LEGALISATION OF DOCUMENTS

This Embassy receives birth, marriage and death certificates issued in the RSA and Police Clearance Certificate issued by the SAPS (South African Police Services) and forwards them to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in Pretoria so that an Apostille is affixed to them. This may take approximately three months, and is free of charge. The legalization of Study Certificates (diplomas, transcripts, etc.) issued in South Africa is NOT effected through the Embassy. The steps the interested person must take are the following:

• 1. The Studies Certificate must be firstly legalized by the Chief Registrar of the High Court that corresponds to the area where the document has been issued;
• 2. Then it must be legalized by the Department of Justice;
• 3. As a last step, the document must be sent to the following address to be apostilled:

Argentine documents issued by official authority (i.e. birth, marriage and death certificates, Study certificates, Police Clearance Certificates, etc.) (Note: in case of Marriage Certificates, only the Partida de Matrimonio is valid, and NOT the "libreta de matrimonio" or "libreta de familia") must be legalised as follows:

• a) If the document has been issued by the authorities of any Argentine province (NOT Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires) the original must be taken to:

• b) Documents issued in any Argentine province which have already been legalised by the Ministerio del Interior AND documents issued in the Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires must be taken to the:

• c) Once legalised with the Apostille, the document must be translated into the English Language:

(Aclaración: En el caso de Matrimonios es válida solamente la Partida de Matrimonio, y NO la “libreta de matrimonio” o “libreta de familia”).

NOTE: If the document is needed to be submitted directly in South Africa (i.e. NOT through this Embassy, you can have the document translated by a Sworn Translator in South Africa, skipping this and the following steps.

d) Should a copy of the document need to be sent to South Africa, the Embassy will make a maximum of 2 -two- photocopies and will authenticate them in 24 hours

Foreign documents issued by official authority (i.e. birth, marriage and death certificates, Study certificates, Police clearance Certificates, etc.) must be legalised by the issuing country.

Please consult with the Embassy of the issuing country whether it is a signatory to The Hague Convention. In that case, ask how to proceed so that the Apostille is affixed to your document by the authorities of that country.

If the country is NOT a signatory to The Hague Convention, your documents will have to be legalised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the issuing country (ask the Embassy of that country how to proceed) and further legalised by the South African representative in that country.

This Embassy can act as a Commissioner of Oaths in cases such as:

• Survival Certificates
• Authentication of signatures (only if the person signs in front of an authorized officer)
• True copies of documents
• Sworn Declarations & Affidavits

Please contact the Consular Services Section at the South African Embassy to ask for an appointment. A document of identity (South African ID book, Argentine DNI) or valid passport will have to be presented. (Note: Driver's Licence or documents of the sort are NOT acceptable).