Schmidt & Schmidt will assist you in legalizing your public documents from Brazil by apostille.
Brazil acceded to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents in 2016. Therefore, no diplomatic authentication or consular legalization of documents from Brazil is needed for successful legal communication with other member states of the Convention. The documents only need to be attested by an apostille certificate with an "apostille" stamp on it by the issuing state's authorities in order to be valid in the state of destination.
The apostille is a stamp of rectangular shape. It should be filled in in the official language of the issuing authority. The heading "Apostille (Convention de la Haye du 5 octobre 1961)" written in French is a necessary requirement for the apostille's validity.
The competent authority for the apostille in Brazil is the National Justice Council (CNJ), whereas local notaries in all 5560 municipalities are authorized to issue the apostille.
Documents drawn up in Portuguese and issued by the authorities and other authorized structures in Brazil can be legalized by the apostille.
During the legalization process in Brazil the origin and authenticity of a document should be checked. According to this procedure, a special certificate is issued, which is attached to the document.
Apostille in Brazil is a square certificate with a page size of at least 9 centimeters in Portuguese, English and French, which contains the mandatory heading "Apostille" and a reference to the Hague Convention of 1961 in French (Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961). The content of the stamp is prescribed by the Hague Convention.
The following documents can be authenticated by apostille:
- Certificates of civil status (certificates of birth, death, marriage and divorce)
- Education documents (school reports, certificates, diplomas)
- Trade register excerpts
- Court decisions
- Notarially certified copies of documents
- Notarially certified translations
- Further notarial documents (authorizations, last will, declarations)
- Commercial documents legalized by a state registration body (articles of incorporation, registration certificates, tax registrations etc.)
Requirements for the documents:
The apostille can be exclusively issued for the original document. Therefore, the latter must be presented in good condition, with all stamps and signatures clear and readable. Furthermore, it should not contain alien markings or labels.
Additional services
In addition to the legalization of your public documents, we can provide you with high-quality translations.
IShould you require company information for use in court, it needs to be legalized as well. We are therefore offering extracts from the commercial register of Brazil including apostille certification and translation.
Working with us is easy and convenient!
On average, processing the documents takes up to 14 days.
