Apostille Convention Contracting Parties: The Complete 2026 List, and How to Read It

The Apostille Convention has 129 Contracting Parties as of October 2026. Of those, 128 are in force today; Thailand is listed with an entry-into-force date of 28 February 2027. The list changes roughly every few months, so the date on any published list matters more than the number itself.

1. Which countries are Contracting Parties to the Apostille Convention?

The Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents — almost always called the Apostille Convention — has been in force since 24 January 1965. It now covers 129 listed Parties across five regions.

Two things about this table are worth pausing on. First, Europe is over a third of the list, which is why Apostilles feel routine there and unusual elsewhere. Second, the Americas figure of 33 is inflated by a long tail of Caribbean states that joined by succession in the 1970s and 1980s — they are full Parties, and documents going to them are handled exactly like documents going to Canada or Brazil.

The regional split is a reading aid, not a legal category. The Convention does not create regions; it creates a single list of Parties, and every Party is bound to accept every other Party's Apostilles without further authentication.

2. The complete list: 129 Parties, by region

Below is the full list, grouped by region. The date in the second column is the entry into force for that Party — not the date it signed, acceded, or succeeded to the Convention. The third column flags whether the Convention is operative for that Party today.

Europe (44)

Americas (33)

Asia (25)

Africa (17)

Oceania (10)

If you are checking a single destination, the fastest way is to search this page for the country name. If the name is not here, the destination is not a Party and you need consular legalisation.

3. Entry into force is not the date of signature, accession or succession

This is the single most common misreading of the Convention, and it produces most of the wrong answers people get from secondary sources.

A State becomes a Party in one of four ways, and each produces a different date:

• Signature followed by ratification. The original signatories in 1961–1965 ratified and the Convention entered into force for them on 24 January 1965. France and the United Kingdom both show that date.
• Accession. A State that was not an original signatory deposits an instrument of accession, and the Convention enters into force for it later — usually months after deposit. China acceded on 8 March 2023 and the Convention entered into force for China on 7 November 2023.
• Succession. States created from the break-up of a predecessor often succeed to the Convention with retroactive effect. This is why Croatia shows 8 October 1991 and Slovenia 25 June 1991 — dates that precede general international recognition of those states.
• Territorial extension. A Party may declare that the Convention extends to territories for which it is responsible. Those territories are covered by the parent State's Party status; they are not separate Parties.

The practical consequence: if you find a date for a country, check which of these four it is before you rely on it. A "joined in 2023" line on a blog post can mean deposit, ratification, or entry into force, and the gap between them is exactly the window in which people send documents down the wrong chain.

4. The list is still moving: 11 changes since 2022

Any list older than a few months is partly wrong. Eleven Parties have had an entry into force date in 2022 or later, and one of those dates has not arrived yet.

Note the pattern in the right-hand column: the newest entries are clustered in Africa, Asia and Latin America. If you last checked the list in 2022, several of the destinations you assumed required consular legalisation now accept an Apostille instead — Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Rwanda, Senegal and Algeria all changed status in that window.

5. Territorial extensions: three Parties, eighteen territories

Three Parties have extended the Convention to territories for which they are responsible. These territories accept and issue Apostilles, but they are not independent Parties, and their documents are handled under the parent State's authority.

This matters commercially more than it looks. A company registered in the British Virgin Islands is one of the most common structures in cross-border transactions, and its documents do not go through London. They are apostilled in the territory where the document was issued. Sending a BVI certificate of incorporation to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office will get it returned.

6. China: three separate clocks

China is a single Party with three separate application dates, and mixing them up is the most common source of confusion for anyone dealing with Chinese-language documents.

If your document was issued in Hong Kong and is going to a Contracting Party anywhere else in the world, the Apostille Service Office at the High Court issues it for HK$125 per application, normally in two working days.

7. The step most people miss: the India exception

India is on the list. The Convention has been in force for India since 14 July 2005. And yet a document issued in China and destined for India will not receive an Apostille.

The reason is Article 12 of the Convention, which allows a Contracting Party to object to another State's accession. Where an objection has been raised, the Convention does not take effect between those two States. The Hong Kong Judiciary's published list of Contracting Parties carries this footnote against India, and it is worth quoting exactly:

Two clarifications, because this footnote is routinely over-read:

• The objection is between China and India. It is not a statement that India rejects Apostilles from every country. An Apostille issued in the United States or the United Kingdom for use in India is a different question, decided by the receiving Indian authority.
• The consequence is that China-to-India documents go back to consular legalisation — notarisation, then authentication by the foreign affairs office or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then authentication by the Indian embassy or consulate. That chain takes weeks, not days, and it is the reason this single footnote changes project timelines.

