Public documents to be used in a foreign country are usually legalised. The legalisation process authenticates the documents as genuine and the office or embassy the documents would be submitted to won’t have to spend another time verifying them.
Estonia long-visa applications, including Digital Nomad Visas, require that Birth certificates and Marriage Certificates are legalised before they are submitted as part of the visa application. The whole legalisation process can take up to a month and as such you are advised to begin the process immediately.
It is allowed to engage the services of a third party to do the document legalisation on your behalf.
Only married applicants are to include marriage certificates in the application even if their partners are not traveling with them.
Below are the simple steps involved in legalising a document for a visa application at the Embassy Of Estonia in Abu Dhabi.
Get the document
If you don’t have the document yet, the first step is to have it. Unless it is missing, Marriage certificates are issued right after marriage and you are expected to have them. If you don’t have a birth certificate, obtain one from the Birth Registry in the city you were born.
Verification letter
Take the documents to the office that issued them for a verification letter. This letter confirms that the Birth Certificate or Marriage Certificate has been verified that they were issued by the office. In the case of a Birth Certificate, you will obtain this letter from the Births And Deaths Registry while the Marriage Certificate verification letter is obtained from the Registrar General’s Department or the metropolitan assembly that issued the certificate.
High Court Attestation
After obtaining the verification letter, the next step is to take the document (plus a copy) and the letter to the High Court for attestation.
Ministry of foreign affairs attestation
Once the High Court is done with its attestation, send all the documents you have obtained so far to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their attestation too.
Legalisation at the Ghana High Commission
The final step of the legalisation process is to submit the documents to the Ghana High Commission in Abu Dhabi. The Ghana High Commission will confirm that everything you have obtained through the legalisation process is genuine and that the birth certificate or marriage certificate was legally obtained. The Ghana Embassy in Abu Dhabi takes less than 10 minutes to confirm and have the documents legalised.
The High Commission charges AED200 (approximately GHS560) per document. Email the Ghana High Commission in Abu Dhabi at [email protected] to ask for the latest fees for legalisation and working hours. Unlike other known government agencies, the Ghana Embassy in Adu Dhabi responds to emails promptly.
No appointment is required to visit the Ghana High Commission in Abu Dhabi.