires no further authentication.
