Apostille Germany Guide

If you need an apostille in the Federal Republic of Germany you need to contact the following institutions responsible with this service:

  1. Federal documents

  • For documents issued by Federal authorities and courts, excluding those mentioned below, you need to contact the Federal Office of Administration, Cologne (Division II B4, 50728 Köln, phone 0221-7584100).
  • For documents issued by the Federal Patents Court and the German Patent Office, you have to contact the President of the German Patent Office.
  1. Documents issued by the German Länder

Because the issuing of “Hague apostilles” is not uniformly regulated in the various Länder, it is recommended to check for every document, which authority is designated to issue an apostille for that specific type of document.

  • Generally, for documents issued by the judicial administration authorities, by general courts, either civil or criminal ones, and notaries, apostilles are the responsibility of Ministries (or Senate Departments) of Justice and Presidents of the Regional (or Local) Courts.
  • For documents issued by other courts than those of general jurisdiction, apostilles are the responsibility of institutions such as Ministries (or Senate Departments) for the Interior, Chief Administrative Officer of the district (President of the administrative district/district authority), Ministries (Senate Departments) of Justice and Presidents of the Regional (or Local) Courts.

If you need apostille for documents issued by any administrative authorities (excluding judicial administration authorities), you need to contact the Ministries (or Senate Departments) for the Interior, Chief Administrative Officer of the district (President of the administrative district/district authority), in Berlin (030-902690), Registry Office I, in Rhineland-Palatinate, the Supervisory and Service Directorate in Trier, or in Thuringia, the Land Office of Administration in Weimar.

More information about apostille in Germany in German language: