Corporate Practice Perspectives: Understanding Apostilles and Legalizations in 2026

Annie: Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's webinar, "Corporate Practice Perspectives: Understanding Apostilles, Authentications, and Legalizations in 2026." My name is Annie Triboletti, and I will be your moderator kicking things off today.

This session is part of our Corporate Practice Perspective webinar series. In today's fast-changing corporate environment, staying ahead of legal and administrative challenges is more important than ever. This series brings together experts to share practical insights that help professionals navigate complex processes, avoid common pitfalls, and stay compliant in an evolving regulatory landscape.

So joining us today are Helena Ledic and Kelly Courtney. Helena is the associate general counsel for CSC in Chicago. And Kelly is a senior client service representative based in Austin, Texas. So with that, I would like to welcome Kelly and Helena.

Helena: Thanks so much, Annie. Thanks for getting us started. And everyone, I can just say I'm delighted that Kelly can join us today to talk about apostilles and legalizations. He is the man at CSC as far as I am concerned. Right, Kelly?

Kelly: Yes, I am that person.

Helena: You're that person. All right. So with that, before we get started into things, let me just tell you a little bit about CSC if you don't know about us. So we work with more than 10,000 different law firms and more than 90% of the Fortune 500. And what we do is we help you out with business administration and compliance solutions through all phases of the business life cycle. So we will help you form your entities, if you need them, to keep them in compliance. We'll help you out with secured transactions. We work with real estate. If you are in the space of capital markets, we support that. We also work with digital brand services. We do so, so much out there. What I always like to think is we are the business behind business. That's our tagline. But that is what we do. We stand there behind you in the background and help support you to get your stuff done.

So with that, let's talk about what our agenda is here today. So if you have ever done apostilles or authentications, legalizations, you know that it can be a complex process. Kelly and I are going to walk you through it. We're going to have a little bit of an overview. We're going to talk about what are the different kinds of documents. We'll talk a little bit about this Hague Apostille Convention, what it is, what are some of the non-Hague countries. We'll talk about MENA country requirements, that's the Middle East, Northern Africa, because that can be a little more complicated with some of them. And then there's a few other countries with more complex requirements.

So let's get started. So I'm just going to give the super quick overview, everybody. When you are doing this, Kelly said I don't know if he said obstacles or stumbling blocks. One of the two of us said something like that. That is a lot of what this is. Anticipate delays. In our slides, we have what are currently now time frames. But Kelly and I have done this presentation a couple of other times. We've also done this for a few other organizations. Every single time we do this, we have to go back through the deck and double check what are the time frames that are listed. And almost every single, not almost, every single solitary time, Kelly will tell me, "No, that time frame has gotten quicker." Or, "No, that's gotten longer. So know that you're going to have delays.

Be very prepared. You will probably need supplemental documents, particularly with some extra countries or with some countries that have more complex requirements. So just because you think this is all what you need today, it may not be what you need in two weeks.

And your CSC is here to help you with it. legalizations@cscglobal.com, that is the email address that goes to Kelly and his entire team. And they are the ones that are best equipped to work with this. So if you already work with somebody at CSC that might help you with things like your good standings or formations, you can shoot something directly to them, but I promise you they will be sending it directly to legalizations@cscglobal.com so you get a little bit of a quicker response that way.

So with that, let's talk about now what are some of the documents that we're going to be talking about. We've got non-government notarized documents, and then we've got state and federally issued. Kelly is going to talk about the state and federal. But let me just talk about the non-governmental notarized documents.

So this is where you're getting something that's not from a government agency. And if you have a photocopy of something that did come from a government agency, that is still not a government-issued document. That's a photocopy. So that's going to be considered to be a non-government document.

When you talk with Kelly, you hear from him all the time. We need things such as bank letters. Just today, somebody reached out to me. A friend of mine wanted to know about U.S. passports. A copy of a passport is not a government document. So if you need also secretary certificates, something that comes from a corporate secretary, that's not a government document. Now if you got the document that came from and that was filed with the state and you get it from the state, that's a state document. So, Kelly, take away the rest of them.

