We specialise in legalising all South African public, company, commercial, and educational documents at Embassies and Consulates of foreign countries represented or located in South Africa and elsewhere. If the foreign country in which you require your South African public, commercial or educational document to operate is not a country which is a signatory to The Hague convention, only its Embassy, Consulate, diplomatic or trade representative in South Africa can legalise your document. Apostille Certificates are unacceptable in countries which have not ratified the Hague Convention.
In most cases, your South African public document needs first to be authenticated by the South African Government before acceptance for legalisation by an Embassy or Consulate, and this is achieved by the issue of an Authentication Certificate stamped or attached to it. Embassy or Consulate legalisation is a complex, difficult and sometimes expensive legal process. Each Embassy or Consulate has its peculiar opening hours, rules, procedures, guidelines, and fees payable, all of which you must deal with to legalise your Australian document for use in their country. It is a tricky and sometimes costly exercise to conduct on your own.
It may require a written translation of the contents of a document from the English language into their country's own language, and that such translation be authenticated by the South African Government.
Some countries require a Chamber of Commerce Certificate affixed to commercial documents as well as authentication.
Other countries, especially Middle Eastern Arab states, charge huge fees to legalise commercial documents and are closed on their national holidays and religious days.
