Commonly known as the Convention Abolishing the Requirements of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, the Apostille Convention was founded in 1961 to facilitate the use of official papers abroad. As part of its ongoing efforts to reform the immigration system to align with Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia officially joined the Apostille Convention on December 7, 2022 – becoming its 122nd member. The Apostille Convention does away with the conventional, time-consuming legalizing requirement and replaces it with a straightforward attestation procedure that only requires the issuing of a single Apostille certificate by an appropriate authority. An electronic Apostille Program (e-App) was introduced by the Hague Conference on Private International Law in 2006 to support the electronic issuing and verification of Apostilles globally.
Benefits
- Enables the 121 signatory nations to accept documents from Saudi Arabia, such as birth and education certificates, and those that have been legalized per the treaty’s standards
- Permits Saudi Arabia to accept documents that have undergone a similar processing procedure from other Hague member states
- Shortens processing timelines and avoids challenging legalization processes at consulates
- Will help with streamlining recruitment and immigration processing for Saudi employers and foreign citizens
- Will simplify immigration procedures for Saudi citizens in the other 121 Hague members
With a target of 100 million tourists and 50% foreign workers by 2030, the Kingdom’s decision to join reconfirms its intention to reform the immigration system for a prosperous economic future.
