How to sign documents for use in a foreign country..
South Africa is a signatory to the Hague Convention which provides a process to follow to sign and validate documents in South Africa if you want to use them overseas.
This also applies to sending documents such as degree certificates or copies to another country to evidence your qualifications. And it also applies to signing documents overseas for use in South Africa, such as Conveyancing documents and Wills
In terms of the Hague Convention signed in 1961, documents from one participating country for use in another country, needs to be authenticated by a Notary Public and in turn the signature of the Notary needs to be verified by attaching an Apostile signed by an authorised authority in South Africa. In the case of documents signed overseas for use in South Africa, the Apostile needs to be signed by an authorised official in that country.
A list of the authorised authorities is registered with the Convention Bureau and in the case of South Africa can be:
- a magistrate
- registrar of the High Court
- any person designated by the Director General: Justice
- the Director General: International Relations and Co-operation.
Mc Naught and Co will help
As Notaries Public, you can bring your documents to us for authentication. Copies of documents can be certified or special documents required to be signed can be signed before us, and in turn we arrange for an Apostile authenticating our Notary to be signed by the High Court and attached to your documents. In the case of documents to be signed in a foreign country for use in South Africa, we can give you the steps to follow to do this correctly.
