Schmidt & Schmidt covers the full spectrum of legalization services for documents issued in Cambodia.
Cambodia has not joined the Hague Convention on the Simplified Authentication of Documents. This means that documents from Cambodia cannot be legalized by apostille, they will only be recognized abroad after they undergo consular legalization.
Consular legalization is the process of authenticating or certifying a legal document so a foreign country's legal system will recognize it as with full legal effect that is carried out by the diplomatic or consular mission of the country in which the document is to be used.
Consular legalization is more complex, time-consuming and costly than the simpler apostille procedure. Consular legalization requires several pre-certifications before a public document can be certified at the embassy or consulate of the destination country.
It is a common requirement that the document has to be translated into the official language of the destination country before submission to the embassy. It is up to the diplomatic mission to decide about the authentication procedure.
Consular legalization includes confirmation of a document by the authorized bodies of the Ministry of Justice, divisions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then by the consulate (or consular section of the embassy) of the destination country. It must be remembered that the document will have legal force only in the territory of the country whose consulate stamp is on it.
Not only documents issued in Cambodia are subject to consular legalization for their use in other countries, but also documents from other countries for their use in Cambodia.
Document Requirements for legalization in Cambodia
To obtain a consular legalization for a document in Cambodia, the following requirements generally apply:
- The document must be an original or a certified copy issued by the competent authority.
- The document should contain all relevant and accurate information.
- The document must be in the official language of the issuing country or translated into the official language of the country where the consular legalization is sought.
It is advisable to find out in advance the requirements for the legalization of your documents at the Cambodia embassy or at the place of submission of documents, especially if you want to legalize non-standard documents.
It is not possible to legalize heavily damaged, unreadable and dilapidated documents, as well as documents with corrections. In this case, you will have to get a duplicate.
Many certificates and other documents have a deadline after which you will have to re-legalize them.
If a document was issued by consular offices abroad, it cannot be legalized. It is necessary to obtain a duplicate of the document, and only then legalize it.
The following documents can be legalized:
- Extracts from the commercial register
- Certificates of civil status (certificates of birth, death, marriage and divorce)
- Education documents (school reports, certificates, diplomas)
- Court decisions
- Notarially certified copies of documents
- Notarially certified translations
- Further notarial documents (authorizations, last will, declarations)
Legalization of foreign documents for use in Cambodia
Foreign documents must be legalized before they can be used in Cambodia. The representations and embassies of Cambodia all over the world are in charge of this process.
Legalization of documents from Cambodia for use abroad
The exact legalization process of documents from Cambodia depends on the country you wish to use them in. Feel free to contact us with your request and we will do our best to assist you!
