Apostille from Estonia

Schmidt & Schmidt offers the legalization of documents from Estonia by apostille.

Estonia acceeded to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents in 2001. Therefore, there is no diplomatic authentication or consular legalization of public documents from Estonia required for the 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.

Responsible for issuing the apostille are the following institutions:

• Ministry of Education for documents issued by education institutions
• Ministry of Justice for judicial documents
• Ministry of Domestic Affairs
• Ministry of Social Affairs
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs for other documents.

Since 2010, notaries public of Estonia have had the right to certify public documents with the apostille. For that, a written application must be submitted to a public notary's office along with the underlying public document.

From January 1st, 2015, only a sworn translator can make a certified translation from Estonian in Estonia. Until 2020, Estonian notaries will retain the right to certify translations into Estonian. However, from 2020 on, solely sworn translators will be eligible to certify translations.

Documents issued by the official authorities of the Republic of Estonia drawn up in Estonian or English can be apostillized.

The process of legalization of documents in the Republic of Estonia includes the authentication of the origin of the document and that the authority of the officials who have affixed the signature, seal or stamp on the document. After such verification, a special stamp - the apostille - is affixed to the public document. Usually the apostille is placed on the back of the underlying public document or on a separate attached page.

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 following documents can be authenticated by apostille:

• Certificates of civil status (certificates of birth, death, marriage and divorce)
• Education documents (school reports, certificates, diplomas)
• Extracts from the commercial register
• 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.)

For graduation diplomas issued after 1997, a state examination certificate must be attached. From June 15, 2009 on, the state examination certificates are issued online as an e-certificate. Public notaries can print out these certificates.

Certificates of marriage issued between 1941 and 1992 can not be legalized by apostille. If you wish to get an apostille for such certificate, it is necessary to apply for the issuance of a new one.

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.

Should you require company information for the court, it needs to be legalized as well. We are therefore offering extracts from the commercial register of Estonia including apostillization and translation.

On average, it takes 14 days to process the documents.

Courier services are charged and invoiced separately according to the courier service’s rates.

You can pay for our services by PayPal, bank transfer or credit card.