Depending on the country of issuance, the documents can be divided into three groups:

A. Documents issued in countries that are parties to the Hague Convention and have executed Legal Assistance Agreements with Bulgaria (Austria, France, Poland, Hungary Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine)

B. Documents issued in countries that are parties to the Hague Convention but have not executed Legal Assistance Agreements with Bulgaria (the rest of the European countries, USA, Japan, etc.)

C. Documents issued in countries that are not parties to the Hague Convention and have not executed Legal Assistance Agreements with Bulgaria.

Group A documents:

You do not need an Apostille, if the document is issued in a country of Group A.

Group B documents:

You need an Apostille. Apostilles in different countries are issued by different authorities, so check what is the issuing authority in your country.

What is an Apostille?

An Apostille is a certificate confirming the authenticity of the signature affixed to the document, the capacity in which the official signing the document has acted, and where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which the document bears. The process is called Legalisation.

Documents that may need an Apostille are:

• birth, marriage and death certificates
• extracts from commercial registers
• court rulings
• notarial deeds, notarial attestations of signatures, declarations, affidavits, powers of attorney

The countries to the Hague Convention of 1961 recognize the validity of the document to which the apostille is affixed.

Group C documents:

You need to present the document to the Bulgarian consular section or to the mission representing Bulgaria, in case there is no Bulgarian Embassy in the country of issuance.