Legalization or consularization refers to a process involving steps to be taken by the interested party before the authorities of the Government of China and authorities of the Government of Costa Rica for the purpose of achieving reciprocal legal recognition of documents issued in the other country.

Legalization is a requirement that under normal circumstances must be fulfilled prior to filing foreign documents before the national authorities of Costa Rica.

The Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents is yet to be enforceable in Costa Rica. The "apostille" procedure should not and must not be utilized. Kindly take into account that lack of compliance with the procedures set forth concerning legalization might cause the respective document to be ineffective for the purpose of achieving the desired legal effects in Costa Rica.

¿How long does the process take?

Due to the necessary of coordination between the authorities of both countries, under normal conditions the process takes around one week concerning participation of the Costa Rican authorities alone. Factors such as the diligence of the party and the workload at the Consulate might increase or decrease the duration. Furthermore, the time that the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry takes to process the document must be factored in when calculating the time.

¿What are the steps?

The process of legalization entails a series of ordained steps in which various authorities from the Chinese and the Costa Rican governments participate.

Step 1

The interested party must first take the document to be legalized to a Chinese notary, whom are entrusted with the certification of the veracity and legality of private documents.

The party, on its own, must retain the services of a notary of its choosing in the region or province where he document was originally issued. The Costa Rican government has no intervention at this stage of the process. 

Additional information on the Chinese Notarial System can be found by clicking on this link or this link.

Step 2

After the document has been legalized by the Chinese notary, the party must then file the document at the Legalizations Office of the Consular Department of the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry. This can be done at their Beijing branch office or other document reception offices set up in the different provinces or regions of the People's Republic of China.

Step 3

In the People's Republic of China, legalizations are channeled in a centralized manner through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Consulates like the Costa Rican one do not receive documents directly from the parties, as the Ministry's personnel deliver and collect the documents from each consulate.

Namely, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs carries out the following tasks:

• First, authenticates the signature of the Chinese official who issued or authorized the document (for example, the notary).
• Then delivers the document to the Costa Rican Consulate in Beijing to conduct the legalization.
• Collects the document from the Costa Rican Consulate in Beijing.
• Finally, hands out the legalized document back to the interested party. 

Step 4

Finally, the document must be sent at the party's expense to Costa Rica, once it has been legalized in China. Do note once again that such documents are returned to the party by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs rather that the Costa Rican Consulate in Beijing.

Once in Costa Rica, the legalized document must be filed before the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry shall authenticate the signature of the Costa Rican consul in China. At this point, the party or its agents must pay the respective consular legalization fees pursuant to the consular fee schedule.