Kelly: Yeah. Some of the state documents we see are like certificates of good standing, copies of formation documents, amendments, dissolutions, mergers, conversions, such as that. Also are included in there are judgments from a state court as well as birth and marriage certificates, death certificates, and probated wills and such as that.

Federally-issued documents . . .

Helena: Wait, Kelly. Can I stop you just for a second?

Kelly: Sure.

Helena: On the birth certificates, just because this came up recently. One of my friends asked me about this, and I had to come to you. You made a point of saying that not all birth certificates are created equal.

Kelly: Correct.

Helena: And so you might need a specialized type of birth certificate if you're looking for a legalization or an apostille. And that's why we're so helpful to know because we can help guide you through that. So keep going and talk about your federals.

Kelly: That is correct. And just birth certificates, generally, they're at the state level, but there are other states where they may be at the town or county level. So they vary, and you just have to know what you're doing.

Helena: The hospital where my kids were born, it's at the city level. Yeah.

Kelly: Federal documents, we're looking at again court documents that are filed at the federal level. It could be an immigration certificate somebody needs for some reason. FBI background checks, IRS letters, or what we call residency certificates. Those are fairly common that we do. U.S. patent and trademark documents, we also do quite a few of those. And if you need us to actually pull the U.S. patent documents, we can take care of that as well as the steps of getting them apostilled or legalized. So that's something we can do, the whole shebang, so to speak.

Helena: All right. So let's talk a little bit now about the Hague Apostille Convention process. So if you need to use documents outside the United States, or for that matter if you're outside the U.S. and you want to bring a document into the United States, we have to do what are called these apostilles or legalizations, authentications. You have to go through this process. And the easy one, and I put that with air quotes around it, but the relatively easy one is being able to get an apostille. See Kelly is laughing at me. I can see him on the screen. Right?

So apostilles are relatively easy to get. We'll learn from Kelly in a little bit. We may need notarizations and things like that. But it's a one jurisdiction approval process. We'll learn later on with legalizations, it goes through two jurisdictions, and it occurs at the same level of the government where the document originated from. So if it's a state document, then you get that state apostille that comes in over here.

Now the catch is to be able to use an apostille, both countries, the issuing one plus the receiving one, have to be members of the Hague Apostille Convention, particularly 1961 abolishing the requirement of the legalization of foreign public documents. And the way I think of it is it's a handshake. You need to have both of them be able to handshake on this for you to be able to do a legalization. So that's really important to remember. If one country is not part of it, then you have to go through authentications and legalizations.

So there are about 130 some countries that are on this, that are party to this .And in tiny, tiny little font over there, there's that list where you can find kind of the most recent list of how things are being updated. And you can see since the beginning of 2021, we've had several countries that joined. Most notably I just want to call out Canada, our neighbors to the north. They weren't part of it until recently. And then also China. And Kelly has mentioned that China, everything is easy peasy and lemon squeezy nowadays. Apostilles work really quickly. And then Thailand is expected to join at the end of February in 2027. So as far as I know right now, there's no other country on the horizon. We're at Thailand.

So, Kelly, why don't you talk a little bit more about some of these same documents again and a little bit more of what we might be seeing as part of this apostille process.

Kelly: Okay. So going back to non-government documents, these are what we consider personal documents, where either it involves say a power of attorney for an individual or a company, or it could be something like a secretary certificate where they're attesting to a copy of a resolution. It could be something like a financial statement that's needed for a deal or something. Those are non-governmental documents, where that they have been notarized by the person. Excuse me. Let's back up. They have been signed and notarized for apostille.

Other types of documents are state-issued documents, again certified copies, good standings and such as that. Those are fairly easy, like Helena was saying, to have apostilled. The state issues them, and they apostille them. So it's kind of a one-step process there.

Federal documents, again, USPTO documents, certified copies from another federal agency, such as the FDA or maybe the SEC, something like that, those are types of documents we commonly see.

