The legalisation of official documents in Andorra involves a series of steps that normally have to be carried out in person and before governmental bodies in the country. It is important to clarify that the document legalisation procedures carried out by our legal-fiscal platform are part of our residency application service. They are only available to our business clients who apply for the opening of trade and activity together with residency in Andorra as part of our services.
How to legalize official documents in Andorra?
Any foreign public document to be valid in Andorra must be previously legalized and any Andorran document to be valid abroad must also be legalized.
For Andorran public documents that have to be presented in a foreign country, there are two options to legalize the documents:
Hague Apostille:
This procedure is valid only for member countries of the Hague Convention and consists of a single procedure.
It is a single legalization procedure that consists of certifying the authenticity of the document by means of a stamp applied on the document itself. In this way, they are automatically recognized in any of the member countries of the Convention without the need of any other procedure or diplomatic legalization.
For our clients who apply for residency in Andorra, we take care of preparing all the necessary documentation. It is necessary to submit, together with the document to be legalized issued by an Andorran authority, an application for legalization of documents in the corresponding office.
The Apostille can be verified in the electronic registry of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
Traditional diplomatic process:
Consular legalization can have several parts and would be the valid option for non-member countries of the Hague Convention.
A request for legalization of documents must be submitted together with the document to be legalized at any General Administration Procedures Service. To complete the consular legalization, it is necessary to submit the documents to the competent consular section of the country of destination. You can contact your residency advisor for more information about our document legalization services.
In order for public documents issued abroad to be recognized in Andorra, they also require the legalization of the signature by means of the Hague Apostille or through consular legalization. The Apostille is only valid for member countries and only for public documents. In this link you can find which authority in the country of origin processes the Apostille. If the document was issued by a non-member country of the Hague Convention, consular legalization is required. Generally, each authority involved must legalize the last signature of the document, forming a chain of acknowledgements of signatures, from the authority that issued the document to the authority that receives it. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Andorra is aware that this procedure can be complicated and time-consuming. For this reason, it offers its assistance to users who need it by calling +376 875 704.
Our clients may request further information or assistance in carrying out any of these procedures by consulting their assigned residency advisor.