Frequently asked questions

A standardised certificate under the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 that authenticates the signature and seal on a public document, so that 120+ member states accept it without any embassy step. It is affixed by the designated authority of the country that issued the document — in Switzerland, the cantonal state chancelleries and the Federal Chancellery.

The one of the canton where the document was issued or where the signing officer (registrar, notary, court) is based: a Lausanne diploma goes to the Chancellerie d’État de Vaud, a Basel commercial-register extract to the Staatskanzlei Basel-Stadt. Federal documents (e.g. SEM attestations) go to the Federal Chancellery in Bern. You just tell us the canton — the routing is our job.

No — a copy is enough. A notary establishes a certified true copy from your uploaded PDF or photo, and the apostille is affixed to that copy; your original never leaves you. If a receiving authority exceptionally insists on the apostilled original itself, tell us and we organise it by registered mail.

Then an apostille has no effect there and the consular chain applies: chancellery legalization, then the destination’s embassy in Switzerland. Order normally and mention the country — we quote the embassy stage before you commit, or handle it via our sister service legalizations.ch.

No — we deliberately do one thing well. If the receiving authority also requires a certified translation, our partner network handles it; mention it in the order notes and we coordinate so the translation and the apostille arrive together.

Standard: 3–5 business days from receipt of your document, most of it being the chancellery’s own turnaround. Express 24–48 h doubles the service price and puts your file at the top of every queue — including ours.