What this is about — and what it is not about

Anyone who applies for a residence title in Switzerland, wishes to marry, has a child registered, has a foreign higher-education degree recognised or files a naturalisation application must, in practically all cases, produce foreign public documents — birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, divorce certificates, diplomas, criminal-record extracts. For the Swiss authorities to recognise such a document as genuine, it must be authenticated. The simplest and most internationally widespread form of this authentication is the apostille under the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (SR 0.172.030.4).

This file explains the legal situation and the administrative practice. It is not individual legal advice: lawyers who advise or represent in an individual case are subject to the Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers (LLCA, SR 935.61); the general information presented here does not replace such a case-specific mandate (see section 14).

This file describes:

  • what an apostille is and when it suffices,
  • when a consular legalisation (instead of an apostille) is required,
  • which authorities in the state of origin issue the apostille,
  • how Switzerland itself issues apostilles for Swiss documents,
  • what additional requirements — in particular certified translations — exist,
  • which practical stumbling blocks most frequently lead to rejections in migration and civil-status procedures.

What this file is NOT:

  • no apostille strategy (e.g. "how do I circumvent the apostille", "how do I speed it up", "which authority is fastest"),
  • no recommendation of particular translators, notaries, embassy agents or agencies,
  • no assessment of the authenticity risk of a particular foreign document,
  • no advice in a legal order of the state of origin or of a third state — the apostille is issued in the state of origin, the respective national law is decisive and lies outside the Swiss advisory competence.

Anti-Scope (STRICT): for individual authentication questions (sequence of several apostilles, course of action where original documents have been lost, obtaining evidence from conflict or flight states), a representative specialised in migration law and entered in the BfR register is to be mandated. In asylum constellations (N/F permit), special data-protection requirements apply (Art. 97 AsylA) — see section 9.

1. What is an apostille?

The apostille is a standardised confirmation of the authenticity of a public document, affixed to the document in the state of origin by an authority competent to do so (as a rule in the form of a stamp, sticker or attached sheet). It confirms:

  • the authenticity of the signature on the document,
  • the capacity in which the signatory acted,
  • where applicable, the authenticity of the seal or stamp with which the document is provided.

The apostille does not confirm the substantive truthfulness of the document — it says nothing about whether the parents named in the birth certificate are actually the biological parents, whether the date documented in the marriage certificate is correct or whether the diploma is based on an actual study achievement. What is apostilled is the formal authenticity of the document, not its substantive content.

Legal basis

The Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (SR 0.172.030.4) — often abbreviated as the "Hague Apostille Convention" — is the public-international-law framework. Between the member states, it replaces the formerly customary multi-stage diplomatic and consular legalisation with a single confirmation in the state of origin. The vast majority of states of origin relevant to Swiss migration procedures are parties to the Convention — including all EU and EFTA states. The number of members is continuously growing; decisive is solely the current status table of the Hague Conference (HCCH), not a snapshot printed here.

Decisive source for the status of a particular state: HCCH status table for the Apostille Convention (https://www.hcch.net/de/instruments/conventions/status-table/?cid=41). Whether a concrete issuing state is a member and whether Switzerland has recognised its accession (objection procedure in the case of new accessions) is shown there on a day-to-day basis.

Form and content of the apostille

The apostille has an internationally uniform format, standardised in Annex 1 to the Hague Convention. It contains the following ten standardised particulars:

  1. the designation "Apostille (Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)" — original French designation, prescribed by public international law,
  2. the country in which the document was issued,
  3. the name of the signatory of the document,
  4. the function of the signatory,
  5. the designation of the authority / institution whose seal or stamp the document bears,
  6. the place of the apostille,
  7. the date of the apostille,
  8. the name and function of the apostille-issuing authority,
  9. the apostille number,
  10. the seal and signature of the apostille-issuing authority.

The apostille is to be affixed to the document itself or to a sheet firmly connected to it. Apostilles enclosed loosely are formally defective and may be rejected by the Swiss authorities.

