Convention of Accession of Pakistan to the Apostille

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government has acceded to the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Legalization of Foreign Public Documents (Apostille Convention), the Foreign Ministry said.

The convention reduces the process of authenticating public documents to a single formality, that is, the issuance of an authentication certificate called an “Apostille” by the designated authority of the country where the document was issued.

“Therefore, foreign public documents authenticated by Apostille can be submitted directly to the relevant authorities without any further attestation requirements,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In line with the obligations as a contracting state to the Convention, he added that the relevant authorities in Pakistan will now accept Foreign Apostille Certificates issued by the members/Contracting States of the convention from the date of entry into force, i.e. the March 9, 2023, without any attestation requirement from Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Pakistan Missions abroad.

He added that the process of issuing “Apostille Certificates” by Pakistan will also start in a few months once the necessary legislation and other requirements are completed.

“Normal certification services will continue as usual at Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, field offices and missions abroad,” it added.

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