Foreign documents

In connection with a marital settlement application, the Family Law Administration may that certain foreign documents, such as a foreign marriage certificate, birth- and baptism/name certificates, and/or documents regarding parental custody, must be legally authorized or have an Apostille certification.

Additionally, foreign documents must be translated unless they are in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, English, or German. Read more about translation here.

Recognition of foreign marriage certificates

Once the Family Law Administration has received a legalized marriage certificate, if legalization of the document is required, the Family Law Administration assesses the content of the document. The content of other foreign marriage certificates, where legalization is not required, is also evaluated.

In this context, the Family Law Administration examines whether

• the foreign authority officiating the marriage has the authority to officiate a wedding.
• both spouses were present during the marriage ceremony.

If the mentioned requirements are met, the marriage will be recognized, and the Family Law Administration may then dissolve or divorce the spouses if the grounds for separation or divorce are otherwise met.

Why legalization or apostille certification?

Legalization or Apostille certification is a verification from public authorities that the person who signed a document is indeed the person they claim to be and that they have the authority they claim to have. Legalization does not address the content of the document itself.

Legalization or Apostille certification is affixed to the original document, meaning the document written in its original language. Please note that a "certified copy" or a copy of the original document is also considered an original document if the copy is issued by the authority that issued the original document.

Legal authorisation

A legal authorisation is a certification by public authorities confirming that the person who signed a document is indeed the person they claim to be and possesses the authority they claim to have. Legal authorisation does not concern itself with the content of the document itself.

The legal authorisation process must take place in the country that issued the document. Typically, three authorities are involved in legalizing a document (the relevant government department that issued the document, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the country where the document was issued, and the embassy/consulate of the country where the document is to be presented. For example, if the document is to be presented in the Faroe Islands, it would be the Danish embassy/consulate in the country where the document was issued).

Example – document from Iran:

• The relevant government department in Iran must legally authorize the signature of the person who signed the document.

• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iran must legally authorize the signature of the issuing person from the relevant government department (mentioned in point no. 1).

• The Danish Embassy/Consulate in Iran must authorise the signature of the person in the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (mentioned in point 2).

Apostille certification

An Apostille certification is a special form of legalization designed to simplify the process of document authentication (see above for regular legalization). If a country is a signatory to the Hague Convention on Apostille, only one form of certification, the so-called Apostille certification, is necessary. Usually, it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the issuing country that has the authority to affix Apostille certification to public documents. You can find an overview of which authority in an Apostille country has the authority to issue an Apostille certification by clicking here and then clicking on the number under "Auth".

Example - document from the Philippines

• Authentication Division
  Office of Consular Affairs
  Department of Foreign Affairs must authorize the document with an Apostille certification. See here.

Only countries that are members of the Hague Apostille Convention can use this procedure. Find a list of Apostille countries here.

Which countries do not require legal authorisation?

As a main rule, the following countries do not require authorisation:

• Europe (however, authorisation of marriage certificates is required from certain countries, such as Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Russia, and Ukraine)
• Turkey
• USA
• Canada
• Australia
• New Zealand

If it is not possible to obtain legalized documents in a country due to circumstances within that country, the Family Law Administration does not request that the documents be legalized.

At the moment, it is not possible to legally authorise documents in the Danish Embassies/Consulates in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cameroun, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen.

Need assistance?

Please contact the Family Law Administration for guidance if you have trouble obtaining legally authorised documents or an Apostille-certified document.