Verification of documents

Verification of Public Documents

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    There are two possibilities for verifying a public document:
     
    1. Verification by means of apostille
    In 1978, Israel signed and ratified the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents  1961 (hereinafter: the Hague Convention). The purpose of this Convention was to shorten the processes required for a particular country to recognize the official documents issued by another country, by means of apostille certification.
    Public documents and certificates that were issued in one of the countries that are signatories to the above Convention, and which bear the apostille stamp, are valid for presentation in Israel, without the need for additional verification / certification by the diplomatic / consular representative at the Israeli mission.
     
    Additionally, for countries that are signatories to the Hague Convention, no additional verification is required by the mission consul of the country for which the document is designated, if it was stamped with an apostille in Israel.
    With regard to a list of the countries that signed the Convention, and details about the authority competent to grant apostille certification in each country, as well as additional information, click on the following link:
    http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.authorities&cid=17
     
    a) Slovakia is also a signatory to the 1961 Haag convention (apostil).
    b) Documents referring to personal status (birth, marriage, death), need to be verified with apostil at the municipal office (matrika).
    c) Other documents need to be authorized at the ministry of foreign affairs in the Slovak republic (consular section).
     
    2. Verification by means other than apostille
    Verification of a document in a country that is not a signatory to the Hague Convention should be implemented as follows:
    After the document is verified by the competent authority in the foreign country (usually the Foreign Ministry or Ministry of Justice), the Israeli consular representative verifies the signature of the competent authority.