Helena: And then let me just call out because literally this morning, Kelly and I added a line to the PowerPoint early this morning. We were talking because somebody reached out to us, one of my friends did and needed to know about non-governmental notarized documents. And so what we wanted to do is also call out that if you have that, the document should be apostilled in the state in which they are notarized. So keep that in mind. You can't take them to another state. They should be done over there where that notary is. Right?

Kelly: That is correct. Yes.

Helena: All right. So, Kelly, keep talking to us a little bit more about the apostille process.

Kelly: So okay, again, the apostille process is for say a personal document that has been signed and notarized. It would go from your person to say the secretary of state's office to be apostilled, and then it comes back to our office for processing. Normally we'll scan the document and then ship it wherever you need it to go. Depending upon the state, it can take anywhere from three to four weeks. Some states it may only take a day or so to get back. So it really, really depends.

Federal process, again, you have the document that's been signed and notarized. Those are handled by the U.S. Department of State's office. They're the ones that apostille documents. And the reasonable time for them right now is somewhere around . . . They've actually bumped up a little bit since we updated this slide. They're more like a three to four-week period to get documents back. And unfortunately, they do not offer an expedited service unless your document deals with like a court case where you've got a hearing and a deadline or is something like an FBI document. Those documents, they will expedite with a letter from you explaining the need.

Helena: And keep in mind we updated the PowerPoint early last week. And Kelly literally just said the time frame changed again. So keep that in mind is that those time frames can be very fluid, plus government holidays and things like that. Yeah.

Okay. So let's talk about apostilling a personal document. Kelly, walk us through this.

Kelly: So, again, a personal document is something issued by an individual or a company. So you have your document. The signatures are signed and notarized, and then it goes to, again, the state to be apostilled. Depending upon the state, you may have actually more than one step. You could possibly have two or three steps to get the document apostilled. The states of New York, Alabama, Tennessee, all require two steps. The document goes from the county where the county clerk's office authenticates the signature of the notary, and then from there it would go to the secretary of state's office to actually be apostilled. And that process, it just depends on the state. Some of them are taking maybe a couple days for the county. Some of them may take a couple of weeks. And again, you have the state-level process at times on top of that.

Helena: Right. And again, this is anything that is a personal document, not a government document. So if you have a copy of a government document, it's still a personal document.

All right. So, Kelly, why don't you talk to us about what the sample U.S. apostille looks like over here?

Kelly: Yeah. So this is an example of the state of North Carolina's apostille certificate. This is the general one, the one you're normally going to see. Most states issue this. However, there are a few other states that have a different, more updated version of the apostille.

Helena: And just also so that the audience knows, we blacked out the personal information in there, but that would all be listed in there normally. But we just blacked that out for privacy reasons for today.

Kelly: Right. And this is the second version of the apostilles. This one is kind of a combination of an apostille and also what we call an authentication by the state. And in both of these documents, the only thing that they're saying is that the notary is a valid notary at that point in time with the state. It doesn't say anything about the document that was attached or anything like that. It just deals with the notary.

Helena: And so the states that we see this the most in are California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Washington, and Arizona. So these are the most common states that we see the universal certificate that gets issued.

Kelly: Right. That is correct.

Helena: All right. So now let's talk about if it's a non-Hague country. Let's go through the legalization process. So again, remember these are documents that what we want to do is we want to take them outside of the United States. Theoretically we're from outside the U.S. and bringing them into the U.S. But one of the countries is not a party to that 1961 Hague Convention abolishing the requirement of the legalization of foreign public documents.

And if one country is not part of it, then you have to go through this. And remember, there are about 70 some countries. And in that case, now you have a two-step process. It's the originating country, and then it's the receiving country that you have to go through in both instances. And for the receiving country, you have to then take the document to the consulate or the embassy, depending on where you're at, for them to end up reviewing that document.

And Kelly is going to go through a couple of those particularities in there. But one huge thing to remember is this. We brought this up at the very beginning. Some of the places require supplemental documents. You might need to include copies of ID cards or things like that or passports. Be prepared. You might need more information. Just because you think that this is all what you need, you might be needing more. All right.

Kelly: That is correct.

