Apostille or Embassy Legalisation: What Chile 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 Chilean office that will receive your document.

For Chile, the authentication step is settled: an apostille from DFAT, and nothing from the Chilean consulate. Translation is where the planning goes wrong. Chile's Ministry of Foreign Affairs runs its own translation service, it will only translate a document that already carries its apostille, and some Chilean offices ask for that service by name.

Check the current position before acting on this or any other page. Chile joined the Apostille Convention in 2016. Confirm its status, and any objections, against the HCCH status table on the day you start.

Chile and the Apostille Convention

The HCCH status table records Chile's accession in December 2015, with the Convention in force for Chile from 30 August 2016. Chile's consular service publishes a page for Australia saying that documents apostilled in Australia must be recognised in Chile from that date.

Chile's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is plain about what that means for the Chilean side. Its guidance on foreign documents says an apostilled foreign document must not be legalised by the Ministry, and that Chile does not apostille documents issued abroad. Its apostille FAQ adds that documents arriving with an apostille from a Convention country are to be recognised without any further certification.

So there is no Chilean consulate step for an Australian document, and no second stamp to get once it reaches Santiago.

The chain

1. Notarise in Australia, if the document is a private one (a power of attorney, a declaration) or you are sending a copy
2. DFAT apostille
3. Spanish translation, in the form the receiving office accepts

Australian registry certificates and other public documents may go to DFAT directly, without a notary. Confirm with DFAT for your document.

Translation: the step to settle first

Chile works in Spanish, and most Australian documents are in English. There are two ways the translation can be done, and the receiving office decides which it accepts.

The Ministry's Translation Department. Chile's Ministry of Foreign Affairs translates documents between Spanish and English (as well as French, German, Portuguese and Italian). Requests are made online by uploading the complete document as a PDF, or in person in Santiago by appointment. Two conditions matter to someone in Australia:

• The document must already be legalised or apostilled. The Ministry will not translate an Australian document that has not been through DFAT.
• If someone else lodges the request for you, they need a simple written authority (poder simple) from you.

ChileAtiende, the government's service portal, says the service is voluntary: it is the office asking for the translation that decides whether it must come from the Ministry. Ask that office before you choose.

A translation made in Australia. The Ministry's apostille FAQ says official Spanish translations made in another Convention country can, in some cases, be presented in Chile with an apostille. In practice that means a NAATI translation that has itself been notarised and apostilled in Australia. "In some cases" is the Ministry's own hedge. Do not commission this route until the receiving office has said in writing that it will take it.

The order of steps follows from the choice. If Chile translates, the apostille comes first and the translation is done in Chile. If the translation is done in Australia and must carry its own apostille, it has to be finished before you lodge with DFAT.

Registering an Australian marriage in Chile

This is the most common reason Australian documents go to Chile. A Chilean citizen who married in Australia can have the marriage registered with Chile's Civil Registry (Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación). ChileAtiende's page on registering a marriage celebrated abroad asks for:

• the original Australian marriage certificate, apostilled
• a certified Spanish translation through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the relevant country's consulate in Chile
• an up-to-date birth certificate for the Chilean spouse
• copies of both spouses' identity documents
• a notarial or consular power of attorney, if a third party applies

Use the standard certificate from the state or territory registry. The decorative certificate handed over on the day is not a registry document, and DFAT excludes ceremonial and commemorative marriage certificates.

Two further points on that page are worth knowing before you post anything:

• You can keep the original. The Civil Registry accepts a photocopy authorised by a notary alongside the apostilled original. It checks the copy and returns the original. The page refers to a notary in Chile; ask the Registry whether a copy certified in Australia would do before relying on it.
• Property regime. The page says one spouse can attend if the couple registers under separation of property, and both must attend to choose a different regime. That choice has legal consequences in Chile. Speak to a Chilean lawyer before you decide.

Powers of attorney for Chile

A power of attorney signed in Australia for use in Chile follows the same chain: sign before an Australian notary, DFAT apostille, then Spanish translation. Before you sign, ask the Chilean lawyer or notary who will use it for:

• the exact wording, in Spanish, and whether you may sign a bilingual version
• whether a translation made in Australia will be accepted, or whether they will have it translated in Chile after it arrives
• any step it needs in Chile before it can be used

If you do not read Spanish and are asked to sign a Spanish document, tell the Australian notary in advance. They must be satisfied you understand what you are signing.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Chilean consulate in Sydney need to stamp my Australian document? Not for authentication. Chile's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says apostilled foreign documents are not legalised further.

Can a Justice of the Peace certify my documents for Chile? Not for use in Chile generally. A JP certification cannot be apostilled.

Can Chile's Translation Department translate my document before it has an apostille? No. ChileAtiende says the document must be legalised or apostilled first.

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