2. When do I need an apostille for Swiss procedures?

In the practice of the Swiss migration and civil-status procedures, the apostille (or, for non-member states, consular legalisation) is required in the following constellations:

Migration-law procedures

  • Family reunification: marriage certificate, birth certificates of the children joining, where applicable death certificate of the former spouse, where applicable divorce decree — all foreign documents as a rule with an apostille.
  • Permit grant with a family connecting point: marriage certificates, birth certificates for minor children, acknowledgements of paternity.
  • Permit extension / upgrade to C: criminal-record extract from the states of origin and residence of the last few years (varies by canton).
  • Naturalisation application under the Swiss Citizenship Act (SCA, SR 141.0) — namely Art. 11 SCA and Art. 12 SCA (substantive naturalisation conditions): birth certificate, marriage certificate, divorce certificate (insofar as relevant), criminal-record extracts from all states of residence of the last few years (extent varies by canton), certificate-of-origin equivalents. The language requirement of naturalisation is by contrast regulated in the Swiss Citizenship Ordinance (OLN, SR 141.01) — namely in Art. 6 (SR 141.01) — and thus in a separate enactment, not in the SCA. See the Path to Swiss Citizenship.

Civil-status and family-law procedures

  • Marriage in Switzerland (civil registry office): birth certificate, certificate of marital capacity, where applicable divorce decree / death certificate of the former spouse — all of those from abroad as a rule with an apostille.
  • Registration of a birth abroad in the Swiss register of persons: birth certificate of the state of birth with an apostille.
  • Registration of a marriage abroad: marriage certificate with an apostille.
  • Recognition of a divorce abroad under the Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA, SR 291) — namely Art. 65 (SR 291): divorce decree and, where applicable, confirmation of legal force, with an apostille.

Professional and educational recognition

  • Recognition of foreign higher-education degrees (SBFI): diploma and transcript of grades, as a rule with an apostille; additional documentary requirements depending on the profession (regulated vs non-regulated professions). See the L Short-Stay Permit.
  • Recognition of regulated health-care and healing professions (FOPH, MEBEKO): additional profession-specific attestations and apostilles.

Other procedures

  • Succession procedures with a foreign element: death certificate, will, certificate of inheritance of the succession state, all with an apostille.
  • Powers of attorney for lawyers issued abroad: notarially authenticated power of attorney with an apostille.

Note on cantonal variation: which documents are required in which form — in particular the temporal extent of the criminal-record requirements upon permit extension and naturalisation — varies from canton to canton. Decisive is always the information of the cantonal migration office or civil registry office competent in the concrete procedure; the document types mentioned here are an orientation, not an exhaustive cantonal checklist.

3. Three authentication paths at a glance

Between "document issued abroad" and "document accepted by a Swiss authority" lie — depending on the constellation — up to three authentication steps:

Path A — Apostille (standard case for Hague member states)

Where the issuing state is a member of the Hague Convention (including all EU and EFTA states as well as numerous non-European states — the concrete status is to be checked via the HCCH status table), the apostille of the authority competent to do so of the issuing state is in principle sufficient. In this case Switzerland recognises the apostille directly — an additional consular legalisation is not required. Reserved remains the special case where Switzerland has raised an objection to the accession of a new contracting state; this, too, is to be taken from the HCCH status table.

Path B — Consular legalisation (for non-member states)

Where the issuing state is not a member of the Hague Convention (in particular many African states, some Asian and Middle Eastern states), the traditional procedure of multi-stage legalisation applies (see section 6).

Path C — Certified translation (additionally, where the document is not in an official language)

If the document is not drawn up in a Swiss official language (German, French, Italian, Romansh), a certified translation by a sworn translator recognised in Switzerland must be produced in addition to the apostille / legalisation (see section 7).

Important: Path C is cumulative to Path A or Path B — a Spanish birth certificate from Argentina requires both the apostille (Argentina is a Hague member, Path A) and a certified German, French or Italian translation (Path C). An apostilled but untranslated document is rejected by the civil registry office.

4. Who issues the apostille?

The authority competent for the apostille is notified in the issuing state by the respective contracting state to the Hague Convention. There is no central Swiss body that issues apostilles for foreign documents — the apostille must be obtained in the state of origin of the document.

