How to legalize documents abroad?

If the country you are submitting a document is not a member of the Hague Convention, then you are required to legalize the documents.

It is carried out:

• on the territory of Kazakhstan - Consular Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Astana city), representative office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Almaty city
• Abroad – at the foreign consulates of the Republic of Kazakhstan (consulates).

• The original documents and their notary certified copies are accepted for legalization.
• The documents issued by the foreign organizations and institutions must be translated into the state or Russian language and certified by the translator or organization that provides translation services.
• Documents certified by notaries of the Republic of Kazakhstan and intended for execution of actions outside the Republic of Kazakhstan must comply with the requirements established by Chapter 10 of the Rules for notarial proceedings, approved by the order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated January 31, 2012 No. 32.

The following is not subject for legalization:

1. documents that do not have signature and seal of an authorized person;
2. notary certified copies and translations of documents, if the original document does not have the signature and seal of an authorized person;
3. electronic documents;
4. the original documents certifying the identity, except for the birth certificates.

Convention that abolishes mandatory consular legalization of foreign official documents

The Republic of Kazakhstan is a party to the Hague Convention of 1961, which abolishes mandatory consular legalization of foreign official documents.

In accordance with the Convention, documents made by the competent authorities of one state, and intended for use in the territory of another state that is a member of the Hague Convention, are stamped "apostille". Documents certified by an apostille in one of the states participating in the Convention are accepted in another state participating in the Convention without any restrictions.

Countries that acceded to the Hague Convention in 1961:

Australia	Malta
Austria	Marshall Islands
Azerbaijan	Mexico
Albania	Moldova
Andorra	Monaco
Antigua and Barbuda	Mongolia
Argentina	Montserrat (UK)
Armenia	Morocco
Aruba ( Nid .)	Isle of Man (UK)
Bahamas	Namibia
Barbados	Netherlands Antilles ( Nid .)
Bahrain	The Netherlands
Belize	Nicaragua
Belarus	Niue
Belgium	New Zealand
Bermuda Islands (British)	New Caledonia (Fr.)
Bulgaria	Norway
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Oman
Botswana	Island of Kuka
Brazil	Panama
British Antarctic Territory (Brit.)	Paraguay
British Virgin Islands (Brit.)	Peru
Brunei Darussalam	Poland
Bulgaria	Portugal
Burundi	Puerto Rico
Vanuatu	Reunion (Fr.)
Great Britain and its subordinate territories	Russian Federation
Hungary	Romania
Venezuela	El Salvador
Virgin Islands (USA)	Samoa
Eastern Samoa (USA)	San Marino
Guadeloupe (Fr.)	Sao Tome and Principe
Guyana (Fr.)	Swaziland
Germany	St. Helena , island (Brit.)
Guernsey (UK)	Northern Mariana Islands (USA)
Gibraltar (UK)	Seychellois
Honduras	Saint Pierre and Miquelon (Fr.)
Hong Kong (special administration of China Xiangnan)	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Grenada	Saint Kitts and Nevis
Greece	Saint Lucia
Georgia	Serbia
Guam (USA)	Saint Lucia
Denmark	Serbia
Jersey	United States of America
Dominica	Suriname
Dominican Republic	Slovakia
Israel	Slovenia
India	Tajikistan
Ireland	Tongo
Iceland	Trinidad and Tobago
Spain	Turkey
Italy	Turks and Caicos (UK)
Cape Verde	Uzbekistan
Kazakhstan China	Ukraine
Cyprus	Wallis and Futuna (Fr.)
Kyrgyzstan	Uruguay
Colombia	Fiji
Republic of Korea	Finland
Costa Rica	Falkland Islands (Malvinas) (Brit.)
Kosovo	France
Latvia	French Polynesia (Fr.)
Lesotho	Croatia
Liberia	Montenegro
Lithuania	Czech Republic
Liechtenstein	Switzerland
Luxembourg	Sweden
Mauritius	Ecuador
in Mayotte	Estonia
Macau (special administration of Macau, China)	South African Republic
Macedonia	Japan
Malawi	Singapore

To complete the legalization of documents, the following documents shall be submitted to the Consular Service Department:

For the natural person:

1. application in any form;
2. a copy of identity document (the original for the purpose of verification) or an electronic document from the digital document service;
3. a document to be legalized;
4. a document confirming the payment of consular fee;
5. a copy of the document confirming the power of attorney (the original for the purpose of verification) (when submitting the documents by a legal representative or an authorized person with the power of attorney on behalf of the owner of the document being legalized).

For the legal entity:

1. an application in any form;
2. a copy of the document certifying the identity of authorized person (the original for the purpose of verification) or an electronic document from the digital documents service;
3. a document to be legalized;
4. an original document confirming the payment of consular fee.
5. information from "electronic government" information system, confirming state registration (re-registration) of legal entity or another document confirming legal capacity of legal entity (for foreign citizens);
6. a copy of the document confirming the power of attorney (the original for the purpose of verification) (when submitting the documents by a legal representative or an authorized person with the power of attorney on behalf of the owner of the document being legalized).