Legalisation of documents and approval certificate (Apostille)

Legalisation of documents and approval certificate (Apostille)

The Republic of Lithuania and the Swiss Confederation have acceded to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 on the Abolition of Legalisation of Documents Issued in Foreign Countries, so documents certified by the Swiss authorities with an Apostille certificate do not require additional legalisation. Documents certified by Apostille in Switzerland are certified by notaries, cantonal administrations and the Federal Chancellery of the Swiss Confederation.

Documents issued by the authorities of countries which have not acceded to the Hague Convention may be legalised at the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the Swiss Confederation if they will be presented in the Republic of Lithuania. Documents shall be legalised after they have been legalised by the diplomatic mission of the State concerned in Switzerland.

Applications will be accepted only after registering online in advance.

Procedures for legalising documents:

1.The diplomatic mission of the Republic of Lithuania shall accept for legalisation documents issued by the states to which the diplomatic mission is accredited (provided that those states have not acceded to the Hague Convention on the Abolition of Legalisation of Documents Issued in Foreign Countries).

2.The diplomatic mission shall also accept for legalisation documents issued by states to which the diplomatic mission of the Republic of Lithuania is not accredited, provided that they meet the following criteria:

- the citizen of the foreign country submitting the document legally resides in the country of accreditation of the diplomatic mission;

- the foreign national is presenting the documents in person for himself/herself or for members of his/her family (husband, wife, parents, children and adopted children);

- the document submitted has been additionally legalised by the diplomatic mission of the country that issued the document, which is located in the country of residence of the diplomatic mission of the Republic of Lithuania.

3.Documents issued in countries with which the Republic of Lithuania has not established diplomatic relations shall not be accepted or legalised in the diplomatic mission. There are currently 5 such states - members of the United Nations (UN): Bhutan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Papua New Guinea, South Sudan and Equatorial Guinea.

4.The above criteria apply to the acceptance for legalisation of documents issued by foreign missions in the State of residence of the diplomatic mission.

5.If the documents submitted to a diplomatic mission do not meet the above criteria, they will not be accepted at that diplomatic mission. Such documents must be submitted for legalisation directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania at https://keliauk.urm.lt/en/consular-services/legalisation, or to the diplomatic missions of the Republic of Lithuania where these criteria are met.

To certify documents issued in Lithuania with an Apostille, you can:

- Apply to any Lithuanian notary in person;

- apply to the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the Swiss Confederation with a request to act as an intermediary in forwarding the documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania.

Documents will only be accepted at the Embassy if you have registered online in advance.