Apostille or Legalisation for Hungary From Australia

Australian documents sent directly to a Hungarian authority take a DFAT apostille: as of our last check, the Convention has been in force for Hungary since 18 January 1973. Check the HCCH status table on the day. But much Hungarian paperwork goes through the Hungarian consulate in Australia instead, and there the embassy's own rules apply, including which notaries it accepts.

Key takeaways

• There are two routes, and they produce different certificates. Ask which one the receiving body wants before you start.
• Directly to Hungary (a court, land registry, bank or lawyer): an Australian notary for private documents, then a DFAT apostille.
• Through the consulate (birth registration, citizenship, name changes): the embassy says Justice of the Peace attestations are not accepted, and an Australian notary's attestation is accepted with Hungarian consular certification.
• For consular procedures, the notary must be one the embassy holds a specimen seal and signature for. It publishes a list.
• An Australian birth certificate in English generally needs no Hungarian translation for registration through the consulate.

Hungary and the Apostille Convention

The HCCH status table records Hungary's accession on 18 April 1972, with the Convention in force from 18 January 1973. Membership is a live fact, so confirm it, and read the table's notes, on the day you start.

An apostille is a certificate from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirming the signature and seal on an Australian public document. It says nothing about the contents. Only DFAT issues apostilles in Australia; a notary cannot. Consular legalisation, by contrast, is a Hungarian consular officer confirming a signature, here the Australian notary's, for use in a Hungarian procedure.

Two routes, depending on where the document goes

Through the consulate

If your application is lodged with the Hungarian consulate in Australia, follow the embassy's instructions. Its general consular information says:

• application forms must be witnessed by Hungarian consular officials or honorary consuls;
• attestations by a Justice of the Peace are not accepted;
• attestations by Australian notaries are accepted, together with Hungarian consular certification;
• Hungarian forms are completed in Hungarian.

Directly to a Hungarian authority

For a document you send to a Hungarian court, land registry, bank or lawyer yourself, the Convention route applies: an Australian notary for a private document, then a DFAT apostille. Australian registry certificates and court documents usually go to DFAT directly: DFAT's page on documents it can legalise lists birth, marriage and death certificates, court documents including divorce certificates, and national police checks. DFAT refuses laminated certificates and ceremonial marriage certificates.

The embassy's rules for notaries

The embassy's legalisation guidance is unusually specific:

1. Signatures and copies can be certified by an Australian notary.
2. The notary's seal and signature must then be legalised by the consulate, for a further consular fee.
3. The consulate accepts legalisations only from notaries whose specimen seal and signature it holds, and it publishes a list of them.

The embassy has said the list only shows notaries whose documents it has already received, and that it has no affiliation or exclusive arrangement with any of them. So before booking a notary for a Hungarian consular procedure, check whether the notary is on the list, or ask the embassy how a notary not on it can lodge a specimen. A notary who is not on it may be perfectly qualified and still not be accepted for this purpose. More on consular practice is in consulates and legalisation in Australia.

Signing before a consul instead

The embassy also offers the service itself. A consul or honorary consul can certify your signature, when you sign in front of them or acknowledge a signature as yours, and can certify copies of original documents. The embassy has said honorary consuls can certify signatures only on documents written in English, or in English and Hungarian. Anyone signing for a company must go to one of the consular offices rather than an honorary consul, and bring a recently issued certificate of incorporation; ask the embassy how recent. For the company side, see company incorporation documents.

Translation: English is often enough, and OFFI matters

The embassy's birth registration guidance says an Australian birth certificate needs no translation, because certificates issued in English, German or French are accepted as they are. For a document in another language, it accepts either a translation by OFFI, the Hungarian Office for Translation and Attestation, or a NAATI translation that the Hungarian consulate then legalises.

The legalisation guidance draws a further line. The consulate legalises NAATI translations between English and Hungarian only where the translation will be used in Hungary as part of a consular procedure. For an official translation used in Hungary outside a consular procedure, it directs people to OFFI. Honorary consuls cannot legalise translations at all. NAATI translation with a notary covers the Australian side.

