Apostille for Croatian documents

An apostille is a certificate that authenticates the signature, the capacity of the signatory and the seal on a public document. It was introduced by the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, and a document bearing an apostille is valid in every member country without further certification by an embassy.

In Croatia, the apostille is generally issued by the competent municipal court, depending on which body issued the document. We handle the whole procedure: we check that the document is suitable, submit it to the competent authority, collect it with the apostille and, if required, have it translated by a court interpreter.

Documents that can be apostilled

• civil registry extracts: birth, marriage and death certificates
• criminal record certificates and certificates of citizenship (domovnica)
• diplomas and school certificates from public institutions
• court judgments and decisions, company register extracts, land registry extracts
• notarial documents: powers of attorney with a certified signature, certified true copies
• certified translations (apostille on the court interpreter's signature)

Do you actually need an apostille?

Not always. Under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191, many public documents such as civil registry extracts or criminal record certificates no longer require an apostille between EU member states, and multilingual standard forms can be issued with them, often replacing a translation. Countries that are not party to the Hague Convention require diplomatic legalisation instead. Before you order, we check what the receiving institution actually needs so you don't pay for an unnecessary step.

Which comes first: apostille or translation?

Usually the apostille is placed on the original document, and then both the document and the apostille are translated. Some countries require the reverse order, or both. We set the order according to the destination country.