Long legalisation procedure

The "long legalisation procedure" usually applies to the use of a document in countries not party to the apostille convention. First, the notary issues the certified copy or legalises a signature. Then it is necessary for the notary's signature to be legalised by the court, after which the signature of the court employee must be legalised at the Consular Services Centre of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then the document has to go to the Embassy (or Consulate) of the country for which the document is intended, where an embassy employee legalises the final signature on the document one last time.

We take care of such a process in many cases, but you can also do the journey to the court, ministry and embassy yourself. Be aware that legalisation at the embassy in particular can be very expensive. Amounts of €1,000 or more are not strange for this final stamp.