Apostille and Legalization FAQs

Apostille is the legalization of the signature of a public officer that validates a document, which must be registered in the database of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the competent entity in the country where it was issued. An apostille certifies the legitimacy of the signature of the public official stamped on the document, but does not certify its content. A document must be apostilled when the country in which it will take effect is part of the 1961 Convention on the Abolition of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents of the Hague.

Hague member countries:

APOSTILLE COUNTRIES

Legalization consists of certifying the legitimacy of the signature of a public officer in the exercise of their functions, when it has not been previously registered in the database of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or the competent entity of the country where it was issued, in order to make the document internationally valid. Legalization certifies the legitimacy of the signature of the public official stamped on the document, but does not certify its content. A document requires legalization when the country where it was issued, or the country where it will take effect, is not part of the 1961 Convention on the Abolition of the Legalization Requirement for Foreign Public Documents of the Hague.

Legalization may also be imposed on private documents. In Colombia, signatures on private documents must be recognized by a notary public, whose signature, in turn, must be registered in the database of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia.

Non-Hague member countries:

LEGALIZATION COUNTRIES