Authentication of documents - apostille, superlegalization
Foreign official documents are recognized in the Czech Republic if attested by an APOSTILLE or authenticated by SUPERLEGALIZATION. Authentication of foreign documents for the use in another country is done as an official confirmation that the document has been issued by a competent authority and that it bears genuine stamps, seals and signatures. The level of authentication (apostille vs superlegalization) depends on the country that issued the document and the country where the document is to be used.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - APOSTILLE
Both the Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia are signatories of the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalisation of Foreign Public Documents.
Documents issued by the authorities of Saudi Arabia are valid in Czech Republic after they have been legalised by the Saudi authorities with an Apostille (the Apostille authentication must mention the "Hague Convention of 5 October 1961"). No further legalisation by the Embassy of the Czech Republic is required.
For more information on legalisation of Saudi documents with the Hague Apostille, contact the Saudi authorities directly: https://www.mofa.gov.sa/en/Pages/contacts.aspx
Kingdom of Bahrain - APOSTILLE
Both the Czech Republic and Bahrain are signatories of the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalisation of Foreign Public Documents.
Documents issued by the authorities of Bahrain are valid in the Czech Republic after they have been legalised by the Bahraini authorities with an Apostille (the Apostille authentication must mention the "Hague Convention of 5 October 1961"). No further legalisation by the Embassy of the Czech Republic is required.
For more information on legalisation of Bahraini documents with the Hague Apostille, contact the Bahraini authorities directly: https://www.mofa.gov.bh/Consular/Legalization/tabid/151/language/en-US/Default.aspx
Sultanate of Oman - APOSTILLE
Both the Czech Republic and Oman are signatories of the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalisation of Foreign Public Documents.
Documents issued by the authorities of Oman are valid in the Czech Republic after they have been legalised by the Omani authorities with an Apostille (the Apostille authentication must mention the "Hague Convention of 5 October 1961"). No further legalisation by the Embassy of the Czech Republic is required.
For more information on legalisation of Omani documents with the Hague Apostille, contact the Omani authorities directly: https://www.hcch.net/en/states/authorities/details3/?aid=904
Note: On 23 March 2021, the Government of Oman declared on the Apostille Convention that the provisions of the Convention do not apply to commercial and customs documents, whatever their type, origin or value, nor do they apply to documents issued by Diplomatic or Consular Agents. In these cases, it is necessary to proceed through the superlegalization.
Republic of Yemen - SUPERLEGALIZATION
The Convention between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the People´s Democratic Republic of Yemen on Legal Assistance in Civil and Criminal Matters (Prague, 19 January 1989) which recognized documents without further verification has been suspended on 11 April, 2019. Since then all Yemeni Documents need to be "superlegalized".
- First, the document needs to be attested by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Yemen in Aden (only the internationally recognized government);
- then the document needs to be „superlegalized“ by the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Riyadh.
The Czech Republic acknowledges only the internationally recognized Government of the Republic of Yemen and therefore can authenticate only documents issued by its authorities. Documents issued by the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen in Riyadh cannot be used for the Czech authorities, as this embassy is not accredited for the Czech Republic.
Other countries - kindly contact us for verification of the correct procedure.
Czech Republic - Czech public documents to be used abroad
- APOSTILLE - there are two Czech authorities entitled to issue Apostilles, one being the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic in case of judicial documents, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in case of any other documents.
- SUPERLEGALIZATION - the final Czech authentication stamp is attached by the Legalization Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic (depending on the nature of the document previous authentication stamps may be needed by Ministry of Justice/Education , etc.). Next, the superlegatization stamp of the Embassy of the country where the Czech public document is to be used needs to be arranged.