Legalization of signature, authentication of notary

In order for a document to be accepted by a Hungarian authority, you need to legalize your signature on it. For this you have the following options:

(Legalization of a signature means that the consul establishes the veracity of the signature only, and not the content of the document, for which the Consular Section bears no responsibility. The document will have to be drawn up by yourself in advance. We are unable to assist you in drawing up or typing out the document.)

1. Legalization of signature in a Hungarian representation in the USA


(Hungarian representations: Consular Section of the Embassy in Washington D.C., Hungarian Consulates General, Authorized Honorary Consulates)

 

In order to legalize your signature, you need to come in person, present a valid identification document with photo (such as your passport, driver's license, residence permit) and sign the document in front of the consul. The fee of 47 USD/signature can be paid in cash or money order (personal checks cannot be accepted).

 

2. Legalization of signature by a notary public, authentication by a Hungarian representation of the notary public

If you live far from any Hungarian representations, you have the possibility to have your signature legalized by a public notary, and then have the notary public's signature authenticated by the competent Hungarian representation. The notary public must be registered at the Hungarian representation.

To find out which Hungarian representation can assist you please click here, and check out which states are in their consular districts.

If the state you live in is under our Embassy's jurisdiction, click here for the list of notaries public registered with us. For your information, we are not affiliated, nor have exclusivity contract with any of the notary public on the list. The list only indicates that the Embassy of Hungary has already received in the past documents certified by the notary public on it. Your are free to chose any notary public, but if she/he is not on the list, then she/he must fill out the attached data sheet and attach to it a copy of her/his commission.

You can then send the notarized documents with the authentication fee of 32 USD/signature in money order (personal checks cannot be accepted) to our Embassy, to the attention of the Consular Section. Please send a prepaid self-addressed envelope or 8 USD postal fee.

Please note that we can only send back the authenticated documents to the person who asked for the authentication (e.g. we won't forward the documents directly to Hungary even when receiving a prepaid envelope for Hungary).

3. Legalization of signature by a notary public, "Apostille" authentication by a Secretary of State (see list of Secretary of States)

The Republic of Hungary and the United States of America are member states of The Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (please see here for further information). A document having an "Apostille" will be directly accepted in Hungary without needing any further authentication by a Hungarian representation.

You can have your signature legalized by any public notary, then ask your local Secretary of State to attach to the document the "Apostille" authentication.