For various reasons, around one hundred countries and jurisdictions have still not acceded to the 1961 Hague Convention. They neither issue apostilles nor accept foreign apostilled documents within their territories. What should be done in the case of such jurisdictions? Schmidt & Schmidt explains.
What is an apostille and why is it needed?
In early July 2026, two important events related to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, also known as the Apostille Convention, took place. Thailand acceded to the Convention, while Algeria began fully implementing it within its territory. These developments were accompanied by extensive negotiations, reforms, and public awareness campaigns. But why is the apostille so important?
As Schmidt & Schmidt previously explained, with the emergence of the first official documents, humanity faced the fact that using them outside the country of issuance was quite problematic. Foreign authorities may refuse to accept documents issued abroad for political reasons or simply because their authenticity cannot be verified.
At a certain stage, consular legalization became the universal solution to the challenges associated with the use of national documents abroad. This is a complex, multi-stage procedure requiring the document to be certified first by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or another competent authority of the issuing country, and then by the consulate or consular section of the embassy of the receiving state.
In many cases, the document must first be certified, and after certification at the national level, an official translation must be prepared. As a result, consular legalization requires visits to at least two or three authorities, payment of multiple fees, and translation of the document itself (in some cases, even twice). It is time-consuming, expensive, and complicated.
To simplify the process, the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents was signed in 1961. Under this international treaty, in order to use a document issued in one of the Convention's contracting states within the territory of all other contracting states, it is sufficient to obtain an apostille.
If a state does not wish to accept apostilles from a particular country, it may lodge an objection to that country's participation in the Convention or make a special declaration. In such cases, the apostille procedure will not apply between those specific states.
The apostille procedure is clearly more convenient than consular legalization. However, for various political and legal reasons, many countries, including major states, refrained from acceding to the Hague Convention for a long time. Recently, however, the world has witnessed a genuine boom in the use of apostilles.
In 2019, the Convention entered into force for the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and the Philippines; in 2020, for Palau and Jamaica; in 2022, for Indonesia and Saudi Arabia; in 2023, for Senegal, Pakistan, and China; in 2024, for Rwanda and Canada; and in 2025, for Bangladesh. As mentioned above, Thailand has now become a party to the Convention, while Algeria has begun implementing it.
Which countries do not accept apostilles and why?
There are more than two hundred states and jurisdictions in the world that possess attributes of statehood. However, only 130 of them have acceded to the Apostille Convention to date.
Several major countries—such as China, Canada, and Saudi Arabia—have only recently become parties to the Convention. For decades, they relied on the consular legalization procedure because they were unable to resolve certain legal issues. For example, the Canadian authorities struggled for many years to allocate responsibilities in the field of apostille issuance, and even after joining the Convention, the country's apostille system has remained relatively complex and cumbersome.
A number of countries that play an important role in the global economy still do not use apostilles. Among them, the countries of the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region occupy a special place, including:
- United Arab Emirates;
- Qatar;
- Kuwait;
- Egypt;
- Iran;
- Lebanon;
- Malaysia.
The UAE is a major international financial hub and a leading oil exporter. Kuwait and Qatar are also key players in the global hydrocarbon market. Malaysia has significant industrial potential, while Egypt is one of the world's leading tourist destinations.
Political conservatism and diplomatic tensions with some of the Convention's member states have long prevented these countries from introducing the apostille procedure. However, the situation may soon change. Malaysia and Egypt are already engaged in substantive negotiations on the issue. In Iran, the matter is also on the agenda and is closely linked to the possible lifting of international sanctions.
In the Americas, only two states—Cuba and Haiti—as well as one dependent territory, Greenland, have not acceded to the Convention. The Cuban authorities, whose citizens frequently work and study abroad, have already raised the issue of introducing the apostille system, and it may be resolved in the near future.
Among the internationally recognized post-Soviet republics, Turkmenistan remains the only country that has not yet become a party to the Convention, largely due to the conservative policies of its authorities.
The largest concentration of countries that do not use apostilles is found in Africa. Even major and internationally active states such as Angola, Nigeria, Kenya, and Tanzania have not yet acceded to the Convention. Many of the Convention's long-standing member states remain cautious about the prospect of African countries joining.
For example, Germany and Austria have in recent years consistently lodged objections to the accession of new members. Therefore, it is still too early to speak about the prospects of African states becoming parties to the Convention.
A similar situation exists with countries whose ruling regimes have difficult political relations with many other states (for example, North Korea), those affected by armed conflicts (Yemen and Syria), or those experiencing serious economic difficulties (Papua New Guinea).
Unrecognized and partially recognized states occupy a special place among the jurisdictions that have not acceded to the Hague Convention. So far, only one of them—Kosovo—has managed to become a party to the Convention. This occurred for political reasons, as Kosovo secured the support of many of the Convention's long-standing Western member states.
However, even such major jurisdictions as Taiwan, Northern Cyprus, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Transnistria remain outside the scope of the Convention and are unlikely to accede to it in the foreseeable future due to the political position of most of its member states. The prospects are even slimmer for various quasi-state entities.
How to legalize documents if a country is not a party to the Apostille Convention
If at least one of the countries involved (either the country that issued the document or the country where the document is to be used) is not a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, the document must undergo the consular legalization procedure.
Consular legalization is the process of confirming the authenticity or validity of a legal document so that it is recognized as legally valid by the legal system of a foreign country. The procedure is carried out by a diplomatic mission or consular office of the country where the document is intended to be used.
Compared with the apostille procedure, consular legalization is more complex, time-consuming, and costly. While an apostille is usually issued in a single step, consular legalization requires several preliminary certifications before the public document can be authenticated by the embassy or consulate of the destination country.
As a rule, the document must be translated into the official language of the destination country before it is submitted to the embassy. The diplomatic mission determines the specific legalization procedure.
In some cases, before consular legalization, the document must also be additionally certified by the authority that originally issued it.
In most countries, consular legalization is carried out by the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, although this is not always the case. Depending on the country, these powers may be assigned to another authority. For example, in Cuba, the Ministry of Justice is responsible for legalization.
The greatest difficulties arise when a document has been issued by an unrecognized or partially recognized state or within a disputed territory. In such cases, the issue must be resolved individually on a case-by-case basis.
For example, the Moldovan authorities, as an exception, issue apostilles for "neutral" diplomas (those that do not contain state symbols) issued by the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic. Likewise, Georgia reissues certain civil status certificates for residents of South Ossetia and Abkhazia (provided that the relevant records exist in the Georgian archives), after which these documents may be apostilled.
Taiwan maintains semi-official diplomatic relations with a number of countries through special representative offices, making it possible to carry out a procedure similar to consular legalization.
In most cases, it is possible to find a way to use a particular document abroad.
What is an apostille?
What is an apostille? Why do I need an apostille? How do I get an apostille? - Our video will explain everything you need to know about the apostille. If you have a document that needs to be certified with an apostille for use abroad, Schmidt and Schmidt will assist you! We provide apostille services in more than 100 countries worldwide.