Exemplary authorities in frequent states of origin

  • Germany: depending on the document type and the Land: Bundesverwaltungsamt (federal documents), presidiums of regional or higher regional courts (court and notarial documents), interior ministries or government presidiums of the Länder (civil-status and personal-status documents).
  • Austria: Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (BMEIA), Federal Chancellery, as well as, for certain document types, the Land governors (Landeshauptmänner).
  • Italy: Procura della Repubblica (for court and civil-status documents), Prefettura (for other public documents).
  • France: Cour d'appel of the respective judicial district (apostilles are issued in a decentralised manner by the courts of appeal).
  • Spain: Tribunal Superior de Justicia (court documents), Ministerio de Justicia (central apostille of certain document types), Colegios Notariales (notarially authenticated documents).
  • Portugal: Procuradoria-Geral da República.
  • USA: Secretary of State of the respective federal state (for state documents); U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications (for federal documents).
  • United Kingdom: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Legalisation Office.
  • Turkey: Valilik (governors' offices) of the respective province for administrative documents, Adliye (courthouses) for court documents.

Decisive source for the competent apostille authority: each contracting state notifies its competent authorities to the Hague Conference; the binding, day-to-day current list by state is maintained by the HCCH (https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/authorities1/?cid=41). The authorities mentioned above are a rough orientation and may change as a result of national administrative reforms — before filing the application, the HCCH authority list of the concrete state is always to be consulted.

Practical notes

  • The apostille is to be applied for in person or by post in the issuing state. From Switzerland this is often cumbersome — many applicants mandate a person of trust in the state of origin or instruct a notary / lawyer in the state of origin to obtain it. SIP recommends no particular agencies or intermediaries (Anti-Scope, see section 14).
  • The costs of the apostille vary greatly by state — from a few euros / dollars to several hundred euros / dollars (in particular for expedited procedures).
  • The duration ranges from a few days (some EU states, USA) to several months (some Latin American, African or Asian states).

5. Apostilles for Swiss documents — where I have to use CH documents abroad

Mirroring the foreign apostille, there is also the Swiss apostille — that is, the apostille of Swiss public documents for use abroad (e.g. a Swiss certificate of origin for a marriage abroad, a Swiss birth certificate for an acknowledgement of a child abroad, a federal diploma for recognition abroad).

Competent Swiss authorities

  • Federal Chancellery (Bern): apostilles for federal documents and documents of federal authorities (e.g. federal criminal record, Federal Supreme Court decisions, federal diplomas). Cross-reference: Federal Chancellery website, Legalisations section.
  • Cantonal state chancelleries (each cantonal state chancellery): apostilles for cantonal documents of the respective canton (civil-status documents, cantonal diplomas, cantonal court documents, criminal-record extracts where extracts are organised cantonally, notarially authenticated documents).

Procedure

  • Application to the competent body, in person, by post or increasingly electronically (varies by canton).
  • The original document or a certified copy is to be submitted.
  • Fees: set differently by canton; the applicable tariff is to be taken from the website of the competent cantonal state chancellery or — for federal documents — from the Legalisations section of the Federal Chancellery.
  • Processing time: as a rule short, depending on the canton from same-day to a few weeks; here, too, the information of the competent body applies.

Decisive source for fee and duration: the website of the competent cantonal state chancellery (cantonal documents) or the Federal Chancellery, Legalisations section (federal documents). SIP deliberately prints no fixed franc amounts or deadlines, because these vary by canton and change.

6. Consular legalisation — the path for non-apostille states

Where the issuing state is not a member of the Hague Convention (as at 2024, affected in particular are numerous African states, some Asian and Middle Eastern states), the apostille does not suffice. In its place, a multi-stage consular legalisation is required. This typically takes place in three steps:

Step 1 — Notarial / municipal authentication in the state of origin

The document is first authenticated by a body competent in the state of origin (notary, civil registry office, court, municipal administration) — thus confirmed as a genuine public document of the state of origin.

