USE OF DOCUMENTS ISSUED ABROAD IN THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA
If the document was issued in a country which is a party to the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, its authenticity must be certified by an Apostille by the competent foreign authority.
There is no need for a double-certification of a document with an Apostille Certificate in the Republic of Latvia because a document certified by an Apostille in Greece will be valid in e.g. Latvia, Poland and more than 100 countries which are parties to the Hague Convention.
USE OF DOCUMENTS ISSUED IN THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA ABROAD
From 1 July 2019, certification of public documents issued in Latvia intended for use in a country that is a party to the 1961 Hague Convention by an Apostille is performed by a sworn notary.
Public documents are e.g. school and university diplomas, birth certificates, criminal record certificates, marriage certificates, health certificates etc., as well as power of attorney, which are issued in Latvia and intended for use abroad.
Furthermore, it is possible to certify electronically issued documents by a sworn notary remotely.
USEFUL TIPS FOR PREPARING DOCUMENTS
In order to prepare a notary-certified translation, a fully executed and legally valid document is required. The document must contain the following information:
- name of the document’s author;
- date of the document’s creation;
- name of the place of creation, issue, and signing of the document;
- signature(-s).
For additional information on drawing up documents, please refer to Cabinet Regulations No. 916, “Procedures for the Elaboration and Design of Documents”, of 28 September, 2010. In order to certify a copy of the document at a notary, the original document is required.