Apostille

For any document issued abroad to take effect in Brazil, it is necessary to have the original document certified with an “apostille” by the competent local authority or legalized by a Brazilian consular authority.

Note: Apostille certification and consular legalization ratify the document as to the identity and function of its signatory. It does not imply acceptance or approval of the document, the validity of which will be assessed by the competent authority in Brazil.

Since August 2016, when Brazil has joined the “Hague Apostille Convention”, documents issued by countries party to the Convention – including the Philippines, Marshall Islands, Palau, Guam (USA) and Northern Mariana Islands (USA), which are part of our consular jurisdiction – no longer have to be legalized by this Embassy in order to have effect in Brazil, as long as they are certified with an apostille. Apostille certificates are exclusively signed by certain authorities appointed to that end in each of the signatory countries.

It is recommended that any question about this process be addressed to the office of the Apostille authority as it might be necessary to have the document notarized first by certain local notaries prior to submitting a document to the Apostille authority.

For information on addresses and names of authorities competent to sign apostilled public documents, please visit the following link: https://www.hcch.net/en/states/authorities/.

In the Philippines, also party to the convention since May 2019, the Department of Foreign Affairs – DFA is responsible for the affixation of the apostille. Once an apostille has been issued by the DFA, the document issued in the Philippines is also valid in Brazil.

Documents issued in Brazil

The Embassy does not issue apostilles on Brazilian documents. Information regarding the issuance of apostilles on Brazilian documents to be used abroad can be found on the website of the National Justice Council (CNJ).

Important! After legalization or apostille certification, documents written in a foreign language (not Portuguese) must be translated in Brazil by a sworn translator (tradutor juramentado) in order to be valid.

Queries can be sent to the CNJ ombudsman.

Documents issued in other countries

If a document is issued in a country party to the Convention, it must be duly apostilled.

In case a country is not party of the Convention, the document must be legalized by the competent Brazilian consular office in that country or jurisdiction.