Legalization

Enlarge image (© Radium Images) Foreign documents or certificates are often only recognized by the authorities of a state if their authenticity and evidentiary value has been determined by a special procedure. A range of internationally accepted procedures has been developed for this purpose. In most cases, documents which are to be used in legal procedures in Germany have to be proven authentic through means of either an apostille or a legislation.

An “apostille” is a certificate of authenticity issued by a designated authority in a contracting state to The Hague Convention on Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents of 5 October 1961. Canada, unlike Germany, is not a contracting state to this convention.Thus apostilles cannot be issued for Canadian documents. Canadian public documents or certificates to be used in Germany need to be "legalized".

The term "legalization" refers to the confirmation of authenticity of a foreign public document or certificate by a competent consular official of the state in which the document is to be used, i.e. the legalization of a marriage certificate issued by the Province of Ontario, which is to be used in Germany will be legalized by the German Consulate General in Toronto.

For the legalization of German documents you wish to use in Canada please contact the Canadian Embassy in Berlin or the administration in Germany that issued the document.

The information provided below is detailed for the different types of Canadian documents or certificates which are typically legalized by the German Embassy or Consulates.

Please follow the link to the document you would like to obtain a legalization for:

Legalization proceedings of Canadian civil status certificates (e.g. birth, marriage or death certificates) issued by Vital Statistics
Legalization proceedings of signatures of / documents issued by Canadian Lawyers or Notaries Public
Legalization proceedings of Canadian tribunal documents (e.g. Divorce Decree)