An apostille certificate is a document legalisation certificate attached to your original or notarised documents to verify the signature and capacity and good standing of the official or notary public that signed your document.

The Apostille certificate is issued in a standard format and is attached with lint, bound and sealed and stamped. This process is done in order to be able to use or present the document to be used for legal purposes in any country that is a member of the Hague Apostille Convention. In essence this is a truncated and simplified procedure to legalise documents.

The main purpose of an apostille certificate is thus to remove the need for the longer more intricate document authentication process and possible diplomatic or consular legalisation of foreign public documents.

In place of the then complex and drawn out authentication and sometimes embassy attestation process is a simple certificate issued to a specific format. This certificate being the Apostille Certificate which once attached to a document would remove the need for any further authentication or legalisation of the document when presented in another member country.

There are several countries that have not subscribed to the above Hague Apostille Convention. A more intricate document legalisation process is used in terms of High Court Rule 63.

Addition steps may be necessary to legalise these documents destined for non-Hague Apostille subscribing countries which process is called document authentication and may involve attending the local embassy or consulate of the country your document will be presented. The local embassy places an additional stamp or seal on the document. This process of placing an embassy seal on your document is called Embassy Attestation.