Registering an Australian birth or marriage

Births of Hungarian citizens must be registered in Hungary, and this can be done through the consulate. The embassy's birth registration guidance asks for:

• the original full birth certificate, showing the parents' details;
• the parents' Hungarian marriage certificate or, if they were not married, an acknowledgement of paternity;
• the parents' identity documents and proof of Hungarian citizenship.

The parents' marriage must already be registered in Hungary, or be registered at the same time, and the embassy has said both parents attend in person. Notice what the guidance does not ask for: an apostille on the Australian certificate, or a translation of it. For registration through the consulate, the original registry certificate goes in as it is. Use the full certificate from the state or territory registry, not an extract or a commemorative certificate. Check the current list with the consulate before ordering.

Simplified naturalisation

Many Australians of Hungarian descent apply for Hungarian citizenship through simplified naturalisation. The embassy has said applicants must be able to show a Hungarian-citizen ancestor or likely Hungarian origin, or a long marriage to a Hungarian citizen; must know Hungarian, which the receiving authority checks; and must have a clean criminal record. Forms and official communication are in Hungarian only. Ask the consulate which supporting documents it wants, and in what form, before ordering certificates or booking a notary. For documents lodged through the consulate, its rules above apply.

Property and inheritance in Hungary

Selling a flat in Budapest, accepting an inheritance or dealing with a Hungarian bank from Australia usually means a power of attorney. In Hungary, property transfers and succession run through Hungarian lawyers and civil law notaries (közjegyző), whose role is much wider than an Australian notary's. They will usually draft the power of attorney in Hungarian, or in Hungarian and English, and tell you which form of signature they need.

• Get the text from Hungary first. A power of attorney that lacks the powers the land registry or bank needs will be refused however it was signed.
• Ask which route they want. Some Hungarian lawyers prefer a signature certified by a Hungarian consul; others are content with an Australian notary and a DFAT apostille. They are different certificates, so ask before you book.
• Signing in a language you do not read. If the document is in Hungarian and you do not read it, tell the Australian notary in advance. The notary must be satisfied you understand what you are signing, and may ask for an English version beside the text.

The Australian notary checks your identity and capacity and witnesses the signature, but does not advise on Hungarian property or succession law. See power of attorney and legal declarations.

What does not work for Hungary

• A Justice of the Peace attestation. The embassy refuses it for consular procedures, and DFAT cannot apostille it for anything else.
• A notary the consulate holds no specimen for, for a consular procedure. Check the list first.
• A DFAT apostille in place of consular certification, when the consulate is the receiver. Ask which it wants.
• A NAATI translation for official use outside a consular procedure. The embassy points to OFFI instead.

Coming the other way, a Hungarian document for use in Australia is apostilled in Hungary, not by DFAT; see documents from overseas for use in Australia.

Documents compared

Document	Where it goes	Route
Australian birth certificate	Consulate, for birth registration	Original full certificate, usually no translation or apostille
Citizenship application forms	Consulate	Witnessed by a consul, or a registered notary plus consular certification
Power of attorney for property	Hungarian lawyer or land registry	Notary, then DFAT apostille, or signed before a consul
Court document or divorce order	Hungarian court	Original to DFAT for an apostille
Translation of a third-language document	Consular procedure, or official use	NAATI plus consular legalisation, or OFFI

Here is an illustration, not a real case

A Hungarian-born mother in Adelaide wants her Australian-born son registered as a Hungarian citizen. Her marriage is already registered in Hungary. She orders the full birth certificate from the South Australian registry, books an appointment with the consulate, and attends with her husband, their identity documents and her Hungarian citizenship papers. No translation, apostille or notary is needed. A year later she sells an inherited flat in Budapest, and that power of attorney goes a different way: signed before an Australian notary and apostilled by DFAT, as her Hungarian lawyer asked.

In short

Hungary takes an apostille, on our last check, for documents sent directly to Hungarian authorities. For procedures through the Hungarian consulate, follow the embassy's rules: no JPs, and an Australian notary it holds a specimen for, with consular certification. English birth certificates usually need no translation. More on the Australian steps is at apostille and authentication.

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