In most cases, apostille issuance and document legalization are carried out by the Legalization Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, located in Warsaw at 38/42 Krucza Street. This office certifies, among others, notarial and other official documents.
The institution issues apostilles as well as performs standard legalization of documents for further submission to the embassy of the destination country. The required procedure depends on the regulations of the specific country and the type of document.
Documents can be submitted in several ways: by post, in person, or through an authorized representative without the need for a power of attorney. The submission office is open from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
It is important to note that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs certifies only documents issued in Poland.
If the country does not honor records hague convention the document must be legalized by the diplomatic mission of the country where we want to use it. It is worth noting that apostilles can only be used if the country where the document will be used is a party to the Hague Convention and the provisions of the Hague Convention simplify the procedures for legalizing documents between countries that are parties to the Convention. Most embassies and consulates are located in Warsaw. If a given country does not have its diplomatic mission in Poland, we legalize the documents at the nearest embassy, which is responsible for the legalization of Polish documents.
In most cases, it is not possible to legalize documents in both institutions in one day.
Processing time for an apostille/authentication
The Legalization Department can usually issue an apostille or certification on the same day the documents are submitted; however, this is not guaranteed. The timeframe depends on the office workload and the number of applications received on a given day.
In some cases, due to a high volume of requests or when multiple documents are submitted at once, the process may take longer. In such situations, processing is postponed to the next working day, which may require a return visit to Warsaw.
It is also worth noting that documents issued in different countries can sometimes be legalized within one country, as provided for under the mutual recognition rules of the Hague Convention.
An apostille simplifies the international circulation of documents, as member states of the Convention recognize official certifications issued by other countries. In Poland, such certifications are mainly issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while certain categories of documents (e.g., educational documents) may also be handled by specially authorized institutions.