If you are abroad and need to have your signature on a document witnessed for use in Israel or you have an official document such as a birth or death certificate which needs to be validated for use in Israel, there are two options:

  1. to have the document or your signature validated by the local Israeli consulate
  2. to use a local notary and then to have the document legalised by Apostille certification.

The Apostille is a form of international document verification recognised by those countries who are signatories to the relevant Hague Convention dating from 1961. Such countries include the UK, Israel, Australia and the USA.

Legalisation by Apostille involves the appropriate authority in your country attaching a certificate to a public document which contains the following information:

  1. the name of country from which the document emanates;
  2. the name of person signing the document and the capacity in which they are signing;
  3. in the case of unsigned documents, the name of the authority which has affixed the seal or stamp;
  4. the place and date of certification;
  5. the authority issuing the certificate;
  6. the number of certificate;
  7. the seal or stamp and the signature of the authority issuing certificate;

Procedure

This varies from country to country and in the United Kingdom is carried out by the legalisation department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The usual method of obtaining an Apostille is through your solicitor or a local notary.

Our office can also provide recommendations of firms previously used by our clients.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.