Attesting French Documents (FAQs)

Yes - France is a member of the Apostille Convention.

French documents can be legalized for use abroad with an Apostille Stamp when destined for other signatory countries without additional certification by the destination country.

When French documents are required for non-apostille countries, such as United Arab Emirates - Taiwan - Malaysia - Thailand - Qatar they need additional authentication by the embassy of the destination country.

For further information about Apostille certification in France, see:
France Apostille Services

Submission within the European Union
Certain French documents do not require Apostilles when they are presented to authorities of other European Union countries (the receiving authority should accept the original or a certified copy).

When applying for certain public documents, a multilingual standard form may be requested to accompany the original. A multilingual standard form must always be issued and signed by a French authority, providing a translation aid designed to help the receiving authority to understand a public document which is in a language not accepted by the receiving EU country.
See: EU Multilingual standard forms

French documents not requiring Apostilles include birth, death, marriage certificates, absence of a criminal record (a clean criminal record of a French citizen), certificates of nationality and residence:
See: Regulation (EU) 2016/1191

Other French documents, including academic certificates, still require Apostille certification and certified translation to be valid in other EU countries.

Civil status certificates (multilingual extracts from the civil status registers)
French birth, marriage and death certificates) issued in accordance with the conventions of the International Commission on Civil and Civil Status should not require Apostille Stamps when being submitted to one of the following countries:

Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cape Verde, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey.

Public documents that can be legalized in France with Apostille stamps include:

• French Criminal Records
• France Civil Status Extracts
• University Degrees and School Records

It is also possible to obtain apostilles for documents that have been certified by a French notary, medical certificates issued by registered doctor and other public documents issued by French authorities.

To confirm whether your document is eligible for apostille authentication in France, please Contact us and we’ll check your document free of charge. For further information about our French apostille services and for assistance obtaining official copies of French documents, see:
France Apostille Services

Apostilles on French documents can be obtained in 1 - 2 weeks,

Moroccan Apostille stamps can be verified online:
Verify a Moroccan Apostille (in French)

Document legalization (or attestation) is a procedure which authenticates a public French document so that it can be submitted in another country for official or legal purposes - for example, if you need to submit a French birth certificate to the authority or embassy of another country, it will often need to be legalized.

Legalizing a document in France certifies the authenticity of the signature appearing on the document as that of an authorized public official in France and confirms the capacity of that official.

• Because France is a member of the Apostille Convention, French documents can be legalized by means of an Apostille Stamp when being submitted to countries that are also members of the Hague Apostille Convention
• If a French document is required for a country that is not a member of the Apostille Convention, it will need to be legalized both by French authorities and by the embassy of the recipient country (embassy in France or non-resident embassy accredited to France).
  See: Document legalization - Wikipedia

Isarey Certification Services provides a range of services in France including Apostille and legalization services, notarization services, certified translation services and document retrieval services.

You can see reviews from past clients who have used our attestation and apostille services:

• ISAREY reviews on Trustpilot
• ISAREY reviews on Google

France Apostilles follow the standard format laid down in the Apostille Convention. Some examples of French documents certified with Apostille stamps:

• French Criminal Record Certificate with Apostille (PDF)
• France University Degree attested by the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates (PDF)

See What does an Apostille look like?

Apostilles are not required when submitting French certificates of marital status to the authorities of another Member State of the European Union.

A multilingual standard form may be requested to accompany the original. A multilingual standard form must always be issued and signed by a French authority, providing a translation aid designed to help the receiving authority understand the certificate when in a language not accepted by the receiving EU country.

EU Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden
See: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 (EU GDPR)

Apostilles are not required when submitting French birth, death and marriage certificates to the authorities of another Member State of the European Union. A multilingual standard form may be requested to accompany the original. A multilingual standard form must always be issued and signed by a French authority, providing a translation aid designed to help the receiving authority understand the certificate when in a language not accepted by the receiving EU country.

EU Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden
See: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 (EU GDPR)

French birth, marriage and death certificates (multilingual extracts from the civil status registers issued in accordance with the conventions of the International Commission on Civil and Civil Status) should not require Apostille Stamps when being submitted to countries that have acceded to the Vienna CIEC Convention. The following countries are contracting states of the Vienna Convention:
Austria, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cape Verde, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey.

Certified documents providing public information on French companies is available online from infogreffe. These documents can be certified for presentation abroad by Apostille at the Court of Appeal or legalized by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Kbis Extract (Company Incorporation Certificate) - provides a certified snapshot of a French company (identity and address of the company, business activity, legal form, SIREN number, Directors etc.)

Debt Statement (Etat d'endettement) - summarises a company’s registered liens and pledges, outstanding debts.

Articles of Association (Actes et statuts ) - sets out the legal rights and obligations which bind the shareholders of a company.

Annual Accounts (Comptes annuels) - the balance sheet, the profit and loss statement and the notes to the financial statement.

For further information about authenticating and translating company documents issued in France for presentation abroad, please Contact us

We cannot obtain a French Criminal Record Extract (Extrait de Casier Judiciaire) on your behalf, but certificates can be obtained online free-of-charge:
Apply for French criminal record (certificate No 3)

You will be sent a digital certificate that we can then certify with an apostille from the by obtaining an Apostille stamp from the Court of Appeal in Rennes.
See: France Criminal Record Certificates

A French criminal record certificate - Extrait de casier judiciaire (bulletin no. 3) can be obtained online from Casier Judiciaire National - bulletin n°3 (bulletin no. 1 and no. 2 certificates cannot be obtained individually and are not suitable for use abroad).

Extracts are issued free of charge in PDF electronic format that can be printed and then submitted to Apostille or legalization for use abroad. For applicants born in France or applying using FranceConnect (in French), the certificate is provided within 24 hours, otherwise it can take 5 days following verification of identity.

In France it is illegal for a third party to apply for another person’s criminal record certificate. The applicant must make the application themselves.

Applicants born in Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia or French Polynesia should contact:
Checking the authenticity a French criminal record

French Criminal Record Extracts do not expire. But if your certificate is more than 3 months old, you should check with the authority that has requested the certificate that they do not require a new issue.

Apostilles are not required when submitting French Criminal Record Certificates to another Member State of the European Union when the certificate is issued to a French national and when the criminal record is clean (no convictions). In other cases, the recipient Member State may require an Apostille.

EU Member States are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
See: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 (EU GDPR)

Official translations in France must be performed by a sworn translator and accompanied by the French original. The sworn translator’s signature must be authenticated by the town hall or notary.

To obtain an Apostille for a French will, it must be certified by the notary where the will was registered. To find out which notary holds a will, you can consult the Central Database of Last Will Dispositions