What is an Apostille?

As many of you Americans know, it is essential to obtain an Apostille in order to obtain your visa to come to teach in Korea. We at HandS Korea have heard many questions about this tricky little piece of paper. Why do I have to have it? What is it? This blog is dedicated to giving you a bit of history about the Apostille and information about why you have to have it!

The Apostille originated from a conference at the Hague Convention in 1961 which specified that a document from one country can be used in another via a special certificate : the Apostille. It is similar to an international notarization and almost always pertains to foreign legal documents.

** For Canadians : Canada does not recognize the Apostille. That is why you as Canadians have to go to the consulate to get a notarization from the Korean consulate nearest you!

To see what countries are members of this agreement, visit the Hague Conference website.



Sources : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostille

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hague_Convention_Abolishing_the_Requirement_of_Legalisation_for_Foreign_Public_Documents