Dear Atty. Angela,
I am applying for residency in a foreign country and there are various Philippine government-issued documents needed for submission to their Immigration so our application will be granted. I was told that they need my NBI Clearance, Income Tax Return, Birth Certificate and Marriage Certificate. Apart from submitting the original documents, I was instructed that these should be apostilled. This is the first time I have heard of apostille. What would be a fast and cost-friendly way to go about this?
Pia
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Dear Pia,
Essentially, an Apostille by the Department of Foreign Affairs authenticates a document by verifying that the institution which issued the document has the power to issue that document which is authentic and will be recognized by other foreign Apostille countries for official purposes. At the time of rampant issuance of fraud or fake documents, the process of Apostille ensures the authenticity and genuineness of Philippine government documents.
Philippine Apostilled documents can be used abroad if the receiving country is also a member of the Hague Convention on Apostille. The Philippine DFA will only able to authenticate a document issued or made in the Philippines. The rule is that the country where the document was created is also the only place where the document can be Apostilled.
Different document types have different Apostille Requirements. Each type of document has different supporting documents that should be submitted to the Department of Foreign Affairs before it could be considered for Apostille.
For the Birth Certificate and Marriage Certificate, original documents are required. New records should be first authenticated with the Philippine Statistics Authority. The Income Tax Return should be a Certified True Copy issued by the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and as for the NBI Clearance, it should be an original document with dry seal.
The DFA receives a lot of Apostille requests so the Apostille process is fairly streamlined. You can go to the DFA and submit the Apostille request, pay for it, and pick up the Apostilled document after. You may check their website online to learn their different branches in Metro Manila.
I hope to have helped you with your query.
Atty. Angela Antonio