An apostille certificate is a specialised certificate attached to your original documents to verify their legitimacy and authenticity so they can be used for legal purposes in member countries of the Hague Convention (nicknamed the Apostille Convention for our purposes). Often, our clients request apostilles for old documents, but documents older than twenty (or even ten) years are challenging or impossible to get apostilled.
The Apostille Convention created a simplified method of legalising documents for universal recognition. If you plan on using your documents in countries that are members of the Apostille Convention, an apostille can be done on most documents without the need for notarisation.
What documents can be apostilled?
Any document you intend on using for leisure or business travel may need to be apostilled if you are travelling to a member country of the Hague Convention. This includes documents such as:
- Police Clearance Certificates (we can obtain this for you fast, see pricing)
- Birth Certificates (we can obtain this for you, see pricing)
- Marriage Certificates (we can obtain this for you, see pricing)
- Death Certificates (we can obtain this for you, see pricing)
- Letter of No Impediment to be married abroad (we can obtain this for you, see pricing)
- Divorce Decrees (we can obtain this for you, see pricing)
- Background Check
- Single Status Affidavit
- Power of Attorney
- Copy of Passport
- Copy of Driver’s License
- Transcripts
- Authorisation Letter
- Travel Consent Letter
- Articles of Incorporation
- Certificate of Good Standing
- Certification of Free Sale
- Certification of Origin
- Corporate Power of Attorney
- Commercial Invoice
My documents are older than 2 years. Can I still have them apostilled?
The most important thing when it comes to apostilles is the official signature on a legal document.
Over time, government officials leave their positions, and as such, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) no longer recognise the signatures on these documents. In essence, an apostille verifies the official stamp and signature on a document. If DIRCO does not recognize the signature on such documents, they cannot apostille it.
Documents that were issued in the past year or two can always be apostilled. If your documents are between two and five years old, they will almost certainly be apostilled. Things get a little trickier when documents are up to ten years old. And if your documents are in the range of 20 years old, getting apostilles for old documents may not be possible at all.
Although Apostil.co.za has, in an extremely rare case, assisted a client with obtaining an apostille for a document issued in 1969, this is absolutely not the norm. Our advice to our clients is to be careful when submitting documents for apostille purposes if they were issued prior to the year 2000.
Although DIRCO might have accepted older and even hand-written documents in the past, they are much more stringent with their requirements lately. Where possible, we urge clients to have their documents apostilled as soon as possible after obtaining them. Any service for a document which DIRCO refuses to apostille is completed at the risk of the client.
Need assistance with apostilles?
Apostil.co.za specialises in providing assistance with document legalisation. We can assist you with apostilles for old documents too. Our service is fast, convenient, and saves you time.
We can also help you obtain a new document in the event that it is too old to be accepted by DIRCO for an apostille. For more details on pricing and turnaround times, please get in touch with our team today!
