The certification of documents with the apostille is a procedure without alternatives in many situations. It must be passed in order to use documents abroad on the territory of states that have ratified the 1961 Hague Convention. But unfortunately it sometimes happens that the authorized authorities refuse the application for an apostille. The situation is uncomfortable, but mostly solvable. So what can be done in this case?
First, one should understand the real reason for the rejection.
Some documents are generally not subject to the apostille - for example commercial, customs and identity documents. If you have not received an apostille, there is no need to panic. On the territory of all countries where the Hague Convention is in force, they are aware of its requirements and, most likely, will treat the absence of the apostille with understanding.
Also, the document may be in an unusable state: laminated, shabby, torn, with fuzzy seals and signatures. In Russia, this sometimes happens with USSR-era documents (especially those issued by the registry office). In such a situation, the apostille is likely to be issued only after you have procured the document again.
However, if the document cannot be provided to the country that issued it, then, unfortunately, most likely nothing can be done and it will be necessary to go through the procedure for procurement of the document. This also applies to cases where photocopies of documents have been provided to the authority instead of their originals.
In many countries, different government agencies are responsible for apostilling different types of documents. For example, in the United States, the federal government can only apostille documents issued at a local level, but for documents from federal structures, they must be contacted by the State Department or the Secretariat of the Federal Judiciary. If you have contacted the wrong authority, you will need to resubmit your documents to the authority responsible.
In many countries, the document must be pre-authenticated before being apostilled in the structures associated with its issuance. For example, a school certificate - in the local Ministry of Education, a doctor's certificate - in the Ministry of Health and so on. If you don't do this, the document will most likely be returned to you without an apostille. But the problem can also be solved. It is enough to affix the necessary signatures and stamps.
Worse, when the authority authorized to certify with an apostille cannot receive a response to a request regarding the authenticity of the signature or seal on the document from the organization that issued it (this is required in some countries). A document that was signed by a person who was not formally authorized to do so can also be problematic. In both cases it is necessary to have the documents procured again.
In addition, a letter with a document can get lost en route or among other documents in an agency. In this case, the only solution is to procure your document.
However, if the document is in good condition but has corrections on it, you may be able to solve the problem by asking the person who issued it to you to put a mark like "alteration valid".
Well, in general, if this process is entrusted to professionals who constantly deal with it, problems with the apostille will arise much less often.
