Notice on the suspension of consular legalization services after China joins《the Convention Abolishing the Requirement for legalization for Foreign Public Documents》
2023-10-24 22:25
On March 8, 2023, China joined《the Convention Abolishing the Requirement for Authentication for Foreign Public Documents 》(hereinafter referred to as the Convention). On November 7, 2023, the Convention will enter into force between China and Saudi Arabia . The Convention will continue to apply to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China and the Macao Special Administrative Region of China.Starting from November 7, official documents within the scope of the Convention issued by Saudi Arabia only need to apply for an additional certificate (Apostille) from Saudi Arabia before they can be sent to Chinese mainland for use. There is no need to apply for the legalization at the Chinese embassy or general consulate in Saudi Arabia. Official documents within the scope of the Convention sent from China to Saudi Arabia for use will no longer be subject to consular legalization by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and Saudi Arabian embassy and consulate in China, but will be subject to Apostille.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China is the competent authority for issuing Apostille and issues Apostille for official documents issued within the country. Entrusted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foreign affairs offices of relevant local people's governments in China can issue Apostille for official documents issued within their own administrative regions. For online Apostille verification, please log in to https://consular.mfa.gov.cn/VERIFY/. For specific procedures and requirements for applying for Apostille, please log in to the China Consular Service Network (https://cs.mfa.gov.cn/).
Starting from November 7, our embassy will suspend consular legalization services. For documents issued in Saudi Arabia that are intended to be sent to Chinese mainland , please apply for an Apostille from the Saudi Arabia competent authority.The Convention stipulates that Apostille is used to prove the authenticity of the signature on a document, the identity of the signatory of the document at the time of signing, and to confirm the authenticity of the seal on the document when necessary. It is recommended that you check in advance about specific requirements for format, content, time limit, translation, etc. of official documents before going through the relevant procedures.The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
