Apostille, what is it?

Modified on Thu, 23 Apr at 2:26 PM

More often than not, foreign students are required by French authorities to provide their documents, for example the extract of their birth certificate, legalized by an apostille.

Indeed, the apostille allows to authenticate a document established in a foreign country in order to carry out an administrative formality in France. The apostille will authenticate the signature, the quality of the person who signed the document, the seal or the stamp. It will not say whether or not the content of the document is true or not.

Link to Authentication of foreign documents (webpage in French only, sorry).

Directory of French embassies and French consulates worldwide


In case the document is not in French, students first have to get it translated by a certified translator.


In turn, French students may also need to have their own documents legalized with an apostille when they submit their French documents to a foreign authority.

Link to Authentication of French documents


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