Legalisation
Legalisation
Legalisation of documents allows official documents originating from one country to be recognized when presented in another country.
Legalisation of document is a verification of the signature, the position of the signatory and the stamp in the document in cases of bearing the stamp applied on the document. Legalisation of document is carried out by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic representations or consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania.
It is important to note that Lithuania, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Kosovo have acceded to the The Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Consequently, official documents issued by these countries for submission in Lithuania are certified with an Apostille by the relevant institutions of the aforementioned states. Similarly, documents issued in Lithuania for submission in Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, or Kosovo must be certified with an Apostille by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. In Lithuania, notaries are authorized to certify documents with an Apostille. A document certified with an Apostille in Lithuania is accepted without requiring any additional certification.
The Lithuanian Embassy in Croatia may accept documents for legalisation issued by countries for which the Embassy in Croatia is not accredited, provided they meet the following criteria:
- the foreign national submitting the document is legally resident in the country of accreditation of the diplomatic mission;
- the foreign national is presenting his/her own documents or those of his/her family members (husband, wife, parents, children and adopted children) in person;
- the document submitted has been additionally legalised by the diplomatic mission in Croatia of the country that issued the document.
Up to 5 documents of yourself or your family members may be submitted for legalisation per visit under the above mentioned conditions.
If the documents submitted do not meet the above criteria, they will not be accepted at the Lithuanian Embassy in Croatia. Such documents must be submitted for legalisation directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania in accordance with the procedures laid down by the Ministry or to the Lithuanian diplomatic missions where these criteria are met.
The legalization of Police Clearance Certificates for foreign citizens who intend to study in Lithuania is done at MFA of the Republic of Lithuania through the educational institutions. The students should contact the educational institutions in Lithuania, in which they plan to study and to clarify the process of legalization of documents.
The following documents are subject to legalisation:
- Documents issued by government or municipal institutions or officials, also by prosecutor, court official or person implementing court decisions
- Administrative documents
- Notarial acts
- Official confirmations of documents signed by natural persons
- Notarial transcripts of official documents
Documents have to be orderly and readable. If the document consists of few pages, they have to be affixed or sewn together.
Each document is approved separately (e. g. diploma and its appendix are two (2) separate documents).
Documentation required:
- A free-form request for Apostille or legalisation, stating the country where the legalised document is to be presented and the contact details (email address and telephone number) of the person applying;
- The document to be legalised or certified by Apostille (original or notarially certified copy);
- A valid passport or other proof of identity of the person providing the document;
- Proof that the foreign national submitting the document for legalisation is legally resident in the country of accreditation of the Embassy of Lithuania (residence permit);
- The consular fee for the legalisation or Apostille certification of each document is EUR 30.
IMPORTANT! Documents issued before 11 of March of 1990 with symbols of Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic are not legalisable. The latter documents must be presented in their renewed contemporary issue.
Legalisation of documents is not required when the documents are drawn up and / or issued by diplomatic representations or consular posts of foreign states resident in the Republic of Lithuania.
