Purpose of authentication:

Official documents issued in a foreign country which need to be used in the Czech Republic must be "authenticated" (or "legalized") before they can be recognized as valid in the Czech Republic.

There are two ways of such an authentication:

(1) Legalization (often called superlegalization) - a sometimes time-consuming process in which various seals are placed on the document by the competent authorities of the country where the document was issued ending with the seal of the Czech Embassy or Consulate General that has jurisdiction over the region where it was issued;

(2) Apostille authentication - an authentication from the central authority of the country where the document was issued (usually the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but many times different authorities).

The "apostille authentication" is an authentication issued within the framework of the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization, and applies to those countries that are signatory members of said international treaty. Please always verify if the country where the documents were issued is a Member of the Hague Convention. You can find the list of these countries and further information here: www.hcch.net.

Superlegalization of Canadian documents:

Because Canada is not a party to the aforementioned Hague Convention, all Canadian documents which need to be used in the Czech Republic must be superlegalized by the Czech Embassy or Consulate. Prior to this, however, the documents must be authenticated (ie. stamped) by:

a) Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, Ottawa, or

b) Ministry of Government Services, Official Documents Services, Toronto in case of documents issued in Ontario,

c) Document Authentication Services in other Canadian Provinces and Territories.

Requirements:

To superlegalize your documents, you must :

- make an appointment at toronto.appointment(at)mzv.cz

- bring the original document

- provide a piece of identification

NOTE: In case of postal applications, applicants must provide a true copy of identification and enclose a pre-paid and self-addressed registered mail or courier envelope to be returned along with the Consulate Authentication. Also, please send your documents with a short covering letter and appropriate fees.

Processing time:

If you have 5 documents or less, we can process them while you wait. If you have more than 5 documents, they must be left in our office for authentication and it will take about 3 working days to process them. In case of postal applications the documents are superlegalized normally within 3 working days.

Administrative fee:

Up to date fees