The Legalisation Unit within the Consular Services Office aims to provide a quick and reliable service to all clients who require
official documents to be legalised.
Types of Documents
The Legalisation Unit legalises:
- Original documents
that have been issued by Public Entities in Malta such as the Public Registry,
Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), the Malta Police Force, and the
University of Malta amongst others;
- Copies of documents which have
been notarised as being true copies of
originals by Public Notaries, Lawyers and Certified Public Accountants and
Auditors,
who are duly registered with the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade (MFET);
- Translated
documents, only when these
have been translated by a translator whose signature is registered with the
Ministry.
- Commercial
documents will be legalised/apostilled upon receipt of the
original document signed and stamped by an MFSA official registered with MFET;
- Business
documents will only be legalised/apostilled if the document is notarised
by a legal practitioner, a certified public accountant or an auditor
registered with MFET.
Legalisation Procedures
Legalisation/Apostille of documents can take place either
by the walk-in service during the visiting hours or by depositing the documents in a drop-box situated behind the main
door of the Ministry’s premises at 18, Zachary Street, Valletta. The procedures
outlined below should be observed when using these services.
Walk-in Service
When
visiting our offices, hand sanitisation and the wearing of masks are mandatory.
Clients will be allowed inside the building after their temperature has been
checked.
It
is advisable that for any legalisation queries, clients avoid visiting the
office and instead call or send an email to clarify their query. For contact
details, click here.
Drop-box
Clients with more than ten (10) documents for
legalisation must leave their documents in the drop-box.
Additionally, those clients who wish to leave their
documents at the office and collect them later, may also deposit their
documents in the drop-box.
All documents deposited in the drop-box will be
ready for collection within three (3) working days from date of receipt by
the office.
When depositing the documents, it is important that
one take note of the following:
- The documents must be placed in a sealed
envelope marked “Legalisation”, flagging each document to indicate the
country of use,
- Payment should be made by cheque payable
to the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade (€20 for commercial/€12 for personal
documents) and inserted in the envelope,
- Mobile number should be included so that
officers will be able to call back once documents are ready for collection.
Information concerning the circulation
between Member States of certain public documents
Pursuant
to an EU Regulation
which
promotes the free movement of citizens, as from 16 February 2019, certain public
documents and their certified copies are exempt from legalisation and the
apostille formality within the EU. For some of these documents (see below
in bold), you can also request a multilingual standard form to avoid
translation requirements and, in any case, a certified translation made in any
EU Member State must be accepted.
The
exemption from legalisation and the apostille formality only applies to
documents and their certified copies issued by the public authorities of a
Member State and presented to the public authorities of another Member State.
Such are:
- documents
emanating from a court or a court official;
- administrative
documents;
- notarial
acts;
- official
certificates placed on private documents;
- diplomatic
and consular documents.
Furthermore,
the exemption applies only to documents establishing one or more of the facts as
listed below:
- birth
- death
- a person being alive
- name
- marriage, capacity to marry and
marital status
- divorce,
legal separation or marriage annulment
- registered partnership, capacity to
enter into a registered partnership and registered partnership status
- dissolution
of a registered partnership, legal separation or annulment of a registered
partnership
- parenthood
or adoption
- domicile and/or residence
- nationality
- absence of a criminal record
- standing
as candidates or voting in elections to the European Parliament or in municipal
elections in another Member State.
Those
in bold indicate that they are also available in a multilingual standard
form. However, it is important to note that not all standard forms are
issued in all Member States. Multilingual standard forms may only be
used in another Member State and must be presented together with the public
document to which it is attached.
Where
a Member State allows
the presentation of a certified copy of a public document instead of the
original, the authorities of that Member State must accept a certified copy
made in the Member State where the public document was issued.
More
information on the regulation and the multilingual standard forms may be
obtained from the Public
Registry which falls under the remit of Identity Malta Agency (IMA).
Legalisation of Signatures on Public Documents
Official public
documents that require legalisation must always contain an original signature
of a person based in Malta and registered with MFET. Documents will be
legalised once the signature has been matched with the original signature
available at the Ministry’s database.
Once the authenticity of the signature has been
ascertained, the document will be legalised through the affixation of either an
Apostille certificate or a Legalisation certificate.
Documents destined for countries that have not
signed The Hague Convention on the
recognition of Apostille certificates will require a Legalisation
certificate from the Ministry.
Subsequently, this would have to be counter-legalised by a representative
of the country where the document is intended for presentation. It is to be
noted that counter-legalisations are done at various embassies and consulates
in Malta. In the absence of a diplomatic representation in Malta, documents
need to be sent by the client to the Embassy accredited to Malta abroad.
Clients living abroad who need their Maltese
documents apostilled/legalised are to contact the Legalisation Unit.
Clients who wish to check whether the signature of
a professional or a translator is registered with the Ministry for
legalisation/apostille purpose may click here and enter the name and surname
of this professional or translator.
In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679
(GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (Cap. 586), details of signatories registered with the Ministry cannot be
divulged to the public, as the purpose of the registration is to compare
signatures before the legalising of documents, and therefore, this search
function will only confirm or otherwise whether the signatory is registered
with the Ministry. In conformity with Article 25 of the GDPR, the Ministry has implemented appropriate measures to ensure that the
database of signatories at its end, is not accessible to the public without the
intervention of the individual.
Registering a Signature with MFET
Professionals or any other designated persons who
wish to have their signature registered with the Ministry, should fill in the Specimen Signature Form which may be downloaded by clicking here.
The following documentation must be presented upon
submission of the application form:
- Lawyers
and Notaries
– Covering letter, copy of warrant and copy of
ID Card. If the person will be signing documents on behalf of the company,
the application form should include a covering letter with the company’s
letterhead and signed by the Head of the Company.
- Public
Certified Accountants and Auditors – Covering letter, copy of warrant and
copy of ID Card. If the person will be signing documents on behalf of the
company, the application form should include a covering letter with the
company’s letterhead and signed by the Head of the Company.
- Heads
of Schools – Covering letter and copy of ID Card.
- Heads of International
Schools – Covering letter,
copy of ID Card and a Certificate issued from the Ministry for Education.
- Consuls/Diplomats – Original Note
Verbale and copy of Diplomatic Card.
- Government
Officials – Covering letter from direct superior
and copy of ID Card.
- Translators – Covering letter, a degree (Grade 6 or higher) related to linguistics/translation, and a copy of ID Card (applicants must possess a Maltese ID card or residence permit). If the interested translator is in possession of a foreign academic qualification, he/she must submit the recognition and comparability of the academic qualifications to Maltese qualifications issued by MQRIC (https://ncfhe.gov.mt/en/services/Pages/All%20Services/mqric.aspx). If the person will be signing documents on behalf of the company, the application form should include a covering letter with the company’s letterhead and signed by the Head of Company.
It is imperative to note that
the Ministry will reserve the right to refuse any application for registration
of signatures if the applicant does not meet the eligibility requirements
referred to above.
Registration
of signatures will have a validity period of three (3) years from the date of
registration date. Subsequently, a month before the expiry period, each
signatory will be notified by an email to renew his/her application unless s/he
wishes to have the registered signature removed from the Ministry’s database. Signatories
who fail to renew their registration will no longer be recognised for
Apostille/Legalisation purposes.
It is
also the signatory’s responsibility to inform the Legalisation Unit of any
changes affected to the information submitted in the Specimen Signature Form
within the 3-year validity of the submitted form. Failure to notify this Unit
of any changes in the information submitted by the signatory, including of
surname, designation, organisation and changes in specimen signature and
rubber-stamps, will lead to the rejection of the apostille/legalisation on a
document endorsed by the signatory.
Fees and Methods of Payment
A fee of €20.00 per document is charged. However, in the cases of personal documents such as certificates issued from the Public Registry or University, a fee of €12.00 per document is charged. Payment may be affected either by cheque payable to the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade or by debit/credit card.
Important notice:
From January 1st, 2022, in terms of Directive 19 issued by the Central Bank of Malta, cheques cannot be issued for amounts of €20 or below. In these instances, payment should be made by debit/credit card or postal order.
Adoption documents
These are legalised free of charge upon presentation of a covering letter issued from the
Adoption Agency.
Help us providing you with a better service
This can be done by:
- checking in which country the documents will
be used;
- providing us with a translation done in
Malta when the documents need to
be translated;
- if the documents are copies, ensuring that these have been notarised, (except for
Malta Business Registry documents which must be presented originally signed by
MBR Desk Officers to be eligible for the apostille).