GUIDE ON HOW TO LEGALIZE DOCUMENTS IN NIGERIA

HOW TO LEGALIZE DOCUMENTS IN NIGERIA

LEGALIZATION & AUTHENTICATION OF DOCUMENTS:

A document that is official and legal in one country is not necessarily official and legal in another. Many documents must therefore be legalized if you wish to use them abroad. Prior to legalization of document, such a document must be authenticated at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja.

Legalization of a document in Nigeria connotes the certification of a document, which has already been authenticated. It is a process by which a foreign embassy in Nigeria certifies the genuineness of signature or stamps and/or seal made by the authorized officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nigeria. It involves checking the origin of the relevant document. 

Authentication of documents involves a process of certifying documents in Nigeria. It's also known as attestation or legalization of documents. Before the legalization of a document, such a document must be authenticated at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja. Only original documents are to be scanned for legalization purposes. Only one email trend is to be used in corresponding with the Embassy.

If you have been demanded by anybody to present an apostille in Nigeria, it simply means bearing a worthy Witness who attests to the legitimacy of your documents. Usually, there is no such thing as processing apostille in Nigeria, this is because Nigeria is not a member of the Hague Apostille Convention. If you are interested in how to notarize documents in Nigeria, you will have to contact a qualified Notary Public.  . It is usually the first step before authenticating or legalizing your documents at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Abuja.

DOCUMENTS THAT CAN BE AUTHENTICATED IN NIGERIA

Incorporation documents

Commercial Transaction Documents

Single Status Certificate

Declaration of Assets

Bank Statements

Sponsorship Letters,

Police Character Certificate

Birth Certificate or Attestation of Birth Certificate

Marriage Certificate

Divorce Judgement and Certificates

Academic Records 

Authorization letters and many others.

STEPS FOR AUTHENTICATION DOCUMENTS IN NIGERIA

i. Notarize the document since it will be required to be used abroad. The notary public is usually a lawyer specially authorized to notarize documents.

ii. Then, the Notarized document should be legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja for the authentication.

iii. Make a payment of the prescribed fee and submit proof of payment.

iv. After the payment, the applicant may submit the document(s) required to be authenticated at the appropriate desk in the ministry.

V. The Ministry will carry out their necessary confirmation and subsequently authenticate the documents if found to be genuine.

Vi. Thereafter, the applicant can apply for the legalization of the same document at the relevant embassy, if it requires a legalization.

Vii. Where the document is to be certified through a lawyer or agent, the Power of Attorney may be given to such an attorney.

HOW TO LEGALIZE A DOCUMENT IN NIGERIA

First Step: Send an email to request for legalization of documents.

Second Step: Payment of Legalization fees. The Embassy will send payment instructions to the applicant.  However, payment should not be made prior to the receipt of payment instruction from the Embassy.

Third Step: Verify the Documents. All documents to be legalized by the Embassy must first be verified by VFS Global in Abuja. The Embassy will send an email instructing the applicant to send original documents to VFS Global.

Fourth Step: Legalization. Documents will be legalized by the Embassy only if the result of the verification is positive.

WRITTEN BY

CHAMAN LAW FIRM TEAM

EMAIL: chamanlawfirm@gmail.com / info@chamanlawfirm.com

TEL: 08065553671, 08024200080