Apostille or legalisation? Documents for Saudi Arabia by country

Does a document for Saudi Arabia need an apostille or legalisation?

A document from abroad usually takes one of 2 routes for use in Saudi Arabia: an apostille or legalisation. Your country decides which. If it has joined the Apostille Convention, the document needs an apostille from your own country. If your country has not joined, the document needs legalisation, a chain of stamps that ends with the Saudi embassy or consulate.

The Apostille Convention is an international treaty. It makes public documents from one member country easier to use in the others. The Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) runs the treaty and keeps the official list of members. According to the HCCH status table, the convention took effect for Saudi Arabia on 7 December 2022.

An apostille is an official certificate, added in your own country, that confirms that the signature and stamp on a document are real. Legalisation is a chain of official stamps instead, ending with the Saudi embassy or consulate in your country.

Depending on the office receiving it, a document from abroad is accepted with an apostille or after legalisation through a Saudi embassy or consulate. We call that office the receiving office: the Saudi court, bank or other office that will use your document. Some Saudi offices still describe embassy stamps in their own guides. So before you pay for any certificate, check what the receiving office accepts.

Which route does your country use for documents going to Saudi Arabia?

It depends on whether your country has joined the Apostille Convention. For example, the United Kingdom, the United States, India and Pakistan use the apostille. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait still use legalisation.

The table below shows a selection of countries. It is not a full list: the HCCH status table is the complete, official one.

Where no date is shown, the country was already a member when Saudi Arabia joined. For those countries, the apostille route for Saudi Arabia started on 7 December 2022. Where a country joined later, the route started on that country’s own date.

Some countries in the HCCH table have a note (two asterisks) next to them. For the countries in our table, those notes concern other member countries, not Saudi Arabia.

Not listed? Check your country in the HCCH status table. If your country is not in it, legalisation usually applies, and we can confirm the route with you. If there is no Saudi embassy or consulate in your country, ask us. The route is then decided case by case.

For the steps on each route, see documents from apostille countries and documents from countries that need legalisation.

What does an apostille prove, and what doesn’t it?

An apostille proves where a public document came from. It confirms that the signature or seal on it is real, and the role of the person who signed it, such as a notary. It does not confirm that what the document says is true or valid.

A public document is one that comes from a court, a public office or a notary. Examples are a birth certificate, a judgment or a notarised statement. A private document, such as a power of attorney you sign yourself, is usually notarised first. The apostille then goes on the notary’s certificate.

Here is an example. An apostille on a notarised contract shows that the notary’s signature is real. It does not show that the contract itself is valid. The HCCH explains this in its plain-language guide, The ABCs of Apostilles.

So an apostille is one step, not the end of the work. The Saudi office still reads the document itself, and it may ask for a translation.

What is legalisation for documents going to Saudi Arabia?

Legalisation is the route for countries that have not joined the Apostille Convention. It is a chain of official stamps. Usually your country’s foreign ministry stamps the document first, then the Saudi embassy or consulate in your country.

Some Saudi offices also ask for a final stamp from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On its e-services pages, the ministry calls this step “ratification”. Requests start on the ministry’s online portal. At Saudi embassies and consulates abroad, payment goes through Enjaz, a payment and processing system for services such as this one.

The ministry’s online ratification service starts with the National Single Sign-On, the Saudi government’s login. The original document then goes to a ministry branch, in person or by Saudi Post. So this final step is usually done in Saudi Arabia, by someone who has that login. We can tell you how it works for your document.

Will every Saudi office accept an apostille?

Not automatically. Saudi Arabia accepts the apostille, but each Saudi court, bank or office follows its own procedures. Some still describe embassy stamps in their own guides. So we check what the office receiving your document accepts before you pay for anything.

