Authentication and Apostille of Irish public documents for use abroad

The below (non-exhaustive) list of original documents are considered to be public documents that are accepted for legalisation without the necessity for additional formalities or requirements. (Documents printed from a website or email do not come under this category).

These documents do not require any prior certification as they are public documents. In general, such documents must be original government, administrative or publically-issued documents with an ink signature and/or seal and/or stamp.

• Irish birth, adoption, death and marriage certificates (if not falling under the EU regulation as described above)
  • Only original documents issued by the Irish General Register Office will be legalised
• Naturalisation Certificates
  • Original Certificate issued by the Department of Justice with photograph, name, date of birth, and Certificate Number
• Medical Reports
  • Must be originals, signed and dated by a doctor on the Medical Council of Ireland Register, and stamped with an original wet ink stamp.
• Garda Clearance Certificates
  • Must be signed and dated by a staff member of An Garda Síochána, and bear an original wet ink stamp of the relevant issuing Garda station
• Garda Fingerprint document
  • Must bear original signature and wet ink stamp of An Garda Síochána
• Documents issued by the Irish Courts
  • Must be dated and stamped by the Court Registrar/bear the seal of the Court
  • Eg. Divorce decrees, change of name by Deed Poll
• Civil Letters of freedom to marry abroad (Certificats de Coutume) and Certificates of Single Status for use abroad (if not falling under the EU Regulation as described above)
  • Issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, signed and dated by a Departmental officer authorised to sign on behalf of the Minister
• Documents issued by Irish Government Departments and publicly funded bodies
  • Must be signed, dated and stamped with an original wet ink stamp and include contact details for verification purposes
• Irish Educational Certificates
  • Issued/awarded by a body recognised by the Department of Education or Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI)
  • Photocopies of educational certificates must have been stamped with the original wet ink stamp of issuing authority
• Other documents issued by Irish education institutions
  • Must be issued by a body recognised by the Department of Education or Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), and must be stamped with an original wet ink stamp
  • Eg school report / transcript
• Leaving Certificate
  • Original final Certificate issued by the State Examination Commission
• Coroners Certificate
  • Original final or interim Certificate of Fact of Death
  • Eg. To facilitate removal of body outside the State
• Cremation Certificate
  • The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will confirm the details with cemetery before it can be authenticated / Apostilled
• Documents issued, signed and stamped by the Companies Registration Office (CRO)
• Documents issued, signed and stamped by the Revenue Commissioners
• Documents issued, signed and stamped by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HRPA)
• Certificates of Origin issued, signed and stamped by Chambers of Commerce. (Chambers Ireland /AICC)

The following (non-exhaustive) list of private documents, if appropriately certified by one of the above appropriately qualified persons, in accordance with the below guidelines, may be legalised for use abroad.

