25th of April 2023
Immigration
Impact Medium
Summary
On 8 March 2023 Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands deposited the People’s Republic of China’s instrument of accession to the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents of 5 October 1961 (commonly known as the Apostille Convention). Until now, the Convention only applied to the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao. The accession of the People’s Republic of China will officially come into force on 7 November 2023, which is 60 days after the end of the six-month period during which the contracting parties can raise an objection to the People’s Republic of China accession. Should a state object, this only means that the Apostille Convention between that state and the People’s Republic of China will not be applicable. The People’s Republic of China is the 125th signatory of the Convention.
The Details
The Apostille Convention replaces the complicated and time-consuming procedure of legalizing public documents drawn up in the territory of the People’s Republic of China and to be presented in the territory of another contracting state with a shorter and simpler apostille procedure. This should potentially greatly simplify the use of Chinese public documents abroad, including powers of attorney and personal status certificates, which are often required to obtain a residence permit abroad. It will also facilitate business relations with the People’s Republic of China.
Documents covered by the Apostille Convention
The Apostille Convention applies to the following public documents:
a) Documents issued by a state court or by a public official acting as an organ of the administration of justice, including documents issued by the public prosecutor’s office or by a public interest representative, by a clerk of a court or by a bailiff.
b) Administrative documents.
c) Notarial acts.
d) Official certificates affixed to private documents, such as endorsements of registration, endorsements establishing a specific date and certifications of signatures.
What is an apostille?
The apostille is an official certificate issued by a designated authority of a country in accordance with the established procedure of the underlying Apostille Convention certifying the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted or the identity of the seal or stamp. It is issued in the form of a sticker affixed to the documents itself or to a separate sheet. The apostille does not confirm the contents of the document, but merely its correct issuance, eliminating possibility of fraud.
Each country that has signed the Apostille Convention determines which authority is responsible for issuing apostilles. Upon accession to the Apostille Convention, the Chinese government declared that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China should be responsible for issuing apostilles to public documents originated in the People’s Republic of China. Once certified by the Chinese authorities, the documents can be used without any further procedures in every country that is a party to the Apostille Convention and has not raised an objection to the accession of People’s Republic of China within six months from depositing the instrument of accession.
The process so far for obtaining a legalized Chinese document for use abroad
Until 7 November 2023, it is still necessary to complete the traditional multi-step legalization process to be able to use a Chinese public document abroad. Legalization is carried out by the consular officer of the locally competent mission abroad of the state in which the document is to be used.
Consular legalization is only possible if the document was issued by a public notary’s office in the People’s Republic of China for use abroad. Since Chinese documents are usually only issued for use within the People’s Republic of China and cannot be legalized in this form, a notarial document must consequently first be drawn up by the locally competent public notary’s office based on the original document, which must contain a copy of the original document certified by the notary as well as confirmation of the authenticity of the document. The notarized document must then be certified by the Foreign Affairs Office responsible for the notary’s office. Only after the notarization, the document can be legalized by the competent mission abroad.
What this means
The three-step legalization process which often takes weeks and significant resources to complete will as of 7 November 2023 be simplified to a single-step apostille process. Until now, mainly accompanying family members were affected by excessively long process times, which not infrequently also affected an employee’s entry. This will now improve unless Germany objects.
How we can help
We can assist you, your employees, and candidates as well as their family members in obtaining an apostille for documents required in the German visa application process.
Contact us
For a deeper discussion on the above, please reach out to your Vialto Partners point of contact, or:
• Mostafa Massoud, Rechtsanwalt (Lawyer) | mostafa.massoud@vialto.com
• Inga Mayer, Rechtsanwältin (Lawyer) | inga.m.mayer@vialto.com
• Eva Witt, Rechtsanwältin (Lawyer) | eva.witt@vialto.com
Further information on Vialto Partners can be found here: www.vialtopartners.com
Vialto Partners (“Vialto”) refers to wholly owned subsidiaries of CD&R Galaxy UK OpCo Limited as well as the other members of the Vialto Partners global network. The information contained in this document is for general guidance on matters of interest only. Vialto is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. All information is provided “as is”, with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will Vialto, its related entities, or the agents or employees thereof be liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken in reliance on the information in this document or for any consequential, special or similar damages, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
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Further information on Vialto Partners can be found here: www.vialtopartners.com
Vialto Partners (“Vialto”) refers to wholly owned subsidiaries of CD&R Galaxy UK OpCo Limited as well as the other members of the Vialto Partners global network. The information contained in this document is for general guidance on matters of interest only. Vialto is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. All information is provided “as is”, with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will Vialto, its related entities, or the agents or employees thereof be liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken in reliance on the information in this document or for any consequential, special or similar damages, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
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