Poland, like 123 other countries, is a party to the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. Pursuant to this Convention, documents issued in other countries, certified with an apostille, may be used in the states that are parties to it, without additional legalization procedures. Such facilitation does not apply in the case of using documents issued by a state that is not a party to the Convention – these documents are subject to legalization in accordance with the procedure provided for in the regulations in force in a given country. Similarly, the other way around – legalization is necessary to use Polish documents in a country that is not a party to the 1961 Convention. Polish documents are legalized by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. A document legalized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may be submitted to the competent authorities, offices and institutions of another country only after additional legalization at a diplomatic representation or consular office of a given country accredited in the territory of the Republic of Poland.
Countries not party to the 1961 Convention include:
- Afghanistan,
- Algeria,
- Angola,
- Bangladesh,
- Benin,
- butane,
- Burkina Faso,
- China,
- chad,
- Democratic Republic of the Congo,
- Djibouti,
- Egypt,
- Eritrea,
- Ethiopia,
- Gabon,
- Gambia,
- Gana,
- Guinea,
- Guinea-Bissau,
- Haiti,
- Iraq,
- Iran,
- Yemen,
- Jordan,
- Cambodia,
- Cameroon,
- Canada,
- Runny nose,
- Kenya,
- Congo,
- North Korea,
- Cuba,
- Kuwait,
- Laos,
- Lebanon,
- Libya,
- Madagascar,
- Malaysia,
- Maldives,
- little ones,
- Mauritania,
- Micronesia,
- Mozambique,
- Myanmar (Burma),
- Nepal,
- Niger,
- Nigeria,
- Papua New Guinea,
- Central African Republic,
- Rwanda,
- Sierra Leone,
- Somalia,
- Sri Lanka,
- Sudan,
- Syria,
- Tanzania,
- Thailand,
- Togo,
- Turkmenistan,
- Uganda,
- Vietnam,
- Zambia,
- Zimbabwe,
- United Arab Emirates.