• Certified photocopies of the documents listed in section 5.1 above
  • If a notary/solicitor is certifying that a document is a true and genuine copy of an original document, it follows that they must certify that they personally saw the original document, which was presented to them, and the photocopy is a true and faithful copy of the original document
• Copies of Irish Passports
  • Copies of Irish passports may be certified by the Irish Passport Office or an Irish Notary Public/solicitor. As above, if certifying that a passport is a true and genuine copy of an original passport, it follows that they must certify that they personally saw the original passport, which was presented to them, and the photocopy is a true and faithful copy of the original passport
• Leaving Certificate Statement of Provisional Results
• Psychologist Reports
  • Must be signed by Psychologist registered on Psychological Society of Ireland
• Psychotherapist / Counsellor Reports
  • Must be signed by Psychotherapist / Counsellor registered on the Irish Council for Psychotherapy and/or Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
• Embalming Certificates
• Funeral Home Remains Certificate
  • Eg. Certificate of contents of urn / coffin
• Copies of non-Irish Passports
  • In general, applicants requiring that copies of non-Irish passports be legalised will be redirected to seek legalisation from the relevant country of the issuing authority, as such an authority can authenticate the validity of the original passport
  • Copies of passports will only be legalised by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the following circumstances:
    • Copies of non-Irish passports that have been stamped/verified by the Embassy of the issuing country, and certified as a true copy by a practicing Irish solicitor/Irish Notary
• Documents containing translations
  • Translated documents must be translated by an Irish registered translator, and then notarised. (Translators must be registered on ATII or be from an Irish registered translation company with CRO number). The translator must sign and date the translation and must set out their qualification to translate. Translated documents must be bound together, and the Notaries certification must be on the English version of the document, or on a covering Notarial Certificate
  • The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade does not accept for legalisation translations of foreign passports, foreign birth certificates or foreign educational qualifications, despite being translated in Ireland
  • Translations of degree certificates issued by a university, where the original Irish certificate is issued in Latin may be accepted for legalisation. They must be originals with a wet ink stamp of the issuing body, or be certified by a solicitor/notary
• Documents in dual language format
  • If the document is in dual languages (other than Irish and English), and are not translated by a registered translator, it should not state that one language is a translation of the other. Use of the word ‘version’ (or something similar) should be used in place of the word ‘translation’ on dual language documents
  • Public documents, eg birth certificate, marriage certificate etc. must be translated by a certified Irish translator. They cannot use ‘versions’ as per above.
• Private documents, and photocopies of same
• Affidavits
  • The jurat (or swearing clause) must contain sufficient detail as to how the solicitor, notary or commissioner for oaths has established the identity of the deponent (person making the affidavit) including specific detail of the photographic identification used, stating clearly that the deponent was in the physical presence of the solicitor, notary, or commissioner for oaths. The jurat must state the date and the place (county/city) where the affidavit was sworn, and it must be signed. Any documents attached to the affidavit (exhibits) must be signed by the deponent and the solicitor/notary/commissioner for oaths. Improperly completed jurats will result in the legalisation being refused.
• Powers of Attorney
• Bundles containing multiple documents
  • These must be secured together so they cannot be interfered with after being legalised. They must be sufficiently certified for all relevant documents within
• Company Documents
  • Eg, Financial Statements, Invoices, Company Constitution, Board Resolution, Minutes
• Certified Signatures
• Adoption Dossiers
  • Should not contain copies of foreign passport or birth certificates, unless copies of passport made in the presence of the Notary Public, and stamped/verified by relevant issuing authority
• Post-Placement Reports following Adoptions
  • As above
• Documents issued by EU agencies for Irish companies
  • Eg. ISO, BSI, GMP, Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product.
  • Must be notarised with notarial certificate outlining clear Irish link
• Export documents

There can be reasons that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is unable to accept documents for Legalisation. This could relate to the document itself, the contents of the document or the certification of the document.

The below (non-exhaustive) list contains some examples. The Department reserves the right to amend and update this list periodically.

• Foreign Documents.
  • Both originals, certified copies and translations
• Notarised documents issued by non-EU agencies for Irish companies
• Laminated documents
• Leaving Certificate results issued by schools
• Dual language documents where the Notary/Solicitor has only applied a certification to the foreign language document
• Certification of an underlying document or a copy of a document that is in a language other than English or Irish and there is no accompanying English translation/version
• Multilingual Standard Forms
• Documents presented solely in a language other than English or Irish
• Translations of foreign passports, foreign birth certificates or foreign educational qualifications, despite being translated in Ireland
• Individual documents which have an expiry date that has passed, and bundles that contain these documents
  • Unless in extenuating circumstances eg. person deceased
• Documents that contain e-signatures, unless notarised and notary has specified they have seen/verified the original e-signature
• Documents containing only an electronic signature – with the exception of:
  • Birth certificates from the General Register Office which we authenticate as they are original certificates issued by the GRO
  • Printed digital revenue documents, as long as each document has been signed and stamped by a Revenue official
• Documents containing redactions that have not been referenced
  • Any redactions must be referenced in the document/certification of the notary
• Educational Certificates not registered with/recognised by QQI
  • Issued by schools/third level institutions which are not registered with the Department of Education/accredited by QQI. Eg;
    • TEFL / Alison / Warnborough College - accreditation based in UK;
    • Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) – accreditation based in the Netherlands;
    • American College Dublin – some courses are QQI accredited, most accredited by USA. Check to verify Irish Register of Qualification.
• Certificates issued by religious organisations
  • Includes baptism, communion, marriage, divorce and other religious certificates
• Deed Polls that have not been enrolled in the Central Office of the High Court
• Documents that have been certified as true copies of the original(s) by anyone other than the issuing authority or a notary public/solicitor
• Notarial Statements that certify that a document complies with legal requirements of a foreign country if the notary is not qualified to make such a statement
• Documents that have previously been Notarised by a foreign notary, unless this is specified in the notarial certification/statement
• Notarial statements which have no underlying document attached or referenced
• Documents that have been signed by a retired solicitor
• Documents which are incomplete. i.e. details which have not been completed
• Documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents shall not be Apostillised (as per subparagraph 3(a) of Article 1 of the Hague Convention)
  • Documents of this nature should first be authenticated, and the signature of the Department Of Foreign Affairs And Trade official who signed the authentication label can then be Apostilled. (The customer will only be charged for one stamp per document)
• Certified documents with insufficient notarial certificates / statements provided by the Public Notary / Solicitor / Commissioner for Oaths
• Certified documents stating that the underlying document is a true translation of an original without an accepted translation
• Documents certifying that a public document issued outside of Ireland is an authentic document from that foreign public authority
• Documents that have been certified by a foreign Notary Public
• Documents certifying the notarial act or certificate of a foreign Notary Public
• Documents which contents reference an attachment that is not present
• Notarial certificates where the underlying document:
  • Contains statements that appear on their face to be false;
  • Contains offensive or inflammatory language;
  • Appears on its face to be for a fraudulent or otherwise illegal purpose.
• Notarised documents with insufficient binding
  • Documents of multiple pages / bundles of multiple documents that have been Notarised by a Notary Public must be adequately sealed/bound in a way that pages cannot be interfered with, added, or removed after the notarial certificate has been applied. Eg. use of wafer stamp to cover staples. 

Other reasons why a document may be refused legalisation include:

• It is not an original document;
• It is incomplete or incorrect (such as missing a date, seal, signature, CRO or passport number, or attachments);
• The signature/stamp/seal does not match official records;
• It has been altered;
• It is damaged (including unclear dates, seals or illegible signatures);
• It doesn’t meet a statutory requirement (such as under the Power of Attorney Act 1996);
• Its content is inappropriate for legalisation (such as fraudulent or offensive);
• It has not been notarised correctly.

Our Dublin (Mount St) and Cork (South Mall) offices accept walk-in applications.

What you need to bring:

• The document(s) you want to have authenticated or Apostilled
• You need to know what country the document(s) will be used in
• The fee (can be paid at the counter, or with an Irish postal order or bank draft made payable to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)

What to expect:

• We can process a maximum of 5 documents while you wait
• Larger numbers of documents may be treated as a drop-off
• Large bundles of documents broken into smaller bundles by the same organisation cannot be accepted at the walk in service. For example, if 20 documents are broken into four groups of five by the same company, they can only be accepted as a drop-off service
• Our target turnaround time is thirty minutes from receipt of documents. (It may take longer if there are queries about your documents)
• Please note that threatening behaviour, abuse, derogatory comments or otherwise unacceptable behaviour towards our staff will not be tolerated. Any person engaging in such behaviour will not be permitted to use our public counter and will be asked to use our postal service.

Opening hours and location:

Dublin office

The Dublin office is located at 42-47 Mount Street Lower, Dublin 2. You will find the public counter on the ground floor, to the left of the reception desk.

The walk-in service operates on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, from 9.30am-12.30pm and 2.30pm-3.30pm. There is no walk-in service on Wednesday

Cork office

The Cork office is located at 1A South Mall, Cork. The walk-in service operates on Tuesday and Thursday mornings only, from 9.30am-12.30pm.

You can send your documents by post. We will process them and return them by registered post.

Our average processing time is 3-7 working days from date of receipt (excluding postage); this may take longer if there are queries about your documents. If you need your documents within a set time frame we would advise you to use our walk-in service.

We recommend that you send your documents by registered post and make a note of the tracking number. We do not accept any responsibility for lost or missing post if your item does not arrive to our offices.

What to include:

• The document(s) you want to have authenticated or Apostilled
• A cover letter with the following information:
  • Your name
  • The country you intend to use the document in
  • A contact phone number and email address
  • The address where documents should be returned to (or if you wish to collect your documents, please note this in the letter)
• The fee - a member of our team will contact you by phone on the number provided to take a card payment. Alternatively, fees can be paid by Irish postal order or bank draft, made payable to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Where to post your documents:

You can drop off your document(s) in person at our Dublin (42-47 Mount St Lower, Dublin 2) or Cork (1A South Mall) offices.

Please place all documentation in a single envelope, marked for the attention of the “Authentications Section”.

In Dublin documents can be dropped off on weekdays between 9am and 4pm.

In Cork documents can be dropped off on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9:00am and 12:30pm.

Once processed, your documents are returned to you by registered post, or you can request collection. If you are collecting, a member of our team will phone you when your documents are ready. Turnaround times for drop offs will depend on the number of documents submitted, and current postal timelines.

What to include:

• The document(s) you want to have authenticated or Apostilled
• A cover letter with the following information:
  • Your name
  • The country you intend to use the document in
  • A contact phone number and email address
  • The address where documents should be returned to (or if you wish to collect your documents, please note this in the letter)
• The fee - a member of our team will contact you by phone on the number provided to take a card payment. Alternatively, fees can be paid by Irish postal order or bank draft, made payable to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade