Authentication of documents

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Difference between apostille and authentication

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Verify an apostille or authentication stamp

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What can an Irish Embassy legalise?

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Civil status documents (Birth, Marriage and Death)

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Using couriers to collect documents

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If you wish to use an Irish document overseas, for business or personal reasons, you may need to 'authenticate' or 'Apostille' that document. This is sometimes known as ‘legalisation’. Legalisation simply confirms that a signature, seal or stamp is genuine. Apostille and authentication stamps enable public documents issued in Ireland to be recognised in another country.

The Department of Foreign Affairs holds records of various signatures, seals and stamps on file, and is the competent authority who confirm they are genuine. The type of stamp issued will depend on what country you will be using the document, and staff in the section will advise this for you.

Our offices on Mount Street, Dublin and South Mall, Cork issue a physical stamp on your documents. We currently do not offer a digital service.

We can only issue Apostille or authentication stamps on Irish public documents. Documents must reference a clear Irish link (for example, an Irish address, Irish Passport details, Irish company registration number).

We cannot advise on whether a document requires authenticating / Apostilling. This is a matter for you to find out. Please contact authorities in the country where the document will be used to check their requirements.

A notary public may be required to notarise your document before we can issue a stamp. For more information, please see The Faculty of Notaries Public in Ireland for information on the Faculty of Notaries and the services of a notary public.

Authenticating / Apostilling a document does not mean that the Department of Foreign Affairs is verifying the accuracy of the documents or approves of the documents’ contents.

Difference between apostille and authentication

While they accomplish the same objective, there are differences between Apostille and authentication stamps. An Apostille is a certification form set out in The Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, often referred to as The Hague Apostille Convention. An outline of the Hague Apostille Convention can be found at The Hague Conference on Private International Law website.

Where a document needs to be used in a country that is not a signatory to The Hague Apostille Convention, an authentication stamp is issued.

Authentication stamps are a 2-step process, which will require a counter-signature, issued by the Embassy / Consulate of the country where the document will be used. For example, a document for use in a non-Hague country will be authenticated by our office, and must then be presented to the Embassy based in Ireland (or sometimes in the UK) for counter-signing.

The most popular public documents for which Apostilles are issued are civil status documents (e.g., birth, marriage, and death certificates), notarial authentications of signatures, degrees and other education documents.

How to apply

Walk-in Service (Dublin and Cork Offices)

We operate a walk-in service from our Dublin office at 42-47 Mount Street Lower, Dublin 2. Appointments are not necessary.

Our Dublin walk-in service operates on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. There is no walk in service on Wednesdays.

Opening hours:

9.30 am – 12.30 pm

2.30 pm – 3.30 pm

Any documents submitted on Wednesday or outside counter hours will be treated as drop-off documents. Our public counter is located on the ground floor, to the left of the reception desk.

What you need to bring:

The document you want to authenticate / Apostille
A cover letter with the following information:
- Your name
- The country you intend to use the document
- A contact phone number and email address
The fee

Fees:

Fees can be paid via card at the counter or with an Irish postal order or Irish bank draft. Bank drafts and postal orders should be made payable to Department of Foreign Affairs.

*Cash, cheques or AMEX cards are not accepted for payment*

The following service fees apply:

€40 per Authentication / Apostille stamp
€100 per Adoption Dossier
€10 per export of goods document (e.g. – HPRA document, Certificate of Origin, EPA certificate)

Please note:

Documents are processed while you wait. A maximum of five documents can be authenticated / Apostilledat our public counter. Our target turnaround time is thirty minutes.
If you have more than five documents, you may submit these at the counter as a drop-off service. Your documents will be returned by post once they have been processed. Alternatively, you can request collection. Our staff will contact you when your documents are ready.
Documents submitted on Wednesday or outside counter hours will be treated as a drop-off.
If large bundles of documents are broken into smaller bundles by the same organisation, these will be treated as drop-off bundles. For example, if twenty documents are broken into four groups of five by the same company they will only be accepted on as a drop-off service.
Threatening behaviour, abuse, derogatory comments or otherwise unacceptable behaviour towards our staff will not be tolerated. Any person engaging in such behaviour will not be permitted to use our public counter and will be asked to use our postal service.

Contact us:

Queries about the submission process can be directed to our phone lines, +353 (1) 408 2174 or to our contact us form. Our phone lines are open weekdays between 9.30 am – 12.30 pm

We operate a walk-in service from our Cork Office at 1A South Mall, Cork. Appointments are not necessary.

Our Cork walk-in service operates on Tuesday and Thursday mornings only. There is no walk-in service on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays.

Opening hours are 9.30 am – 12.30 pm.

Any documents submitted outside counter hours will be treated as a drop-off service.

What you need to bring:

The document you want to authenticate / Apostille
A cover letter with the following information
- Your name
- The country you intend to use the document in
- A contact phone number and email address
The fee

Fees:

Fees can be paid via card at the counter or with an Irish postal order or Irish bank draft. Bank drafts and postal orders should be made payable to Department of Foreign Affairs.

*Cash, cheques or AMEX cards are not accepted for payment*

The following service fees apply:

€40 per Authentication / Apostille stamp
€100 per Adoption Dossier
€10 per export of goods document (for example – HPRA document, Certificate of Origin, EPA certificate)

Please note:

Documents are processed while you wait. A maximum of five documents can be authenticated / Apostilled at our public counter. Our target turnaround time is thirty minutes.
If you have more than five documents, you may submit these at the counter as a drop-off service. Your documents will be returned by post once they have been processed. Alternatively, you can request collection. Our staff will contact you when your documents are ready.
Documents submitted on outside counter hours will be treated as drop-off submissions.
If large bundles of documents are broken into smaller bundles by the same organisation, these will be treated as drop-off bundles. For example, if twenty documents are broken into four groups of five by the same company they will only be accepted on as a drop-off service.
Threatening behaviour, abuse, derogatory comments or otherwise unacceptable behaviour towards our staff will not be tolerated. Any person engaging in such behaviour will not be permitted to use our public counter and will be asked to use our postal service.

Contact us:

Queries on the counter submission process can be directed to our phone lines, +353 (1) 408 2174 or to our contact us form. Our phone lines are open weekdays between 9.30 am – 12.30 pm

Postal service

Documents can be submitted to our office via post. Our average turnaround time for this service is three to seven working days from date of receipt.

We recommend that you send your documents by registered post. Always make a note of the tracking number. We bear no responsibility if your item does not arrive to our offices.

Your documents will be returned to you by registered post. The cost of postage, to both Irish and overseas addresses, is included in the fee.

Post your documents to:

Worldwide and Rest of Ireland	Munster Region
Authentication Section Consular Division Department of Foreign Affairs 80 St. Stephen's Green Dublin 2 D02 VY53	Authentication Section Consular Division Department of Foreign Affairs 1A South Mall Cork T12 TA46

What to submit

The document you want to authenticate / Apostille
A cover letter with the following information
- Your name
- The country you intend to use the document in
- The address where documents are to be returned (If you wish to collect your documents instead, please note this on your cover letter)
- A contact phone number and email address
The fee (please see details on fees below)

Fees

When we are processing your application, a member of our team will contact you by phone to take a card payment.

Alternatively, fees can be paid with an Irish postal order or Irish bank draft. Bank drafts and postal orders should be made payable to The Department of Foreign Affairs.

*Cash, cheques or AMEX cards are not accepted for payment*

The following service fees apply:

€40 per Authentication / Apostille stamp
€100 per Adoption Dossier
€10 per export of goods document (for example – HPRA document, Certificate of Origin, EPA certificate)

Contact us

Queries on postal submissions can be directed to our phone lines, +353 (1) 408 2174 or to our contact us form. Our phone lines are open weekdays between 9.30 am – 12.30 pm

Drop-off service for five or more documents

Our drop-off service allows you to submit your documents in person to our drop-off locations in Dublin or Cork. Documents can be dropped off on weekdays between 9am and 4pm. Once processed, your documents will be returned to you by registered post. Or you can request collection and a member of our team will phone you when your documents are ready.

What to submit with your drop-off application:

The document you want to authenticate / Apostille
A cover letter with the following information
- Your name
- The country you intend to use the document in
- A contact phone number and email address
- The address where documents are to be returned (If you wish to collect your documents instead, please note this on your cover letter)
The fee (please see details on fees below)

Place all your documentation in a single envelope. Please ensure this envelope is marked for the attention of "Authentications Section".

Fees:

When we are processing your application, a member of our team will contact you by phone to take a card payment.

Alternatively, fees can be paid with an Irish postal order or Irish bank draft. Bank drafts and postal orders should be made payable to Department of Foreign Affairs.

*Cash, cheques or AMEX cards are not accepted for payment*

The following service fees apply:

€40 per Authentication / Apostille stamp
€100 per Adoption Dossier
€10 per export of goods document (for example – HPRA document, Certificate of Origin, EPA certificate)

Drop-off Locations

There are two drop-off locations:

Authentications Unit, Knockmaun House, 42-47 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2

Authentications Unit 1A South Mall, Cork

*Drop-offs can be made on weekdays between 9 am & 4 pm*

Contact us

Queries on drop-off submissions can be directed to our phone lines, +353 (1) 408 2174, or to our contact us form. Our phone lines are open weekdays between 9.30 am – 12.30 pm

Verify an apostille or authentication stamp

The online electronic register enables you to verify the authenticity of an Apostille or Authentication stamp issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ireland.

What can an Irish Embassy legalise?

Irish Embassies and Consulates cannot issue authentication or Apostille stamps.

They can counter-sign foreign-issued authentication stamps from the country where the Embassy or Consulate is based.

Education documents

We stamp:

The original Leaving Certificate (including provisional results)
A copy of your Leaving ertificate, which must be notarised by an Irish notary public, or the State Examinations Commissioner
A PDF hardcopy of your results from the Candidates Self-Service Portal, which must be notarised by an Irish notary public
School report, notarised by an Irish notary public or original wet ink stamp from the school. The school in question must appear on Find a School

We do not accept Leaving Certificate results issued by a school on their headed paper, even if notarised.

We stamp:

Original educational certificates from Irish colleges which are registered on Irish Register of Qualification (irq.ie)
Notarised copies of educational certificates from Irish colleges (as above)
College transcripts with original stamp from the college on the document.
Notarised copies of college transcripts.
In addition to the above, education institutes that are funded by an Irish Governing Body (for example, Sport Ireland) can be authenticated once they are notarised by an Irish notary public.

Garda Certificates

The Department of Foreign Affairs cannot accept emailed / scanned copies of the Garda clearance certificate. It must be the original document, with a wet ink stamp from the Garda station, and must have the original signature.

You can contact the issuing Garda station and ask them to post the document to our office directly (it must be addressed to the Authentication Unit, see how to apply section of this website for the postal address).

You must contact our office to let us know, as we will require a cover note and payment to enable us to process the document.

Civil status documents (Birth, Marriage and Death)

One of the most common document types we are requested to legalise are civil status documents. There are some rules:

Only Irish civil status documents can be legalised, and must be issued by the GRO.
The original GRO issued documents do not need to be notarised in order for us to legalise them.

Photocopies of documents

We can Authenticate / Apostille photocopies of certain types of documents. They must be certified by a practicing Irish Solicitor or Irish notary public. However, you should in the first instance confirm with the authority to whom you are presenting the document that a certified copy will be acceptable to them.

Securely binding documents

A notary public specialises in authenticating documents, and a Notarial Act Certificate has recognition worldwide. A solicitor cannot bind documents - only an Irish Notary Public can securely bind documents together.

This will ensure that no documents are removed or added from a bundle of documents. No foreign documents can be within this bundle (for example, a foreign passport).

Best practice is for a notary public to bind documents and attach a Notarial Act Certificate to the front of the bundle, making reference to each document within the bundle on this certificate.

You should check with the authorities who you are presenting the bundle to that this is accepted by them - sometimes they will want each document stamped individually. Please be aware that we charge per stamp issued.

Where a solicitor signs documents, each document is treated individually - the stamp we issue only refers to this specific document.

The binding can be done in a variety of ways. If staples are being used, some additional security measure must be incorporated. This can be done by covering the rear side of the staple with a sticker at a minimum or indeed covering both sides of the staple.

If no sticker is present over the back of a staple, documents will be returned to be securely bound by the notary.

Foreign documents

Only Irish public documents can be legalised. We reserve the right to refuse to authenticate / Apostille any documents that we deem not to have an appropriate Irish link.

All documents must be created in Ireland or show an explicit Irish connection – i.e. full Irish address / CRO company number / Irish government issued identification information.

Using couriers to collect documents

The Department of Foreign Affairs will facilitate the use of courier services for postal applications or returns. The onus is on the customer to make all arrangements.

A waybill can be emailed to the staff member you are dealing with and we can attach this on the envelope. We do not accept any responsibility for any lost or missing post.

Contact us

Email enquiries regarding any of our services can be directed to our contact form here. This mailbox is monitored during work hours. If your request is urgent, please contact us by phone.

Our phone lines are open weekdays between 9.30 am – 12.30 pm at +353 (1) 408 2174.

Please note that threatening behaviour, abuse, derogatory comments or otherwise unacceptable behaviour towards our phone staff will not be tolerated.