Legalization of documents; certification of documents by an Apostille

It is required that documents issued by institutions of foreign states or their copies should be legalized or certified by an Apostille prior to their submission to state institutions of Lithuania.

The procedure of legalization is more complicated. A document issued by an institution of a foreign state should be legalized in the foreign state and then in Lithuania. The process of certification of a document by an Apostille is simpler and shorter; however, certification of a document by an Apostille is not available in all states.

Certification of documents by an Apostille is possible in the states having joined to the 1961 Hague Convention abolishing the requirement of legalization for documents issued in foreign states. The states where legalization of documents has been abolished and certification of documents by an Apostille is applied are listed below: 

1. Ireland;
2. Republic of Albania; 
3. Principality of Andorra;
4. Antigva and Barbuda;
5. Republic of Argentina;
6. Republic of Armenia;
7. Australia;
8. Republic of Austria;
9. Republic of Azerbaijan;
10. The Commonwealth of the Bahamas;
11. Bahrain;
12. Republic of Belarus;
13. Barbados;
14. Kingdom of Belgium;
15. Belize;
16. Bosnia and Herzegovina;
17. Republic of Botswana;
18. Brunei Darussalam;
19. Republic of Bulgaria;
20. Republic of Burundi;
21. Republic of Czechia;
22. Kingdom of Denmark;
23. Dominican Republic;
24. Commonwealth of Dominica;
25. Republic of Ecuador;
26. Republic of Estonia;
27. Republic of Fiji;
28. Republic of Greece;
29. Grenada;
30. Georgia;
31. Republic of Honduras;
32. Hon Kong Special Administrative Region of People’s Republic of China;
33. Republic of India;
34. Republic of Iceland;
35. Kingdom of Spain;
36. Republic of Italy;
37. State of Israel;
38. Japan;
39. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;
40. United States of America;
41. Republic of Montenegro;
42. Cabo Verde;
43. Republic of Kazakhstan;
44. Republic of Cyprus
45. Republic of Kyrgyzstan;
46. Republic of Columbia;
47. Republic of Korea;
48. Costa Rica;
49. Republic of Croatia;
50. Cook Islands;
51. Republic of Latvia;
52. Republic of Poland;
53. Kingdom of Lesotho;
54. Republic of Liberia;
55. Principality of Liechtenstein;
56. Republic of Lithuania;
57. Grand Duchy of Luxembourg;
58. Macao Special Administrative Region of People’s Republic of China;
59. The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia;
60. Republic of Malawi;
61. Republic of Malta;
62. Republic of the Marshall Islands;
63. Republic of Mauritius;
64. United Mexican States;
65. Republic of Moldova;
66. Principality of Monaco;
67. Mongolia;
68. Republic of Namibia;
69. New Zealand;
70. Nicaragua;
71. Niue
72. Kingdom of the Netherlands;
73. Kingdom of Norway;
74. Oman;
75. Republic of Panama;
76. Paraguay;
77. Peru;
78. Republic of South Africa;
79. Republic of Portugal;
80. Republic of France;
81. Romania;
82. Russian Federation;
83. Republic of El Salvador;
84. Independent State of Samoa;
85. Republic of San Marino;
86. Sao Tome and Principe;
87. Republic of Seychelles;
88. Saint Kitts and Nevis;
89. Saint Lucia;
90. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines;
91. Republic of Serbia;
92. Republic of Slovakia;
93. Republic of Slovenia;
94. Republic of Suriname;
95. Republic of Finland;
96. Kingdom of Swaziland;
97. Kingdom of Sweden;
98. Swiss Confederation;
99. Republic of Tajikistan;
100. Kingdom of Tonga;
101. Republic of Trinidad and Tobago;
102. Republic of Turkey;
103. Ukraine;
104. Uruguay;
105. Uzbekistan;
106. Republic of Vanuatu;
107. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela;
108. Republic of Hungary;
109. Federal Republic of Germany.

In states that are not listed above, documents issued by foreign institutions should be legalized.

In Lithuania, legalization or certification by Apostille is not required for documents issued in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia and Latvia. 

If a foreign state has joined to the 08 September 1976 Vienna Convention on Multilingual Extracts from Civil Status Records, any extracts from civil status records (such a records on birth, marriage, death etc.) in the form approved by the said Convention issued by a competent institution of such a state shall be accepted in Lithuania without legalization or certification by an Apostille

The states having joined to the Convention include:

Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece (not ratified), Spain, Italy, Montenegro, Croatia, Poland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Moldova, Netherlands, Portugal, France, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, Germany.