Apostille – Explained

Apostille – explained: I came up with a relatively lengthy post before explaining how Apostilles work. It seems people found my explanation too sophisticated, so here's another crack at explaining it for RE practitioners.

If, say someone needs to execute a document (e.g., SPA) abroad, Philippine regulatory bodies (e.g., BIR, RD, etc.) require the Philippine Consul to witness the signing to "authenticate" that the person who signed it is truly the person described in the document.

However, signatories complain about the hassle of going to the Philippine consul/embassy. Either the embassy is far from where they're from; or they simply find the process is too tedious (i.e., get an appointment, sign, and go back to get the document).

This is where Apostilles come in.

The "Apostille Convention" is an agreement between numerous countries to allow the notarization be done by the foreign country's notary publics.

So how does one do it?

1. Check if the country where the signatory is is part of the Apostille Convention. You can search this online.

2. Search for a notary public (in the foreign country) online that could "Apostille" documents.

3. Set an appointment for the notary public to witness the signing.

4. Sign the document in front of the notary public. The Notary Public will sign and stamp the document, certifying that he personally witnessed the signing.

5. The document is then brought to the government body that is mandated to Apostille documents (e.g., Singapore Academy of Law, or the US Secretary of State). The Notary Public may offer to be the one to bring it to the body–for an additional fee.

6. The government body stamps the document with an Apostille stating that they checked the signature, stamp, and seal of the notary public and certifies that they're a duly licensed notary public in that country. Some countries attach a QR code to the Apostille and a link to the website address where people may verify

Advantages of Apostille:

+ It's a lot quicker than consularizing a document.

Disadvantages:

- It's super expensive; something like, Php15K per copy vs. Php4K if consularized.

- Some PH government offices may still be unaware of the Apostille convention. But from our experience, the BIR and RD are already aware.

Notes:

+ The notary public and the government body that certifies the document, does not know whether what's stated in the document is true. For example, if they notarize an "Affidavit of One and the Same Person", they don't know whether that person is truly who he says he is. They're merely certifying that the person signed the document himself.