Apostille or Embassy Legalisation: What Colombia 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 Colombian office that will receive your document.

Colombia takes an apostille, so the Australian side is one step at DFAT. What catches people is the Spanish. Colombia has its own system of official translators, and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs is precise about how their work is certified. A translation that is perfectly good in Australia may not be the translation a Colombian office asks for.

Check the current position before acting on this or any other page. Colombia has been a party to the Apostille Convention since 2001. Confirm its status, and any objections, against the HCCH status table on the day you start.

Colombia and the Apostille Convention

The HCCH status table records Colombia's accession in April 2000, with the Convention in force for Colombia from 30 January 2001.

Colombia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Cancillería) answers the question directly in its apostille FAQ: for a document issued in a country that is part of the Hague Convention to be valid in Colombia, it must be presented with an apostille from the country that issued it. The same FAQ says Colombia cannot apostille other countries' documents. It apostilles only Colombian public documents going abroad.

For an Australian document, then, the apostille comes from DFAT, and there is no Colombian consulate step.

The chain

1. Notarise in Australia, if the document is a private one or you are sending a copy
2. DFAT apostille
3. Spanish translation, in the form the Colombian office accepts

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

Translation: Colombia's official translators

The Cancillería's FAQ says that a document which must be presented in a language other than Spanish must be translated by an official translator (traductor oficial), and it keeps a directory of them. It then sets out how that translation is certified, quoting a 2020 resolution of the Ministry:

• the official translator's signature is first recognised before a Colombian notary
• the Ministry then apostilles or legalises the notary's signature, never the translator's signature or the content of the translation
• none of this exempts you from presenting the source document, duly apostilled, from the country that issued it

Read together, that describes a Colombian-side process for the translation, built on an Australian-side apostille for the original. It is also why the order of steps matters: the Australian document is apostilled first, and the Colombian translation is made from the apostilled document.

What about a NAATI translation made in Australia? A NAATI-certified translator is not a Colombian traductor oficial. Some Colombian offices may accept a translation made in Australia if it is notarised and apostilled here along with the original. We could not confirm that from an official Colombian source. Before you pay for a translation in Australia, ask the receiving office, in writing:

• Must the translation be made by a Colombian official translator?
• If you will accept a translation made in Australia, must it carry its own apostille?
• Must the apostille itself be translated?

The Colombian consulate: what it can and cannot do

Colombia's Consulate General in Sydney lists, among the services it provides by appointment, notarial acts (actos notariales), passports, the Colombian identity card and the registration of births (registro civil de nacimiento).

This matters for one kind of document. A Colombian citizen in Australia who needs a power of attorney or declaration for use in Colombia may be able to sign it before the Colombian consul, in Spanish, rather than before an Australian notary. Whether that is open to you, and whether it suits your document, is a question for the consulate. If it is not available, the route is an Australian notary, a DFAT apostille and a Spanish translation.

What the consulate does not do is apostille or legalise an Australian document. Under Colombia's own guidance, that belongs to the country that issued it.

Documents commonly needed in Colombia

• Civil registration. Colombians registering an Australian-born child, an Australian marriage or an Australian divorce in Colombia's civil registry will generally need the Australian certificate or court order, apostilled, with a Spanish translation. Ask the consulate or registry office for its current list before ordering certificates. Use the standard certificate from the state or territory registry; DFAT does not accept ceremonial marriage certificates or laminated documents.
• Property and inheritance. A power of attorney allowing someone in Colombia to buy, sell or manage property, or to deal with an estate. Ask the Colombian lawyer or notary who will use it for the exact Spanish wording before you sign.
• Study and work. Degrees and transcripts. DFAT will apostille an original Australian university document only once the university has verified it. A notarised copy also needs that verification, and the notary's certificate must say so; a plain "true copy" certificate is not enough.
• Business. ASIC extracts, company resolutions and powers of attorney for a Colombian subsidiary, bank or counterparty.

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 Colombian consulate need to legalise my Australian document? No. Colombia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says a document from a Convention country is presented with that country's apostille.

Can Colombia apostille my Australian certificate if I am already there? No. The Cancillería says it apostilles only Colombian public documents.

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

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