The Apostille is the legalization of the official signature of a public servant, which must be recorded in the database of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The signature of the public servant on a document is certified by apostille but the contents are not certified or checked. A document must be certified by apostille when the country where it will take effect is part of the Convention on the Elimination of Legalization Requirement for Foreign Public Documents, The Hague 1961.

The Apostille may be placed on a private document.  The signature in the private document must be acknowledged by a Notary Public, and the Notary´s signature must be registered in the database of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A legalization is the acknowledgement of the official signature of a public servant, whose signature must be recorded in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs database. The signature of the public servant on the document is legalized but the contents of the document are not certified or checked. A document must be legalized when the country where it will take effect is not part of the Convention on the Elimination of Legalization Requirement for Foreign Public Documents, The Hague 1961.

The Legalization may also placed on a private document.  The signature in the private document must be acknowledged by a Notary Public, and the Notary´s signature must be registered in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs database.

The Apostille or Legalization Online service allows you to perform the procedure without having to go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This service is available 24 hours a day (every day of the week) and it can be accessed from anywhere in the world, thus offering greater ease and accessibility to the service.

After consulting the requirements on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs´ website, you may apostille and/or legalize documents at: Av. Carrera 19 N° 98 - 03 Sexto Piso, Edificio Torre 100.  Apostille and Legalization Office. Or online, 24 hours a day through www.cancilleria.gov.co

If you are not in Bogotá and only need the Apostille, you can go to the Offices of the Governors of:

Office of the Governor of Antioquia
Medellín
Calle 42B N° 52-106 Piso1 La Alpujarra
(57-4) 2620874
57-4) 2620874
Custome service: Check with the respective Office of the Governor

Office of the Governor of Norte de Santander

San José de Cúcuta
Calle 11 N° 5-05
(57-7) 5836081
(57-7) 5836081
Custome service: Check with the respective Office of the Governor

Office of the Governor of Atlántico
Barranquilla
Calle 40 carrera 45 y 46 Piso 1
(57-5) 3307327
(57-5) 3307327
Custome service: Check with the respective Office of the Governor
 

No. Anyone may legalize or apostille a document, provided it is endorsed with the official signature of a public servant.

There is no limit in the number of documents to be apostilled and/or legalized.  You can use this service as many times as you wish.

Costo y medios de pago en Colombia:

(i) = Impuestos departamentales. Valor que debe consultar con la Gobernación correspondiente.

El pago se debe hacer el mismo día que se genera la referencia de pago, de lo contrario deberá liquidar una nueva referencia en la fecha en la que realizará el pago.

• Si efectúa el trámite en línea, puede pagar en las sucursales del Banco GNB Sudameris a nivel nacional y si realiza el trámite en la oficina de Bogotá por cajilla, debe cancelar solo en el Banco GNB Sudameris, que se encuentra ubicado en las instalaciones de la oficina de Apostilla y Legalización.

Otras opciones de pago:

• Red de cajeros automáticos de Servibanca.
• Pago por PSE, para lo cual debe contar con una cuenta activa en Colombia, habilitada por la respectiva entidad financiera con el servicio para pagos electrónicos.
• Para pago en el banco GNB Sudameris, se debe tener en cuenta la referencia única de pago (Código numérico) y NO generar el recibo de pago.
• Recuerde que las únicas ciudades autorizadas para pago en el Banco Agrario son: Valledupar (Cesar), Sincelejo (Sucre), Riohacha (Guajira), San Andrés, Yopal (Casanare), Quibdó (Chocó), Mocoa (Putumayo), Arauca (Arauca), Leticia (Amazonas). Para lo anterior se debe generar e imprimir el recibo de pago.

Costo y medios de pago en el exterior:

Apostilla

La tabla anterior incluye impuesto de timbre

Legalización

La tabla anterior incluye impuesto de timbre

El pago se debe hacer el mismo día que se genera la referencia de pago, de lo contrario deberá generar una nueva referencia en la fecha en la que realizará el pago.

• El pago puede efectuarse directamente en la oficina del Consulado. Ver Directorio de Consulados en el siguiente link: https://tramites.cancilleria.gov.co/ciudadano/directorio/Misiones/enExterior.aspx
• Pago por PSE, para lo cual debe contar con una cuenta activa en Colombia, habilitada por la respectiva entidad financiera con el servicio para pagos electrónicos.

Lista de consulados que reciben Money Order para realizar el pago:

• Atlanta, Estados Unidos
• Boston, Estados Unidos
• Calgary, Canadá
• Chicago, Estados Unidos
• Houston, Estados Unidos
• Los Ángeles, Estados Unidos
• Miami, Estados Unidos
• Newark, Estados Unidos
• Nueva York, Estados Unidos
• Orlando, Estados Unidos
• San Francisco, Estados Unidos
• Washington, Estados Unidos

Nota: Cuando vaya a realizar su trámite, verifique con el Consulado más cercano los medios de pago disponibles. 

A Police Certificate  or Certificado de Antecedentes Judiciales may only be certified by apostille or legalized through the online application of the Ministry’s website:

https://tramites.cancilleria.gov.co/apostillalegalizacion/solicitudtramite/inicio.aspx

Conventional Passport (not machine-readable):  A legible copy of the conventional passport will be sufficient to Apostille or legalize it.

Machine-readable Passport:  This type of Passport may only be Certified by apostille or Legalized online, using this link: Apostille or Legalization of a Machine-readable Passport,  clicking the option “Machine-readable Passport".

If the document to be certified by apostille or legalized is to be presented in a language other than Spanish, the document must be translated by an official translator. The list of official translators appears in the database of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: please consult that directory of official translators. See Official Translators Directory.

Once translated, the signature of the official translator must be certified by apostille or legalized. In order to assist Colombian citizens in their procedures, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has enabled official translators to register on the Ministry’s website, but the Ministry is not responsible for the quality of the translation nor for the rate charged by them.

The documents to be certified by apostille and/or legalized must meet the requirements which can be found on the Ministry’s website: www.cancilleria.gov.co, also, if you scan documents in a PDF file, you must check that it is not more than 11MB.

The Apostille and/or Legalization is a document issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and does not expire.

However, each State is autonomous or independent to request a new Apostille at its discretion.