Step 2 — Authentication by a national central authority

The authenticated document is presented to a national central authority — typically the foreign ministry or a body acting on its behalf of the state of origin. This confirms the authenticity of the signature and seal of the first-instance authenticating body.

Step 3 — Legalisation by the Swiss representation in the state of origin

The thus pre-authenticated document is finally presented to the Swiss embassy or the Swiss consulate in the state of origin, which legalises the authenticity of the signature and seal of the national central authority. Only this Swiss consular legalisation makes the document usable in Switzerland.

Duration and costs

Consular legalisation is considerably more laborious than the apostille. In practice, the entire three-stage process takes several months, considerably longer depending on the country and the facts. The costs add up from the fees of the three stations and lie clearly above those of a single apostille; the concrete rates of the Swiss representation are to be enquired about from the FDFA (Federal Department of Foreign Affairs) or the respective embassy / consulate.

Non-apostille states — typical constellations

Whether a particular state of origin is a party to the Apostille Convention cannot be answered reliably in a blanket manner — the number of members changes continuously through accession and entry-into-force processes. In practice, the legalisation path tends to concern states outside Europe; binding, however, is exclusively the individual status in the HCCH status table.

Decisive source for the membership of a state: HCCH status table for the Apostille Convention (https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/?cid=41). Before any procurement of a document, the current status of the concrete issuing state is to be checked there, before deciding whether an apostille (section 3, Path A) or consular legalisation (this section) is required.

Factual practice

In some constellations, foreign documents are not procurable at all, or only to a limited extent (for example from conflict states, failed states, states without functioning registers of persons). In such constellations, the Swiss assessment of evidence applies in practice according to the principles of the Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA, SR 291) and the relevant migration practice. A blanket statement on the acceptance of non-apostilled or non-legalised documents is not possible — it requires a case-specific legal assessment and thus lies outside this general account. For the asylum special case, see the Asylum Act Glossary.

7. Certified translation — the third step

A foreign document that is not drawn up in a Swiss official language (German, French, Italian, Romansh) must, in addition to the apostille / legalisation, be translated — namely into one of the official languages that is the procedural language in the respective canton or at the respective authority.

Who may translate?

The requirements for translators vary by canton. As a rule, a translation by a sworn or certified translator qualified accordingly is required, who has been sworn in at a Swiss translator register or at a cantonal court. Individual cantons also accept translations produced in the state of origin by translators of the authorities there and apostilled.

Note on cantonal variation: the recognition rules for certified translations — in particular the question whether the translation itself must additionally be notarially authenticated or apostilled — vary from canton to canton. Decisive is the requirement of the authority competent in the concrete procedure (migration office, civil registry office, court); cf. the cantonal practice dossiers of the respective canton.

Form of the certified translation

  • the original document or a certified copy is enclosed with the translation (typically firmly connected to the translation),
  • the certification note of the translating person with date, signature and stamp,
  • complete translation — including of the apostille, the stamps and seals.

Costs

The costs of certified translations vary greatly — by language, number of pages, rarity of the source language and urgency. Binding rates are to be obtained directly from the sworn translators or translation offices; SIP names no fixed franc amounts here and recommends no particular providers (see the Anti-Scope note below).

SIP Anti-Scope

SIP recommends no particular translators or translation offices. The choice of a translator is a private decision of the applying person and lies outside the SIP advisory competence. Directories of sworn translators are publicly searchable via the cantonal courts and via the Swiss Association of Translators (ASTTI).

8. Validity of the apostille and of the underlying document

The apostille itself — valid without limitation

The apostille, as a confirmation of the formal authenticity of the document, has no expiry date. An apostille issued in 1995 remains formally valid without limitation.

The underlying document — freshness requirements

The Swiss authorities do, however, set freshness requirements for the underlying document:

  • criminal-record extract (Polizeiliches Führungszeugnis / casier judiciaire / Certificate of Good Conduct): as a rule not older than 3 months at the time of submission,
  • certificate of marital capacity for the marriage: as a rule not older than 6 months,
  • birth certificate for registration in the register of persons: recent issuance recommended, since supplementary entries (paternity, adoption, name changes) must be up to date,
  • marriage certificate: recent issuance, in particular upon registration in the Swiss family register.

