Apostille or Embassy Legalisation: What Sweden 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 Swedish body that will receive your document.

For Sweden the authentication answer, where one is needed, is an apostille. What is specific to Sweden is how often the Swedish authority asks for something else. Selling Swedish property requires your signature to be witnessed by two people, not notarised. Telling the Swedish Tax Agency about a marriage in Australia takes a copy of the certificate. And the hardest Swedish requirement for many Australians is not authentication at all: it is proving that you are unmarried, in a country with no population register.

This page covers marriage, population records and property. For Swedish residence and work permits, see our separate page on Sweden visa applications.

Check the current position before acting on this or any other page. Convention membership is a live fact. Confirm Sweden's status against the HCCH status table for the Apostille Convention on the day you start. At the time of writing Sweden is listed as a party, so an apostille is the expected route for documents within the Convention's scope.

The usual chain, when authentication is required

1. Notarise in Australia, if the document is a private one
2. DFAT apostille
3. Translation into Swedish, if the receiving body asks for one

Australian public documents such as registry-issued certificates may be able to go to DFAT directly without a notary. Confirm with DFAT.

Before starting, ask the Swedish body whether it needs an apostille at all. The examples below are cases where the published requirement is something simpler.

Married in Australia: telling the Tax Agency

In Sweden, marriages are recorded in the population register kept by the Tax Agency (Skatteverket). A Swedish citizen who marries abroad under foreign law informs Skatteverket afterwards. Its guidance asks for names, personal identity numbers or dates of birth, contact details, how, where and when you married, and says it is good to enclose a copy of a certificate showing you are married, and copies of passports or identity documents. Skatteverket then decides whether the foreign marriage is valid in Sweden and will contact you if something is missing.

That guidance does not ask for an apostille. Send what it asks for and let Skatteverket request more if it needs it.

Marrying in Sweden

Before a wedding in Sweden, Skatteverket carries out an impediment examination (hindersprövning). The certificate it issues is valid for four months and cannot be extended, so time your documents around it.

If you are not registered in Sweden, Skatteverket's guidance says you must show you are over 18 (a passport will do), that you are not closely related to your partner (a written declaration on the form), and that you are not married. For the last point it suggests a certificate of your current civil status from an authority in the country where you live, issued recently, preferably within the last four months. If you were married before, you show that the marriage ended, for example with a divorce order.

Here is the Australian difficulty. Australia has no national register that certifies whether a person is married. Before ordering anything, ask Skatteverket what it accepts from an Australian resident. Documents people commonly consider include a "no record of marriage" search from a state or territory registry of births, deaths and marriages, and a declaration of single status sworn before a notary. We have not confirmed that Skatteverket accepts either, so ask.

If neither of you is a Swedish citizen or resident in Sweden, Skatteverket also asks for evidence that you may marry under the law of your country of citizenship or residence, such as a certificate of no impediment from an authority of that country or its embassy. Ask the Australian Embassy in Stockholm, or DFAT, how an Australian obtains one for use in Sweden.

Selling Swedish property from Australia

The Swedish land registration authority (Lantmäteriet) publishes what it needs when a foreign national, or a Swede who has emigrated, sells or gives away Swedish property. Three points stand out:

• Two witnesses, not a notary. The deed of sale or gift must be signed by both parties, and the seller's signature must be witnessed by two persons. That is the requirement Lantmäteriet lists; it does not list notarisation or an apostille. Ask the Swedish buyer's agent or lawyer whether they want more.
• Proof of civil status. Lantmäteriet asks for a document corresponding to a Swedish personal certificate from your home country, showing whether you are unmarried, married or divorced. It says that if this is difficult to obtain, someone who knows you well can certify your civil status at the time of transfer, and that the statement must cover the whole period you owned the property.
• Your spouse's consent, if you are or were married while you owned the property, or a document showing consent is not needed.

Lantmäteriet also notes that for transfers from 1 July 2026, the new owner's Swedish personal identity number or coordination number must be given.

If you are signing through an attorney, Lantmäteriet asks for the original power of attorney with the application. Ask the Swedish side what form the power of attorney must take, and take legal advice in Sweden on validity.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Swedish embassy need to legalise my Australian document? Not for a Convention-covered document.

Can an Australian notary witness my Swedish property deed? Lantmäteriet's requirement is two witnesses. A notary could be one of them, but the requirement is met by witnesses in general. Ask the Swedish agent what they prefer.

Does Skatteverket issue apostilles for Swedish documents I need in Australia? No. Skatteverket says it does not issue apostilles; in Sweden that is done by a notarius publicus.

How long does it take? It depends on the Swedish body and, where needed, DFAT. Do not plan to a figure quoted on a blog, including this one.