Helena: So, Kelly, yeah, walk us through state and federal. How do you do the authentication and legalization? What are these time frames?

Kelly: So the first one we're talking about here is the state process. The secretary of state issues say a good standing, and it's needed for Taiwan. You get the state authentication. So they're validating the document signer. And in this case, it's kind of odd because they're validating the secretary of state's office as the signer, but they're also the signer of the apostille, which to me is strange, but that's the way they do it. The document goes from the state level to the U.S. Department of State's level, where they put their authentication on it. And then it would go to either the embassy or a consulate of the embassy to be legalized.

And the federal process, you skip the state level. You take your say patent and trademark documents are certified, and then they go to the U.S. Department of State's office, where they put their authentication on it, and then to, again, the embassy or the consulate for their legalization.

Helena: All right. And then, in the first one, the state process, typically about four to six weeks. Three to five weeks for the feds, but keep in mind holidays. Anything timing, things can change. Do not be surprised if it takes longer. And then you might be pleasantly surprised that it goes quicker.

All right. So, Kelly, we've got this big old flowchart over here. Talk to me about the non-governmental notarized document if you have to do authentications and legalizations because we've got a lot more steps here.

Kelly: Yeah. Again, we're talking about a non-governmental document. So we're talking about maybe a power of attorney, corporate secretary certificate, something like that. The document is signed and notarized. And then it would go to, again, if it needs to go to a county, it would go to the county to be authenticated, and then from there to the secretary of state's office. They put their authentication on it. And then it goes to, again, the U.S. Department of State's office for their authentication, and then finally to the embassy or the consulate to be legalized.

And that process, again, it depends on the country and all the different steps. You're looking somewhere between six and eight weeks. Sometimes it can be much longer depending upon the country.

Helena: And everyone keep in mind, when we're dealing with the foreign countries now, now you've got their holidays also. So keep that very much in mind of depending on what country you're working with. You may want to just do a quick search and see things about like what are considered to be the public holidays for that country. That might also even at the beginning give you like level set some of this for you.

So over here we have something from an authentication. Over here, we have something from the U.S. Department of State. So Kelly, why don't you tell us? I think this is for Thailand.

Kelly: This was Thailand, yes.

Helena: Yeah.

Kelly: So this is a copy of the U.S. Department of State's authentication certificate. So any document that's submitted to their office, they're going to put one of these on the front of it. And this document, I apologize, the version we had wasn't very good because the top left-hand corner is folded over, but you can see a little dot there. And that little dot is actually a grommet, a metal grommet that goes through that document, and it attaches the certificate to the document that's being authenticated and it cannot be removed. If you remove it, then that invalidates that authentication.

Helena: So no getting rid of pieces of paper in this process over here.

Kelly: No.

Helena: All right. So let's talk a little bit about the MENA countries, the Middle East and then Northern Africa. Okay. So things are a little bit more complex with them. But what we wanted to do is we wanted to give a call-out to the countries where we see the most amount of requests with that are part of the Hague Apostille Convention. So you can see Bahrain, Oman, Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. All of those are apostille countries. So remember, one-step approval only.

Now this was a short slide. Kelly's got the hard job on this slide because he's going to talk about legalizing documents in the MENA countries. So Kelly, take it away.

Kelly: So some of the other MENA countries, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, the UAE, which we see quite a few documents for the UAE, Qatar, Afghanistan, and Jordan and stuff like that, those documents, again, have to be authenticated at the state level and with the U.S. Department of State and then by the embassy or the consulate. One thing that's good about documents for the UAE is they can skip the U.S. Department of State's authentication. There are a couple countries out there that will allow you to do that, and they're actually just one of them. So it's a little bit easier step. You do the state level, and the document can go straight to the embassy to be legalized.

Helena: And that's why it's so important to work with us because we know the rules of that. Normally you might think, hey, these are the steps I've got to go through, and by the time you'd find out, you may have lost a week or two. So tell us a little bit about like the Lebanese embassy and consulates in Houston. They're a little bit different too, right, Kelly?