Recommendation of the migration office and the civil registry offices: both the underlying document and the apostille as recent as possible (as a rule less than 6 months old) — even though the apostille itself is formally valid without limitation, a combined freshness is expected, in particular to avoid a status change occurring in the meantime (marriage, divorce, new entry in the criminal record).

Note on the freshness deadlines: the time spans mentioned here (for example "not older than 3 months" for criminal-record extracts, "not older than 6 months" for certificates of marital capacity) are widespread administrative practice, not a tariff fixed by federal law. They vary by canton and depending on the type of procedure (permit extension, naturalisation, marriage). Decisive in the individual case is the requirement of the competent cantonal authority; the deadlines mentioned serve as orientation.

9. Asylum special case: Art. 97 AsylA and obtaining evidence without contact with the home state

A particular and, for SIP advice, load-bearing constellation concerns persons in the asylum procedure or with a residence title under asylum law (N permit, F permit, recognised refugees with a B/C permit of asylum-law origin).

Data-protection prohibition vis-à-vis the home state

Decisive is Art. 97 AsylA (Asylum Act, SR 142.31): this provision protects the data of asylum-seeking and protection-needing persons vis-à-vis the home or origin state. As long as the asylum application has not been decided with legal force, no personal data from which conclusions about the asylum application could be drawn may in principle be disclosed to such a state. Concretely, this means for obtaining documents:

  • asylum seekers and recognised refugees may not approach the embassy or consulate of their home state in order to obtain there or have apostilled a birth certificate, marriage certificate or other document — this would call the fear of persecution into question and is problematic under asylum law.
  • the Swiss authorities, for their part, may not pass on to the home state any data that could identify the person concerned.

Practical consequences for the apostille

For the persons concerned, the standard apostille path via the home state is barred. Instead, alternative evidence-procurement paths apply:

  • Obtaining evidence via NGO structures: the Swiss Refugee Council (OSAR / SFH), HEKS, Caritas, Amnesty International or specialised advice centres can, in individual constellations, provide support in obtaining evidence via third-party routes.
  • Obtaining evidence via specialised lawyers: lawyers experienced in evidence-procurement procedures in the asylum context can — via third states, NGOs or trustworthy persons in the state of origin — obtain documents without contacting the home state.
  • Swiss assessment of evidence: in constellations in which original documents are objectively not procurable, the Swiss authorities assess credibility otherwise — by means of statutory declarations, witness statements, NGO attestations or UNHCR documents.

SIP crisis referral

In asylum constellations with evidence-procurement problems, Clara mandatorily refers to:

  • the legal representation assigned in the asylum procedure (for N permit holders in pending procedures),
  • the lawyers entered in the BfR, specialised in migration and asylum law,
  • the OSAR / Swiss Refugee Council as the central NGO point of contact (see the Asylum Act Glossary).

SIP gives no direct indications on contacting the home-state embassy to asylum seekers or recognised refugees — such an indication would be risky under asylum law and may undermine the plausibility of the fear of persecution.

10. Frequent practical problems

In ongoing SIP advice, recurring problems arise — even without a strategic component, but purely procedurally — that lead to rejections or delays:

Problem 1 — Missing apostille on the submitted document

Most frequent constellation: the applying person submits the foreign original document without having had it apostilled beforehand. The migration office or civil registry office rejects the document with the request to submit the apostille subsequently. The processing of the application is suspended; in deadline-bound procedures — for example the family-reunification deadline under Art. 47 FNIA (Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration, SR 142.20) — subsequent submission is to be organised urgently, because the running of the deadline is not without further ado safeguarded by an incomplete submission.

Problem 2 — Apostille from the wrong authority

The apostille was issued in the state of origin by an authority that is not competent for this document type. Example: in Germany an apostille of a Land authority, although the federal authority was competent (or vice versa). The Swiss authority may reject such an apostille as ineffective.

Problem 3 — Apostille only on the document, not on the translation

The foreign original document is apostilled, but the translation produced in Switzerland is not certified (or vice versa: translation apostilled, original not). The cantonal requirement as to the form of the translation has not been complied with.

