Apostille

A special seal applied by an authority to certify that a document is a true copy of an original. Anyone wanting an apostille must go to a public notary with the document for signing and notarisation. The document is then passed to an apostille who will than certify that everything is true and correct. In this way, the apostille is a verification of the notary. An apsotille certificate usually uses a stamp of signature and seals to authenticate the document.

Apostilles are available in countries that have signed the 'Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization of Foreign Public Documents', otherwise known as The Hague Convention. This convention, created in 1961, replaces the time consuming chain certification process used so far, where an applicant had to go to four different authorities to get a document certified.