In this post, we explained steps and procedure for Nigerian birth certificate Authentication, Legalize and Notarized. The requirements, types of documents that can be authenticated or legalized or Notarized. Contact us for Documents Authentication, Legalize or Notarizition in Nigeria.
INTRODUCTION
The procedure for how to legalize birth certificate in Nigeria usually starts by obtaining the birth certificate from the National Population Commission (NPC). Nigeria is not a signatory to the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (the Apostille Convention). Therefore, most foreign countries demand that for a document issued in Nigeria to be tendered or used for any official purpose abroad, it must be authenticated by the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Read: How to Authenticate / Legalize / Notarized Documents
And in some cases, legalized by the embassy of relevant foreign countries in Nigeria. After obtaining the required birth certificate or age attestation certificate where applicable, the document must be notarized in Nigeria. The next step is to take the birth certificate or age attestation certificate to the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs for attestation or authentication.
The official procedure for authenticating birth certificate at the MFA in Nigeria includes making prescribed fee payment and submitting other required documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja, which is responsible for authentication or attestation services. After meeting the above step, the applicant would be advised on when to return to pick them up.
Where the applicant also intends to legalize the documents, the next step is to take the authenticated document to the relevant embassy for legalization.
Procedure For Nigerian Birth Certificate Authentication Authentication of documents involves a process of certifying documents in Nigeria, while legalization of a document in Nigeria connotes the certification of a document, which has already been authenticated at the embassy or mission of a foreign country the document will be used or presented. Prior to legalization of document, such a document must be authenticated at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja.
Read: How to Obtain Police Clearance Certificate
Steps And Requirements for Authentication & Legalization
- Usually, the first step is to notarize the document, since it is will be required to be used abroad. The notary public are usually lawyers specially authorized to notarize documents.
- The next important step is to take the document required to be notarized to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Abuja for the authentication.
- The applicant must pay the prescribed fee and submit proof of payment at the Ministry.
- The Ministry will carry out their due diligence or necessary confirmation and subsequently authenticate the documents if found to be genuine
- Thereafter, the applicant can appl for the legalization of the same document at the relevant embassy.
- Most embassies charge various fees for different documents before legalization of the document.
- Where the document to be authenticated or legalized involves an academic document, an attestation must be done at the Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja.
Documents to Authenticated or Legalized or Notarized
- Birth Certificate or Attestation of Birth
- Marriage Certificate
- Divorce Judgement and Certificates
- Single Status Certificate
- Police Character Certificate
- Academic Records (results, degree certificates and transcripts)
- Certificate of Incorporation & other incorporation documents
- Declaration of Assets
- Bank Statements
- Sponsorship Letters,
- Commercial Transaction Documents, among others.
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Where a birth certificate, police character certificate or any other certificate is usually to be legalized, such a document may be notarized firstly by a Notary Pubic; authenticated at Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja, before finally legalized at the relevant embassy. However, where educational certificates require legalization, the process is actually the same save for that fact that it must be initially attested by the Federal Ministry of Education before the subsequent authentication and legalization.
It’s worthy of note to state that some documents may not be appropriate for legalization. For example, most embassies won’t legalize some documents in conflict with their domestic legislation or perhaps the content of it may inflict harm to the citizens of the own country of theirs. And where any document appears with a strange seal or perhaps stamp which isn’t consistent with the ones used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it’ll also be rejected for legalization.
CONCLUTION
Finally, an applicant seeking to authenticate or legalize or to notarized documents at MFA, embassy or Notary public respectively may engage Aziza Nigeria support services that is across Nigeria. Aziza Nigeria is a team of experts in various fields, Lawyers and Accountants.