Problem 4 — Outdated underlying document

The apostille is formally correct and valid without limitation, but the underlying criminal record or the certificate of marital capacity is, at the time of submission, older than the cantonal freshness requirement (typically > 3 months for the criminal record, > 6 months for the certificate of marital capacity). The document with the apostille must be obtained anew.

Problem 5 — Attempt to obtain the apostille in the state of residence instead of the issuing state

The apostille can be issued only in the issuing state of the document — not in the state of residence of the applying person. A Spanish birth certificate cannot be apostilled in Switzerland or in Germany, but must be apostilled in Spain. This is a frequent error, in particular among persons who have not been back in the state of origin for a long time.

Problem 6 — Non-apostille state: only the apostille demanded, instead of the complete consular legalisation

Applying persons from non-apostille states have their document authenticated only by a first-instance body in the state of origin, without involving the Swiss embassy / Swiss consulate in the legalisation process. The Swiss authority does not recognise the document, because the three-stage legalisation process (see section 6) was not completed.

Problem 7 — Loosely enclosed apostille

The apostille is not firmly connected to the document (neither affixed to the document itself nor to a firmly attached sheet), but is enclosed loosely. Such apostilles are rejected in practice.

Anti-Scope note: SIP gives no recommendation on how these problems are to be solved in the concrete individual case — the remedy requires, depending on the constellation, a renewed approach to the authority in the state of origin, a request to the Swiss notary / Swiss lawyer or specialised advice. The individual strategy lies outside the SIP advisory competence.

11. Special constellations by document type

Higher-education degrees and diploma recognition

Apostilled higher-education degrees are the basis for the recognition of foreign diplomas by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SBFI) or — for regulated health-care and healing professions — by the competent federal offices (FOPH, MEBEKO, SRC). The apostille is a condition, but not sufficient — SBFI recognition is an autonomous procedure with its own substantive examination criteria (curriculum comparison, ECTS points, duration of studies, etc.). See the L Short-Stay Permit.

Criminal-record extracts

Criminal-record extracts / casier judiciaire / Certificate of Good Conduct are required in numerous migration procedures:

  • Naturalisation: criminal record from the home state and all states of residence of the last 5–10 years (varies by canton),
  • Permit extension where there are past irregularities (varies by canton),
  • Professional admission in regulated professions.

Freshness requirement: typically not older than 3 months at the time of submission. Apostille in the issuing state.

Birth certificates for minors

For minors, a recent apostilled birth certificate is required — in particular with all supplementary entries regarding acknowledgement of paternity, adoption, name change, guardianship. Outdated birth certificates without supplementary entries can lead to permit delays where the family constellation has undergone a change since the birth. See Birth of a Child in Switzerland.

Marriage certificates — international multilingual format

For marriage certificates there is an internationally standardised multilingual format under the ICCS Convention (International Commission on Civil Status). This format is particularly easy to handle in the Swiss civil registry offices, because no additional translation is required. Where available (in ICCS member states), the multilingual format is to be preferred to the national format. See Marriage to a Swiss National and Marriage Between Two Foreign Nationals in Switzerland.

Note on the multilingual format: whether a multilingual ICCS form is available for a particular state and whether the civil registry office accepts it in the concrete case is to be clarified with the issuing authority of the state of origin or with the competent Swiss civil registry office. SIP prints no exhaustive list of states on this.

Death certificates

Death certificates are required in succession procedures, for remarriage plans (marital-capacity status after the death of the former spouse) and in family-reunification constellations. Apostille of the issuing state, no specific freshness requirement (the fact of death does not change — but a later supplementary entry may be relevant).

Divorce certificates / divorce decrees

For remarriage in Switzerland after a divorce abroad, the submission of the divorce decree with an apostille and the confirmation of legal force is required. In complex constellations, the recognition of the divorce abroad under Art. 65 (SR 291) of the Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA) is to be clarified beforehand — an autonomous procedure with its own conditions. See Divorce and Residence Permit.

