Legalization or Certification of Documents with the Apostille

Documents coming from foreign countries intended for use in Estonia must be legalized. But when the country being party of the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents the document must be certified with the apostille.

76 countries have acceeded to the Convention

For all the countries mentioned above documents must have the certification (apostille) affixed to them by a competent authority in Estonia and all documents coming from those countries into use in Estonia must have the certification (apostille) affixed to them in the respective foreign countries.

NB! Pay attention to the fact that the certification (apostille) is affixed to original documents, translations may be added optionally. In case you wish to use the copy of an original document in a foreign country the copy must be made of the original document, which has the certification (apostille) on it.

When there is an legal aid contract between Estonia and the foreign country, the further certification of the document is not necessary. Estonia has Legal Aid Agreements with: 

Latvia
Lithuania
Ukraine
Russia
Poland

NB! Foreign documents must be translated into Estonian and the translation must be verified by notary.