Kelly: Yes. So like Helena had talked about earlier about needing additional documents and such as that, if you have a document for Lebanon, they require you to provide them with an authorization letter as well as a copy of the signer of that authorization letter, their ID. And that could be either a driver's license or a passport. And in say the Egyptian consulate, it's one of those countries . . .

Helena: In Houston.

Kelly: . . . in Houston . . .

Helena: Yeah.

Kelly: . . . that allows you to skip the U.S. Department of State's office. So the document can go directly from the state level directly to the Egyptian consulate in Houston for legalization. And just a side note, unfortunately, for the next two weeks, they're going to be closed. so we can't get anything legalized through them right now.

The Syrian embassy, Palestine, Afghanistan, some of these places require additional letters or authorizations to be legalized.

Helena: Yeah. And then I was going to say is, right now, you made a point of telling me that at this exact time CSC is unable to do legalizations for Ethiopia because they've strengthened. They've done some changes with that. Right?

Kelly: That is correct. They have implemented a new legalization processing system. They've gone digital. And what they ask us to provide in the way of being able to process those documents, CSC can't provide that information at this time. So we can't do it, but it's something that you as a customer can submit the documents yourself, which we see quite a few clients doing that right now. Unfortunately, like I said, we can't do them.

Helena: Okay. So then let's just jump over here. There are a few places that have got a few more complex requirements. So why don't you go into this, Kelly?

Kelly: So again, as we were talking about needing additional documents, Taiwan requires an application, and they may or may not require an authorization letter and an ID. It just kind of depends on which consulate's office you're working with.

Again, Lebanon, the letter. And if for some reason we're having to submit a document through the Egyptian consulate in California, they also require valid ID copies and such as that. And their one little quirk is that if an attorney is listed in say a power of attorney that you're having legalized, if the attorney is listed, they also require information on that particular attorney or the firm of attorneys that you've listed in the power of attorney. Embassy . . .

Helena: So it's complex, right?

Kelly: It is. It is .You have to know all the little things. You have to make sure your i's are dotted and your t's are crossed, or they'll return documents. They'll reject them in a heartbeat.

Helena: Well, and you've told me so many times is they come back for additional information, or they straight out reject it. And again, build that extra time into it and anticipate that you're going to need to be providing more information. All right.

Kelly: Yes, that is correct.

Helena: So what are our key takeaways for the audience here today, Kelly.

Kelly: Again, anticipate delays. If you are submitting documents through us, we generally will tell you an estimated time frame for the documents for completion. Again, we're not always privileged to what's going on at the embassy or the consulate. and a lot of times it's our best guess, depending upon the last filed documents, as what the next ones will be.

Again, there are 120 countries out there that are members of the Hague Apostille Convention, and those are all the ones that will accept an apostille rather than having to have documents legalized. Those are much easier to deal with. And again, the apostilles can only be used if both countries are members to the Hague.

And I apologize. I can't read the note here. U.S. company documents to be used in a non-Hague country, again, involves much more steps, and again you need to . . .

Helena: And build that time into it. Right?

Kelly: Yeah. Build time. Yes.

Helena: Yeah. And then the other thing is these countries, and again we keep harping on it. You might need authorization letters. You might need copies of driver's licenses or passports. You might need additional information about power of attorneys. Or this was a brand new one today. Kelly had never mentioned to me if an attorney is requesting something, that additional information might be required, reach out to legalizations@cscglobal.com. We're able to help you out and guide you through that process to be able to go through.

And the other thing is you can also streamline things. Let us know the destination country. If you let us know right away where the documents need to go to, the actual address, this all kind of helps streamline things that you have in there. Again, legalizations@cscglobal.com.

And that's exactly what I just said over here. Describe the types of documents, quantities, jurisdiction, and also where should CSC send the originals upon completion. So there we go.

So if you're listening to us today, chances are you might need some global subsidiary management services. So you can see we have a slide over here that's on here that talks a little bit about this, what are some of the different things that we can do. But you can see is that we have annual compliance services, transaction, and then specialized services, and we can help you out with all of this over here. And legalizations and apostilles are just one part of transaction services. So keep us in mind for in the future.