Apostille or Embassy Legalisation: What Belgium Requires

Last reviewed: 26 September 2026. Country requirements change. This page is re-checked periodically, and nothing on it replaces confirming the position with the Belgian body that will receive your document.

For Belgium the authentication question has a short answer: an apostille. The question that needs more thought is one most people do not expect — which language. Belgium has three official languages, and the one your document needs depends on where in Belgium it is going.

Check the current position before acting on this or any other page. Convention membership is a live fact. Confirm Belgium's status against the HCCH status table for the Apostille Convention on the day you start. Belgium has been a party for decades, so an apostille is the expected route for documents within the Convention's scope.

The usual chain

1. Notarise in Australia, if the document is a private one
2. DFAT apostille
3. Translation, if the receiving body requires it, into the language that body works in

Embassy legalisation should not be needed for a Convention-covered document.

Which language: it depends on the municipality

Belgian administration is organised along language lines. As a general guide:

• Flanders works in Dutch
• Wallonia works in French
• Brussels is officially bilingual, and bodies there work in both French and Dutch
• The German-speaking Community, in the east, works in German

Most everyday administrative contact — registering a marriage, recording a birth, registering as a resident — happens at the municipality (gemeente or commune). The language that matters is therefore usually the language of the municipality or body you are dealing with, not a single national language.

This is the most common mistake with Belgian paperwork: translating into French because it is the language people associate with Belgium, when the document is going to a Flemish municipality that works in Dutch.

Ask the receiving body:

• Which language do you need the translation in?
• Will you accept the document in English without translation?
• If you are in Brussels, does it matter whether it is French or Dutch?

Whose translation

Belgium keeps a national register of sworn translators. Belgian bodies commonly ask for translations by a sworn translator (beëdigd vertaler in Dutch, traducteur juré in French). An Australian NAATI translation is a professional translation, but it is not a Belgian sworn translation, and whether it will be accepted is up to the receiving body.

Questions worth asking:

• Must the translation be by a sworn translator registered in Belgium?
• Does the translator's signature need any further certification?
• Should the apostille and notarial certificate be translated as well as the document?

If a Belgian sworn translation is required, it will usually be made after the apostille, so that everything on the page can be translated at once.

Documents commonly needed

• Marriage in Belgium: birth certificates, proof of single status or dissolution of a previous marriage. Belgian civil registrars examine foreign documents carefully, and a complete, correctly translated file avoids delay.
• Residence and family reunification: civil status documents and police certificates, for the municipality and the federal immigration authority.
• Property and inheritance: powers of attorney for a sale, purchase or estate. In Belgium these transactions pass through a civil law notary (a Belgian notaris or notaire, whose role is much wider than an Australian notary's). The Belgian notary will often prepare the power of attorney in Dutch or French, sometimes bilingual. Ask for their draft before signing anything in Australia.
• Company matters: registration extracts, resolutions and powers of attorney for Australian companies setting up in Belgium, again often drafted by the Belgian notary in the language of the deed.

Recency limits

Belgian bodies may ask for civil status documents issued within a recent period. The window depends on the body and purpose. Confirm it before ordering certificates, remembering that apostille, courier and translation time all count against it.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need the Belgian embassy? Not for legalisation of a Convention-covered document. The embassy may still be involved in other matters, such as visa applications; that is a separate process with its own requirements.

The Belgian notary sent me a document in French. Can an Australian notary witness it? Generally an Australian notary can witness your signature on a document in a language they do not read, provided you understand what you are signing. The notary may ask you to confirm that, and may want a translation for their own file. Ask the Belgian notary whether they also need a specific form of certificate from the Australian notary.

How long does it take? It depends on DFAT processing and translation time. Do not plan to a figure quoted on a blog, including this one.