Two official examples show how offices can differ:

• Banks. Saudi Arabia’s central bank (SAMA) told banks on 6 April 2023 that foreign public documents with an apostille need no further authentication. That means no extra stamp from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or from embassies. SAMA also explained how to check the certificate.
• Investment registration. The Ministry of Investment (MISA) answers this in its own frequently asked questions. It still says that some foreign company documents must be “authenticated by the Saudi Embassy”.

Neither example tells you what a court, a notary or another office will accept. That is why the receiving office comes first in the steps below.

How do you check an apostille?

Usually online. Many apostilles carry a QR code, or the web address of an online register (an e-register). For an apostille issued in Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs runs its own e-register, which asks for the certificate’s date and number.

For an apostille from another country, the office that issued it keeps the register. The HCCH lists these offices, and their e-registers where one exists, in its Apostille Section. The HCCH itself does not issue or check apostilles.

SAMA’s guidance to banks names two ways to check: the QR code or contact details on the certificate, and the HCCH website. You can check your own apostille the same way before you send the document.

Does a document from abroad need an Arabic translation for Saudi Arabia?

Often, yes. Saudi courts and many offices work in Arabic, so they usually ask for a certified translation of a document in another language. A certified translation is one made by an approved translation office.

Offices differ here too. MISA’s frequently asked questions say documents submitted to MISA do not need translating, but other ministries may require translations. Whether the translation is done in your country or in Saudi Arabia also depends on the receiving office. So ask before you pay for one. An apostille and a translation are separate steps, and one does not replace the other.

Write your name exactly as it appears in your passport. A name written in English letters can be spelt more than one way in Arabic. So ask the translator to use the same Arabic spelling on every document.

How do you prepare a document for use in Saudi Arabia, step by step?

Most documents go through these steps. Not every document needs all of them.

1. Ask which Saudi office will receive the document. What that office accepts decides the route, the stamps and the translation. Where a lawyer helps: we check what the receiving office accepts before you pay for anything.

2. Have a private document notarised in your country. A private document, such as a power of attorney or a board decision, usually goes to a notary first. A notary is an official who checks your identity and confirms your signature. For a power of attorney, see power of attorney for Saudi Arabia, signed abroad.

3. Get an apostille, or have the document legalised. Use the apostille if your country has joined the Apostille Convention, and legalisation if it has not. Check your country in the table above.

4. Arrange a certified Arabic translation, if the receiving office needs one. Ask first whether it should be done in your country or in Saudi Arabia.

5. Send the original as agreed. Keep a copy of every page, stamp and certificate.

6. Let the receiving office check the document. Once we agree to act for you, we can present it to that office for you.

What should you check before paying a service provider for documents?

Check the route for your country, what the Saudi office accepts, and whether you need an embassy step at all. Also ask when the translation is done and where the official fees are listed.

• Your country’s route. Look it up in the HCCH status table. Several countries that used to need embassy stamps for Saudi Arabia now use the apostille, such as Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• What the receiving office accepts. Ask the Saudi court, bank or office, or ask us to check.
• Whether an embassy step is needed. If your country uses the apostille, it usually is not.
• The translation. Ask whether it should be done before or after the apostille or legalisation, and in which country.
• The official fees. A government fee may apply; the official page has the details.
• What you get back. Ask what the provider will hand back to you, and in what form.

What about Saudi documents you need to use abroad?

A Saudi document going to another member country of the Apostille Convention gets its apostille from the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The other country decides what it accepts, so ask its embassy or the office that will receive the document.

The receiving office can check a Saudi apostille on the ministry’s e-register, by its date and number. We advise on Saudi law only, so questions about another country’s rules go to that country’s authorities.

• How to get a Saudi judgment or document accepted at home.

  Using Saudi judgments and documents in your countryComing soon

Frequently asked questions

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• Documents from apostille countries for use in Saudi Arabia
• Documents from countries that need legalisation for use in Saudi Arabia
• Power of attorney for Saudi Arabia, signed abroad
• Handling a Saudi legal matter from outside the Kingdom