Legalization of Documents Issued Abroad
Public documents issued by foreign courts and authorities can be use as an evidence in the Czech Republic only if they are properly verified1.
As a general rule, any document issued abroad that you submit during official procedures in the Czech Republic must be:
- verified by the competent authorities of the country where the document was issued, and
- superlegalised by the Diplomatic Mission of the Czech Republic.
There are several levels of verification of foreign public documents, as well as some exceptions.
1. Superlegalisation Clause and Certified Translation into Czech language
- Document issued abroad must bear a superlegalization clause and must be bound with a certified translation into Czech language, provided that:
- the document was issued in a country with which the Czech Republic has not concluded a treaty on legal assistance in civil and family
- the country is not a party to the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (Hague Convention).
2. Legalisation Clause (Apostille) and Certified Translation into Czech language
- A foreign public document issued in a country that is a party to the Hague Convention (Apostille Convention) must only be provided with an Apostille clause and then translated into Czech language by a certified translator.
- You can check the list of signatory countries to this Convention, or the list of offices of the individual states, which are competent to issue an Apostille.
3. Certified translation into Czech language without the need for higher legalisation
- The Czech Republic has concluded bilateral treaties on legal assistance in civil and family matters with some countries. Under these treaties, documents issued or certified by the relevant foreign authority can be used as evidence in the Czech Republic. These documents can therefore be used in procedures without further authentication, or the treaties specify exactly which authority must authenticate the document in order for it to be accepted.
- These documents must be submitted with an official translation into Czech only.
- For more details, see relevant provisions in bilateral treaties regarding exemptions from authentication.
4. Other exemptions from higher legalisation
- An exemption from the higher legalisation applies to:
- documents issued by diplomatic or consular officers of countries, which signed European Convention on the Abolition of Legalisation of Documents executed by Diplomatic Agents or Consular Officers, or
- documents covered by specific European Union regulations, or
- documents issued or certified by relevant foreign diplomatic missions, if bilateral consular agreement has been concluded.
5. Nostrification of a foreign document proving education and qualification
Nostrification of a document proving education (secondary education and higher professional education) or a document proving university education gained abroad, are currently demanded by the Ministry of the Interior in wel-founded cases. They are required especially in cases of reasonable doubt, whether you have acquired education demanded, or whether your qualification corresponds to the nature of the employment, when the application aspires to an employee card or a blue card.
1 More about legalization of documents issued abroad: Private International Law Act, Act on Court Interpreters and Court Translators, EU Convention abolishing the legalization of documents