Legalisation of documents

In order to submit foreign public documents at the institutions in Latvia, documents need to be legalised or authenticated with an Apostille an the competent institution of the relevant foreign country. 

1. If a document is issued in a foreign country which has joined the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Documents it must be authenticated with an Apostille by the competent institution of the relevant foreign country.
2. If a document issued in a foreign country which has not joined the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Documents, must be legalised by the competent institution of the relevant country (its foreign ministry or a diplomatic/consular mission) and then – by the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
   
   In line with international practice and the Cabinet Regulation No 264 of 18.06.2019, “Regulations for Legalisation of Public Documents”, prior to legalising documents of certain countries at the Consular Department, the documents must be legalised both at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the issuing country and the embassy of the issuing country. See here the list of those countries and embassies to which these legalisation requirements apply.
3. If the document is issued in the EU, the member states of the European Economic Zone, the Swiss Confederation and in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (except overseas territories), approval such as legalisation or apostille is not necessary for submission to Latvian institutions.
4. If a document is issued by the diplomatic or consular Mission by a country, which has joined The European Convention on the Abolition of Legalisation of Documents executed by Diplomatic Agents or Consular Officers, no additional approval is necessary for submission to Latvian institutions.