Apostilles, Translations and Certified Copies: The Family Document Checklist for Moving Abroad

The document that holds up a family visa is rarely the passport. It is a child's birth certificate without the right stamp. A marriage certificate translated before it was certified. A police certificate that expired while you waited for an appointment. Each one is small. Each one can cost weeks.

This guide explains, in plain terms, what an apostille is, when you need something else instead, how translations fit in, and which documents to prepare for each person in your family. It belongs to the Prepare stage of the five-stage system (Decide, Prepare, Transit, Arrive, Thrive).

Five terms that get mixed up

• Original: the document as issued, for example a birth certificate from the registry office.
• Certified copy: a copy that an authorised person (often a notary, solicitor or the issuing office) confirms is a true copy of the original.
• Apostille: a certificate attached to a public document that confirms the signature or seal on it is genuine. It does not confirm that the content is true, and it does not translate anything.
• Legalisation: the longer, older version of the same idea, used between countries that have not joined the apostille system. It usually involves several stamps from different offices.
• Sworn or certified translation: a translation done by a translator the receiving authority recognises. Some countries only accept translators registered in that country.

When you need an apostille

The apostille comes from the Hague Apostille Convention of 1961. Countries that have joined it accept each other's public documents with one apostille, and no further certification by the receiving country is needed. As of September 2026, 130 states have joined. The list keeps growing: Canada joined in January 2024 and Algeria in July 2026.

The key practical point: an apostille is issued by the country that issued the document. A British birth certificate gets its apostille in the UK. A Kenyan marriage certificate gets its apostille in Kenya. In most cases you cannot get it once you have left, at least not quickly. So collect your apostilles before you move.

When you need legalisation instead

If the country you are moving to has not joined the convention, an apostille will not be accepted. You need legalisation instead. If the destination is not a Hague member, consular legalisation is a multi-step process that runs through the foreign embassy. A typical chain is: the issuing office, then your own foreign ministry, then the destination country's embassy.

Legalisation takes longer and costs more, and each step has its own queue. If your destination is not a member, start this part of the process first. Check the current list of members on the Hague Conference (HCCH) website, because countries join every year.

The order matters: certify, then translate

A common and expensive mistake is to translate a document first and get the apostille afterwards. The receiving authority usually wants a translation of the whole package, including the apostille. So the usual order is:

1. Get the original (or a recently issued copy) from the issuing office.
2. Get the apostille or legalisation.
3. Have the document and the apostille translated by a translator the destination accepts.

Before you pay for any translation, ask the receiving authority in writing whether they need a translator registered in their country. Many do.

Watch the dates

Some authorities only accept documents issued recently, often within the last three or six months. This applies most often to police certificates, and sometimes to birth and marriage certificates. A birth certificate issued twenty years ago may be refused, even though nothing in it has changed. Check the rule for each document, then plan the timing so nothing expires before your appointment.

The family document list

For each adult

• Passport (check it is valid well beyond your planned stay; many countries require at least six months)
• Full birth certificate
• Marriage certificate, or civil partnership certificate
• Divorce decree, if you were married before
• Degree certificates and transcripts, if your visa, job or professional registration depends on them
• Police certificates from every country you have lived in for the period the destination asks about
• Employment contract or letter from your employer, if your visa depends on it
• Proof of income or savings, if your visa depends on it
• Driving licence, and an international driving permit if it is needed

For each child

• Passport
• Full (long-form) birth certificate that names both parents. Short certificates often only show the child's name and date of birth, and are often refused
• Adoption papers, if relevant
• Custody orders or the other parent's consent, if only one parent is moving with the child (read our guide on moving abroad as a single parent)
• Vaccination records, ideally on an international certificate as well as the local record
• The last two years of school reports
• Any educational psychology, speech therapy or learning support reports

For the whole family

• Proof of health insurance that meets the visa requirement
• Proof of address in the new country, if needed
• Pet documents, which follow their own timeline (see moving abroad with pets)

Names that do not match

Check that every name is spelled the same way on every document. A married name on one, a maiden name on another, a missing middle name, a different spelling in a different alphabet: any of these can stop an application. Where names differ, keep the document that links them, such as the marriage certificate or a deed poll, and prepare it with an apostille and translation too.

A simple tracking table

Make one table for the whole family. One row per document, per person:

The "needed for" column matters most. The same document can be needed by the immigration office, the school, the bank and the employer, and each may have different rules about copies and translations.

Originals, copies and backups

• Keep originals in your hand luggage, never in shipping.
• Order two or three originals of key certificates if the issuing office allows it. Some offices keep originals.
• Scan everything, including the apostilles, and keep the scans in two places.
• Keep a separate folder for each person, so you can find a child's papers in a waiting room in under a minute.

When to start

Start three to six months before your visa application, and longer if your destination needs legalisation. Documents are one of the few parts of a move that you can finish early. Use our month-by-month relocation timeline to fit them around everything else.

The honest part

The authority that receives a document decides what it accepts. Two offices in the same country can ask for different things. This guide gives you the right questions and the right order. It does not replace written confirmation from the immigration office, embassy, school or employer that will receive your papers. Ask them in writing, keep the answer, and note the date.

Documents are where the order of a move matters most: one certificate unlocks the visa, the visa unlocks the school place, the school place unlocks the lease. The Global Relocation System sets out more than 120 tasks across all five stages, Decide, Prepare, Transit, Arrive and Thrive, in the order they depend on each other, so you always know which document to request first and what it unlocks next.

For the visa side of the move, read Visas and Residency for Families Moving Abroad. If you are still deciding where to go, the 2-minute family destination quiz is a good place to start.