Document legalization, attestation or apostille is required when Indonesian official documents, issued by the Indonesian government, are to be used abroad for official purposes. Usually legalization, attestation or apostille is requested by foreign governments when Indonesian nationals are applying for work or stay permits in these countries.
Indonesian documents need to be legalized, attested or apostilled by the Indonesian government and in certain case a notarization from a notary public is also required. By legalizing or apostilling a document, the Indonesian government confirms the legal status of the documents.
PNB Immigration Law Firm handles hundreds of legalization and attestation cases on annual basis. Our designated consular team is specialized in handling any type of legalization, attestation or apostille request.
PROCEDURE OF DOCUMENT LEGALIZATIoN, ATTESTATION or Apostille
The procedure of document legalization or attestation depends on following factors: :
- The type of document which needs to be legalized;
- Whether the original, copy and/or translation will need to be legalized; and
- The requirements from the Embassy or Consulate;
The minimum steps which need to be taken for general legalization process through the following government bodies:
- the Ministry of Law and Human Rights;
- the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
- the related Foreign Embassy
Following Indonesia’s accession to the Apostille Convention, there has been a transition in the method of document authentication for use in countries that are also members of the Convention. This new process simplifies the previous procedure by eliminating the need for embassy or consular legalization.
Under the Apostille system, official Indonesian documents intended for use in Apostille member countries can now be authenticated with a single Apostille certificate issued by the Ministry of Law of Republic Indonesia. This approach streamlines the procedure and making it more efficient for handling cross-border legal or administrative matters.
Despite this simplification, additional steps are often required, such as translation of the original document into English or any other foreign language, notarization of the document, and legalization of the document at related government institutions. For example, a marriage book must, in addition to above steps, be legalized at the local religious office and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
If you require personalized advice, please do not hesitate to contact us. A member of our consular team will reach out to you shortly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is it possible to only legalize the copy of the original document?
This should be checked with the foreign authority requesting the legalization. Some authorities will allow legalization on a copy of the original, while others require the legalization to be performed on the original.
Q: Is personal attendance required during the legalization or apostille process?
No, personal attendance is not required. Our firm can handle the full legalization in Indonesia by using a power of attorney, where the client authorizes our firm to perform the legalization on the client’s behalf.
Q: My document is laminated, can it be legalized?
No, we cannot legalize a document which is laminated. The reason is that the stickers and stamps will not hold properly on the plastic lamination, so governments will refuse to legalize a laminated document.
In case a document is laminated you may try to remove the back of the lamination. If the back is removed we can place the legalization stickers or stamps on the back of the document.