12. Swiss recognition of the apostille

The Swiss federal and cantonal authorities recognise apostilles from Hague member states in principle. In practice, however, there are differentiations:

  • Migration offices (cantons): recognition of the apostille as standard, with freshness requirements for the underlying document (see section 8).
  • Civil registry offices (cantons): recognition of the apostille, with in part stricter requirements as to the form of the translation and as to the nature of the document (e.g. preference for the multilingual ICCS format).
  • SBFI (Confederation): recognition of the apostille for diploma documents, with an additional substantive recognition procedure.
  • Swiss criminal record (Confederation, FDJP): compares foreign apostilled criminal records with the Swiss requirements.

Note on cantonal variation: whether individual cantons set additional requirements beyond the apostille (for example an additional notarial authentication of the translation) varies from canton to canton. Decisive is the information of the authority competent in the concrete procedure; cf. the cantonal practice dossiers of the respective canton.

13. Cross-reference index

This file is referenced by the following SIP-v3 dossiers (complete list):

This file itself refers to the following norms and conventions — see the Fedlex and HCCH references in the frontmatter and in the text:

  • Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 (SR 0.172.030.4) — abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents,
  • ICCS Convention on the issue of multilingual personal-status documents,
  • Federal Act on Foreign Nationals and Integration (FNIA, SR 142.20) — family-reunification documents, namely Art. 43 FNIA, Art. 44 FNIA and Art. 47 FNIA (deadline),
  • Civil Code (CC, SR 210) as well as the Civil Status Ordinance (CSO) — registration of persons,
  • Federal Act on Private International Law (PILA, SR 291) — recognition of foreign divorces, namely Art. 65 (SR 291),
  • Asylum Act (AsylA, SR 142.31) — data protection vis-à-vis the home state, namely Art. 97 AsylA,
  • Swiss Citizenship Act (SCA, SR 141.0) and Swiss Citizenship Ordinance (OLN, SR 141.01) — documentary and language requirements upon naturalisation (Art. 11 SCA, Art. 12 SCA; language requirement Art. 6 (SR 141.01) of the OLN),
  • Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers (LLCA, SR 935.61) — professional rules for lawyers (delimitation of general information / individual representation, section 14).

14. Anti-Scope (complete)

This file and every Clara answer based on it convey general information about the legal situation, not legal advice or representation tailored to the individual case. The latter is reserved to lawyers subject to the Federal Act on the Free Movement of Lawyers (LLCA, SR 935.61). Concretely, SIP here gives no:

  • apostille strategy — that is, no advice on how an apostille can be obtained faster, more cheaply or by a detour; no recommendation of express procedures or expedited services,
  • recommendation of particular translators — the Swiss Association of Translators (ASTTI) and the cantonal court directories are the suitable public research sources,
  • recommendation of embassy agents, agencies or intermediaries — the choice of a person of trust in the state of origin is a private decision,
  • assessment of the authenticity risk of a particular foreign document — the assessment of forged or forgery-suspect documents is incumbent on the Swiss authorities and, where applicable, the criminal-prosecution authorities,
  • advice in national law of the state of origin — the apostille is issued in the state of origin, the respective national law is decisive and lies outside the Swiss advisory competence,
  • instruction on obtaining evidence in the asylum context — in asylum constellations, SIP mandatorily refers to the assigned legal representation, to OSAR / Swiss Refugee Council and to asylum specialists registered in the BfR (section 9).

For the individual question on obtaining the apostille, on translation or on consular legalisation, the applying person turns to:

  • the competent migration office or civil registry office of their canton (for the question of which documents are required in the concrete procedure and in which form),
  • the Federal Chancellery (for Swiss apostilles on federal documents) or the cantonal state chancellery (for Swiss apostilles on cantonal documents),
  • the Swiss representation in the state of origin (for the consular legalisation of documents from non-apostille states),
  • a lawyer entered in the BfR, specialised in migration law (for complex constellations, multi-stage apostille procurement, obtaining evidence in difficult states of origin),
  • in asylum constellations: the assigned legal representation in the asylum procedure, OSAR / Swiss Refugee Council and BfR lawyers specialised in asylum and migration law.