ADVISORY

ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE APOSTILLE CONVENTION FOR THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippine Consulate General in Chongqing wishes to inform you that effective 14 May 2019, the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Philippines will no longer issue Authentication Certificates. Instead, it will affix an Apostille, as proof of authentication, on the Philippine documents for use abroad.

After authentication by the DFA, there is no more need for authentication (legalization) by the concerned foreign embassies/consulates if the country of destination of the authenticated document is already a member of the Apostille Convention. The updated list of all “Apostille Countries” can be viewed thru this link: https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/?cid=41.

If the country where you need to use your public document is not an Apostille country (such as Mainlad China), you should contact the Embassy/Consulate of the country in the Philippines where you intend to use the document in order to find out what your options are. This usually means that you need to present your documents to the said country’s Embassy or Consulate in the Philippines for its authentication.

The Consulate is not authorized to issue an Apostille. However, it will continue to provide acknowledgment and jurat services to walk-in applicants regardless of whether the origin of the document is an Apostille country or not.

Documents executed and apostollized in Apostille countries except for Austria, Finland, Germany and Greece, shall no longer be authenticated by the Philippine Embassy or Consulate. There shall be no change in the authentication process in non-Apostille countries and in Austria, Finland, Germany and Greece. Attached is a list of basic information (FAQs) on the Apostille process in the Philippines. END

09 May 2019