The same footnote appears against one other entry on that list. The general lesson is that "is it a Contracting Party?" is necessary but not sufficient — you also need to know whether the Convention is actually operative between your issuing State and your destination.

8. Which authority issues the Apostille

The Convention does not create a central issuer. Each Party designates its own competent authorities, and the correct one depends on where the document was issued, not where you live or where you are sending it.

The United States is the clearest illustration of why the issuing jurisdiction controls. A birth certificate from California is apostilled by the California Secretary of State, not by Washington. An FBI background check — a federal document — is apostilled by the US Department of State. The same applicant, the same destination country, two different authorities, two different fees, two different mailing addresses.

9. Cost breakdown

There is no single "Apostille fee". The total is made up of payments to different parties, and no one party can collect the others on your behalf.

The component people underestimate is the first one. In several US states the Apostille itself costs three dollars and takes two working days, while the certified copy it must be attached to takes up to ten weeks to arrive. Budgeting for the Apostille fee and not for the registry lead time is how deadlines get missed.

10. When to use a service

An Apostille is a straightforward instrument. Plenty of people obtain one without help. The cases where it becomes difficult are specific:

• The document was issued in a jurisdiction you are not physically in, and that jurisdiction requires an original signature, a local cheque, or an in-person appointment.
• The destination recently became a Party and your existing paperwork was prepared for the consular route.
• The destination is on the list but the Convention is not operative between it and your issuing State — the India situation described above.
• You need a certified copy from a registry with a multi-week lead time and no online ordering for overseas applicants.
• The document chain crosses jurisdictions — for example a company registered in one territory with directors resident in another.
• You need the result by a fixed date and the competent authority offers no expedited service.

If none of these apply, the tables above are probably all you need. If two or more apply, the cost of getting the chain wrong usually exceeds the cost of having it handled — contact us and we will confirm the correct authority and route first.

11. Common rejection reasons

12. How to verify authenticity

An Apostille certifies the signature, the capacity of the signatory, and the seal or stamp on the document. It does not certify the content of the document. That distinction is stated on the certificate itself and is the first thing to check when someone questions an Apostille.

Verification routes differ by authority:

• Hong Kong SAR — the Judiciary publishes an online Apostille verification service. Certificate number, issue date and issuing officer can be checked there.
• Mainland China — the Additional Certificate carries a QR code linking to the issuing foreign affairs office's verification record.
• United States — several states offer online verification for Apostilles issued after a cut-off date (New York, for example, covers certificates issued from 9 April 2013 onward). Older certificates require a telephone enquiry to the issuing office.
• United Kingdom — the FCDO provides an online legalisation checking service using the reference number printed on the Apostille.

13. Frequently asked questions

How many countries are in the Apostille Convention?

129 Parties are listed as of October 2026, of which 128 are in force today. Thailand is listed with an entry-into-force date of 28 February 2027. HCCH's own status table is the authoritative source and should be checked before relying on any count, including this one.

Is my country on the list?

Search the tables in section 2. If the country is not there, it is not a Party, and the document needs consular legalisation instead of an Apostille.

Does an Apostille work for every country on the list?

Not automatically. Where a Party has objected to another State's accession under Article 12, the Convention does not take effect between those two States. India is the case that affects China-issued documents most often.

Can I get an Apostille in a country I am not in?

The Apostille must come from the jurisdiction that issued the document. Being physically elsewhere does not change which authority is competent, though it may change how you submit — by post, by courier, or through someone local.

How long does an Apostille take?

Between one working day and several weeks, depending on the authority. The Apostille itself is usually the fast part; obtaining the certified copy it attaches to is often slower.

Does an Apostille certify that my document is genuine?

No. It certifies the signature, the signatory's capacity and the seal. It says nothing about the content or the truth of what the document states.

The official fee is only a few dollars — why does a service cost more?

The official fee buys one certificate. A service covers the work around it: identifying the correct authority, obtaining certified copies from registries that may not serve overseas applicants, handling payment instruments that must be drawn on a local bank, managing the return courier, and correcting the submission if it is rejected. You are paying for the chain, not the certificate.

Can I just do it myself?

Often yes. Sections 9 to 11 set out what the chain involves and where it usually breaks. If your document was issued in a jurisdiction you can access and your destination is a Party with no bilateral complication, doing it yourself is entirely reasonable.

Sources / last verified

Convention status, entry-into-force dates and territorial extensions: HCCH Status Table for the Apostille Convention (cid=41), updated 30 June 2026. Party list cross-checked against the Hong Kong Judiciary's published list of Contracting Parties, version dated 11 September 2026. The India and Article 12 footnote is quoted verbatim from that list. China's accession and entry-into-force dates verified against the HCCH status table. Fees quoted in section 8 are the official published fees of each named authority. All figures last verified 27 October 2026; this page is reviewed when the status table changes.