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Legalization

Foreign documents give the same evidential value as domestic public documents only if they hold the mandatory legalization form on the original documents.

Therefore, the legalization must already be on the documents when the application is submitted! Documents without the required legalization cannot be considered.

There are three types of legalization:  

  1. Full diplomatic legalization
  2. Legalization by “Apostille”
  3. Exemption from any legalization

 

1. Full diplomatic legalization

This mode of legalization means that original documents first have to pass the internal legalization procedure within the country in which they have been issued and the last authority definitely has to be the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the respective country. Afterwards the documents must additionally be legalized (over-legalized) diplomatically by the Austrian diplomatic representation (embassy, consulate, honorary consulate) in the respective country.

A

B

C

Algeria

Bangladesh

Cambodia

 

Benin

Cameroon

 

Bhutan

Central African Republic

 

Burkina Faso

Côte d´Ivoire

 

 

Cuba

D

E

G

Djibouti

Egypt

Gabon

Dominican Republic

Eritrea

Gambia

 

Ethiopia

Ghana

 

 

Guinea

 

 

Guinea-Bissau

H

I

J

Haiti

Iran

Jamaica

Holy See

Iraq

Jordan

 

 

 

K

L

M

Kenya

Lao, People’s Democratic Republic

Madagascar

Kiribati   Malaysia

Kosovo

Lebanon

Maldives

Kuwait

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

Mali

Kyrgyzstan

 

Malta, Sovereign Order of

 

 

Mauritania

 

 

Micronesia, Federated States of

 

 

Mongolia

N

P

Q

Nauru

Pakistan

Qatar

Nepal

Palau

 

Niger

 

Palestine, Territories administered by the Palestinian National Authority

 

Nigeria Papua New Guinea  

 

Philippines

 

R

S

T

 

Senegal

Taiwan

 

Sierra Leone

Tajikistan

 

Singapore

Tanzania, United Republic of

 

Solomon Islands

Thailand

 

Sri Lanka

Timor-Leste (East Timor)

 

Syrian Arab Republic

Togo

 

 

Tunisia

 

 

Turkmenistan

 

 

Tuvalu

U

V

Y

Uganda

Vietnam

Yemen

United Arab Emirates

 

 

Uzbekistan

 

 

Z

 

 

Zambia

 

 

Zimbabwe

 

 

2. Apostille

Documents from countries which are Contracting States to the “Hague Legalization Convention" do not need the full diplomatic legalization. The legalisation with a so called Apostille is sufficient.

A

B

C

Albania

Bahamas

Canada
Andorra Bahrain Cape Verde
Angola Barbados Chile

Antigua and Barbuda

Belarus

China – including Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao

Argentina

Belize

Colombia

Armenia

Bolivia

Costa Rica

Australia

Botswana

Cyprus

Azerbaijan

Brazil

 

 

Brunei Darussalam

 

D

E

F

Denmark

Ecuador

Fiji

Dominica

El Salvador

 

 

Estonia

 

G

H

I

Georgia

Honduras

Iceland

Greece

 

India

Grenada

 

Indonesia
Guatemala   Ireland

Guyana

 

Israel

J

K

L

Japan

Kazakhstan

Latvia

 

Korea, Republic of

Lesotho

 

 

Liberia

 

 

Lithuania

 

 

Luxembourg

M

N

O

Malawi

Namibia

Oman

Malta

New Zealand

 

Marshall Islands

Nicaragua

 

Mauritius

Niue

 

Mexico

 

 

Moldova

 

 

Monaco

 

 

Morocco

 

 

Mozambique

 

 

P

R

S

Panama

Russian Federation

Saint Christopher and Nevis

Paraguay Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis

Peru

 

Saint Lucia

Portugal

 

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

 

 

Samoa

 

 

San Marino

 

 

São Tomé and Principe

    Saudi Arabia

 

 

Seychelles

 

 

South Africa

 

 

Spain

 

 

Suriname

 

 

Swaziland

 

 

Switzerland

T

U

V

Tonga

Ukraine

Vanuatu

Trinidad and Tobago

United Kingdom

Venezuela

Turkey

United States

 

 

Uruguay

 

 

 

 

3. Exempted from legalization

Documents from countries with which Austria has concluded a bilateral agreement concerning exemption from legalization are exempted from all kind of legalization procedure.

B

C

F

Belgium

Croatia

Finland

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Czech Republic

France

Bulgaria

 

 

G

H

I

Germany

Hungary

Italy

 

L

M

 

Liechtenstein

Macedonia

 

 

Montenegro

N

P

R

Netherlands

Poland

Romania

Norway

 

 

S

 

 

Serbia

 

 

Slovakia

 

 

Slovenia

 

 

Sweden

 

 

The required legalization must be on the documents at the time of application! 

 

 

Additional information about the legalisation for applicants with a status refugee or asylum seeking in Austria

Applicants who have the status refugee or seeking asylum in Austria can be exempted from the legalisation due to the political circumstances. This means the above mentioned documents can be handed in without additional legalisation of for example the Austrian Embassy or an Apostille. This only applies if the documents were issued in the country the applicant has fled from.

To prove that status, a copy of the convention pass or the asylum card (f.e. white card, grey card) has to be handed in with the application.

For easy reading klick the LL-Logo

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