If a foreign embassy, university, or registry has asked for an "apostilled" document, you are dealing with one of the most misunderstood steps in international paperwork. Here is the whole picture.
What an apostille actually is
An apostille is a standardized certificate attached to a public document that authenticates the signature and seal on it, making the document legally valid in all countries of the Hague Apostille Convention — most of Europe, and dozens of other states. One apostille, recognized everywhere in the Convention; no embassy legalization needed on top.
Nigeria issues apostilles through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Since Nigeria joined the Apostille Convention, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) issues apostilles in Abuja, with processing also available through designated channels. The document must first carry the correct originating signature — a registrar's for academic documents, court or registry seals for civil documents.
Documents that commonly need apostille
- Degree certificates and academic transcripts (for university admission abroad)
- Birth, marriage, and single-status certificates (for residency and marriage abroad)
- Police character certificates (for student and work visas — Portugal, for example, requires this)
- Powers of attorney and court documents
The step most people miss: pre-authentication
An apostille certifies an existing official signature. A university transcript must be properly signed and sealed by the institution; a police certificate must come from the correct issuing command. Documents with missing or non-standard signatures are rejected at the MFA — this, not the apostille itself, causes most delays.
Timelines and validity
Plan for one to three weeks end-to-end including pre-authentication, longer during embassy peak season (May–September). Note that receiving countries often impose freshness rules: Portugal, for instance, generally wants criminal record certificates issued within the last 90 days — so sequence the apostille close to your visa application.
Translation comes after, not before
If the destination country needs the document in its language, the certified translation is done after apostille (and sometimes the translation itself is then certified). Doing it in the wrong order means paying twice.
The practical route
You can run this process yourself in Abuja, or hand it to a service that does it weekly. We handle collection, pre-authentication checks, MFA submission, apostille, and certified translation as one package — see /services/apostille. For most applicants the saved trips to Abuja pay for the service by themselves.