Schmidt & Schmidt offers the legalization of documents from Saba by apostille.
Saba as a special municipality of the Netherlands acceded to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents in 1967, the Convention entered into force on April 30, 1967. Therefore, no diplomatic authentication or consular legalization of documents from Saba 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.
In Saba, the governor is the competent authority for the apostille. Public documents from Saba have full legal effect in the Netherlands without the apostille.
All public documents drawn up in English or Dutch and issued in Saba by the officials of Saba are eligible for the certification by apostille.
Legalizing public documents in Saba implies authenticating the origin of the document and 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 or its certified copy. The apostille is usually placed on the back of the underlying public document or on a separate attached page.
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)
- Excerpts from the commercial register
- Court decisions
- Notarially certified copies of documents
- Notarially certified translations
- Further notarial documents (power of attorney, 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 underlying document must be presented in good condition, with all stamps and signatures clear and readable. Furthermore, it should not contain alien markings or labels.
On average, processing the documents takes up to 14 days.
