Formally named “Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents,” the Hague Convention of 1961 established a way for nations to authenticate public documents without having to enact legislation. In short, public legal documents must be notarized in order to be accepted by international bodies. The procedure usually takes a long time, so for that reason, the Hague Apostille was introduced to speed up and simplify the legalization and acceptance of international documents, which is especially helpful for international business and trade.
The following countries are members of the Hague Apostille Convention:
Albania | Andorra | Antigua and Barbuda | Argentina | Armenia | Australia |
Austria | Azerbaijan | Bahamas | Bahrain | Barbados | Belarus |
Belgium | Belize | Bolivia | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Botswana | Brazil |
Brunei | Bulgaria | Burundi | Cape Verde | Chile | Colombia |
Cook Islands | Costa Rica | Croatia | Cyprus | Czech Republic | Denmark |
Dominica | Dominican Republic | Ecuador | El Salvador | Estonia | Fiji |
Finland | France | Georgia | Germany | Greece | Grenada |
Guatemala | Guyana | Honduras | Hong Kong | Hungary | Iceland |
India | Ireland | Israel | Italy | Japan | Kazakhstan |
Kosovo | Kyrgyzstan | Latvia | Lesotho | Liberia | Liechtenstein |
Lithuania | Luxembourg | Macau | Malawi | Malta | Marshall Islands |
Mauritius | Mexico | Moldova | Monaco | Mongolia | Montenegro |
Morocco | Namibia | Netherlands | New Zealand | Nicaragua | Niue |
North Macedonia | Norway | Oman | Palau | Panama | Paraguay |
Peru | Philippines | Poland | Portugal | Romania | Russia |
Saint Kitts and Nevis | Saint Lucia | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Samoa | San Marino | São Tomé and Príncipe |
Serbia | Seychelles | Slovakia | Slovenia | South Africa | South Korea |
Spain | Suriname | Swaziland | Sweden | Switzerland | Tajikistan |
Tonga | Trinidad and Tobago | Tunisia | Turkey | Ukraine | UK |
United States | Uruguay | Uzbekistan | Vanuatu | Venezuela |
You can also check for any updates to this list at The Hague Convention website .