Legalization documents
All official foreign documents, like birth certificate, marriage certificate etc. must be legalized before they can be recognized by the Dutch Authorities. Legalization is the official confirmation that a signature, seal or stamp on a document is genuine. The document will be first confirmed by the Foreign Authorities in the home country, often the Ministry Foreign Affairs, and then by the Dutch Consulate located in that particular country.
Only countries who are party of the “The Convention of Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Public Documents”, also known as “The Hague Convention of 5 October 1961”, may shorten the legalization procedure. Apostille may only be issued by a competent authority designated by the State on whose territory the public document has been executed.
So, having a document legalized does not mean that its contents are accurate.
Legalization of Chinese documents
China is no party of The Hague Convention of 5 October 1961. This means that full legalizations required. The following steps are necessary:
1. drawn up a notary deed of the documents;
2. legalization by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
3. legalization by the Dutch Consulate in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou;
The needed time of such legalization procedure is between 10 days till 1 month.
Validity
The legalized documents are valid for 6 months, started from the date of the stamp placed by the Dutch Consulate. Even the IND has granted the MVV application, the Dutch Consulate might request you to legalize the documents all over again when you pick up the visa.
