Legalisation of documents

Legalisation of documents

Legalisation of documents

Legalisation of documents allows official documents originating from one country to be recognized when presented in another country.

Legalisation of document is a verification of the signature, the position of the signatory and the stamp in the document in cases of bearing the stamp applied on the document. Legalisation of document is carried out by Ministry of Foreign Affairs (address J. Tumo-Vaižganto str. 2, LT-01108 Vilnius) and diplomatic representations or consular posts of the Republic of Lithuania.

Following official documents are legalisable:

• Issued by government or municipal institutions or officials, also by prosecutor, court official or person implementing court decisions
• Administrative documents
• Notarial acts
• Official confirmations of documents signed by natural persons
• Notarial transcripts of official documents

Documents have to be orderly and readable. If the document consists of few pages, they have to be affixed or sewn together.

Each document is approved separately (e. g. diploma and its appendix are two (2) separate documents).

The legalisation of Police Clearance Certificates for foreign citizens who intend to study in Lithuania is done at MFA of the Republic of Lithuania through the educational institutions. The students should contact the educational institutions in Lithuania, in which they plan to study and to clarify the process of the legalisation of documents.

Regarding foreign documents legalisation at the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the Republic of Estonia:

Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania to the Republic of Estonia accepts documents for legalisation issued by states to which Embassy is not accredited, if they meet the following criteria:

• the foreign citizen, who is submitting the documents, must legally reside in the Republic of Estonia;
• the foreign citizen must personally submit the documents of himself or his family members (husband, wife, parents, children and adopted children);
• the documents, which will be submitted for legalisation at the Embassy of Lithuania to Estonia, must be additionally legalized at the diplomatic mission of the issuing state operating in the Republic of Estonia.

If the documents do not meet the above mentioned criteria, it will not be accepted by the Consular Officer of the Republic of Lithuania. Such documents must be submitted for legalization directly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, in accordance with the procedure established by it - https://keliauk.urm.lt/en/consular-services/legalisation or to the diplomatic missions of the Republic of Lithuania where these criteria are met.

The above mentioned criteria also apply to the acceptance of documents for legalisation issued by foreign missions operating in the Estonia too.

A foreign citizen, who is submitting documents for legalisation, must book an appointment to the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in advance (https://keliauk.urm.lt/consult_registration) and must receive a positive confirmation before coming to the Embassy of Lithuania. When booking an appointment in the registration system, “Document legalisation service” must be chosen, and a person must submit a copy of the document that needs to be legalized in the required field “Copy of the document you wish to legalize”. Available document submission formats – jpg, git, heic, pdf.

When submitting documents for legalisation, following elements are to be included:

• the document (original or a notarised copy [in case of documents originating from Lithuania]) to be legalised;
• valid passport or other identity document of the person submitting the document for legalisation;
• the original document proving that an applicant belongs to the consular district of the Embassy (Estonia);
• a free-form request (an application letter including following information: country in which the legalised document is to be submitted and applicant’s contact details (e-mail address and telephone No);
• consular fee for legalisation of one document - 30 EUR. Payment is by card only.

During a single visit no more than 5 documents can be submitted for legalisation. 

Upon legalisation of documents the applicant is notified using contact data from respective request / free form application letter as laid-out above.

IMPORTANT! Documents issued before 11 of March of 1990 with symbols of Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic are not legalisable. The latter documents must be presented in their renewed contemporary issue.

Legalisation of documents is not required when the documents are drawn up and / or issued by diplomatic representations or consular posts of foreign states resident in the Republic of Lithuania.

Certification of documents by Apostille

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 in the Republic of Estonia with a request to act as an intermediary in forwarding the documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania.

The Apostille does not certify administrative documents directly related to trade or customs operations.

Documents can only be accepted at the Embassy if an appointment to the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania is booked and confirmed in advance (https://keliauk.urm.lt/consult_registration).

The following documents must be submitted to the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in the Republic of Estonia when requesting to forward documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania:

• the document (original or notarised copy) for which the Apostille certificate is required;
• a valid passport or other identity document of the person providing the document;
• a document proving legal residence in the Republic of Estonia;
• a free-form application form containing the following information: the applicant's contact details (e-mail address and telephone number), the country in which the document certified by the Apostille will be presented;
• consular fee of EUR 30 (per document). Payment by bank card only.

The Apostille is only validated at the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when the document is requested through the Embassy.