Process & Queue Booking

The Legalization Division at the Government Complex (Building B, Chaeng Watthana Road) accepts both walk-ins and online e-Legalization bookings. Morning slots between 08:00 and 11:30 are the busiest, so book one to three working days ahead — or use an authorized agent, who submits through a separate representative counter with no travel required on your part.

Standard service takes two to three working days from submission. Express service is returned the same afternoon if lodged before 11:30. Postal submissions run five to ten working days including transit. A full door-to-door agency service anywhere in Thailand typically completes in three to five working days.

The statutory government fee is THB 200 per stamp (per document) for standard service and THB 400 per document for same-day express. Translation is billed separately by language and page count, and agency handling starts at roughly THB 1,500 to 2,500 per set including collection, submission and tracking.

Yes. Your representative needs a Power of Attorney with a THB 10 duty stamp plus certified copies of both parties' ID or passport. If you sign abroad, the signature must be witnessed by a Thai embassy or consulate, or notarized locally and then apostilled before it is sent to Thailand.

For the 120+ Hague Convention member states, yes — one Apostille certificate from the Thai MFA is sufficient and the destination embassy step disappears. For non-member destinations the classic two-step route remains: MFA legalization followed by the destination embassy's own consular stamp in Bangkok.

Have the document notarized or certified in the issuing country, obtain an Apostille (or that country's MFA certification), add Thai embassy legalization if the country is not a Hague member, translate it into Thai, and finally have the Thai Department of Consular Affairs certify the Thai translation before you file it with any Thai authority.

Obtain originals or registrar-certified copies with a live signature, translate them into English with names matching your passport, then submit for MFA translation certification. Hague destinations stop there with an Apostille; non-member destinations require an additional stamp from that country's embassy in Bangkok.

Usually three: signature witnessed by a Thai Notarial Services Attorney, MFA legalization or Apostille, and — for non-Hague destinations — a final stamp at the destination embassy. US real-estate POAs should additionally use the destination state's own form and notarial certificate wording.

Yes. Courier the originals with a signed POA to our Bangkok desk; we submit, track and return by registered mail or DHL with a tracking number. Clients in Phuket, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani and Hat Yai use this route routinely, with a five to seven working day round trip.

Most Bangkok missions — China, Vietnam, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar — accept submissions in the morning only, and several restrict counter access to agents registered with their consular section. Filing personally requires your original passport, the embassy's own form, and cash fees. A registered agent avoids the common rejection over form formatting.

No. The Convention applies to public documents: civil registry records, court documents, administrative documents and notarial acts including officially certified signatures. Article 1 expressly excludes documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents and certain commercial or customs documents, which continue to require destination-embassy legalization.

The originals plus translations, a completed legalization application form, a copy of the document holder's ID or passport, the fee for the number of stamps requested, and a prepaid return envelope or courier waybill with a clear address. Adding a phone number and email lets the officers contact you about defects instead of returning the whole file.

Case by case. Some government-issued e-certificates with verifiable provenance can be accepted when the issuing agency confirms them, but in practice the Legalization Division still expects a paper original bearing the registrar's live signature and seal. Obtain the paper original from the issuing agency before booking a slot.

Courts usually require a translator's affidavit or certificate of accuracy attached to the translation, stating the translator's name, qualifications and a declaration of fidelity, signed before a notarial services attorney. That signature is then legalized by the MFA and, where required, by the destination embassy under that court's evidence rules.

Start at your own embassy or consulate in Bangkok, which certifies the document or your signature. The Thai MFA then legalizes that consular officer's signature, which makes the document usable before Thai authorities. If a Thai agency will receive it, add a Thai translation certified by the MFA as a final step.

Only when the originals are already complete and the translation is finished: express filing before 11:30 is returned the same afternoon. If you still need a district office extract, a DBD affidavit, or a destination embassy stamp, 24 hours is not achievable because embassies run their own two to seven working-day cycles.

Heirs need the death certificate, the house registration showing the deceased struck off, and a court order appointing an estate administrator or proof of statutory heirship. These are translated into English and certified by the MFA to claim overseas assets, bank accounts or insurance. Many countries also want a court-certified copy of the Thai order, so request both at the same time.

Fees are charged per stamp, not per file. The standard rate is THB 200 per stamp and express is THB 400 per stamp, so a set of five documents needing both original and translation certified is counted as many stamps. Standard processing usually returns in two to three working days; express filed in the morning session is normally collectable the same or next working day. Rates and cut-off times can change, so confirm on the day of filing.

It depends on the destination. If the receiving country is a Convention party that accepts Thai Apostilles, a single certificate replaces the embassy step. If the destination is not a party, or objected to Thailand's accession, you still follow the legacy chain: MFA legalization then that country's embassy in Bangkok. Always confirm with the receiving authority whether they want an Apostille or a legalization.

The romanized name in the translation must match the passport character for character, including titles and middle names. Where a house registration or birth certificate spells the name differently, translate per the passport and attach the passport bio page. If the name was legally changed, include the certified name-change certificate in the same bundle so the officer can link the identities.

It sits in the Rajaprasongphakdi Building at the Government Complex on Chaeng Watthana Road. The MRT Pink Line stops at Government Complex station, with a shuttle and covered walkway to the building. Parking is available in the complex, but Monday mornings and days after long holidays draw the longest queues — arrive before opening.

For commercial documents — invoices, sales contracts, certificates of origin — most Gulf states require Board of Trade of Thailand certification before the MFA and the destination embassy. Personal documents such as birth or marriage certificates skip the chamber step entirely.

Use copies issued or certified by the institution with the registrar's signature. For some private institutions the MFA may require prior endorsement by the Ministry of Higher Education or Ministry of Education. Then translate and legalize. If the set is for employment or professional licensing, process the degree and transcript together to save an entire cycle.

The department offers queue booking and a postal legalization service for certain document types, which avoids counter queues. Turnaround is longer than in-person express and not every document type is eligible. For urgent or multi-stamp bundles, agent filing at the counter still gives the most predictable timeline.

Request a court-certified copy of the judgment or order with the court seal, and a certificate of finality if the destination asks for one. Translate with the translator signing the certification, then legalize and take it to the embassy. Terminology matters enormously here — mistranslating the charge or the operative order makes the foreign authority misread your legal status.

The reverse chain: the issuing country's authority certifies the document, the Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate-General there legalizes it, then in Thailand it is translated into Thai and the MFA certifies that translation. Thai bodies — district offices, the Land Department, Immigration — accept only Thai translations bearing the MFA stamp.

Only when three conditions hold together: the originals are complete and correct, the translation is finished before filing, and express service is filed within the morning session. If the destination embassy step follows, add one to three working days that nobody can compress. Never book flights or fix appointments abroad before the documents are physically in hand.

House registration copies should be issued by the district office with the registrar's seal, not photocopied from the household booklet. ID card copies can be self-certified by the holder, though some destinations prefer an official ID record certificate from the registration office. Confirming the destination's requirement first saves a repeat trip.

1) District registrar certifies the original, 2) certified translation into English (sometimes Chinese), 3) legalisation at the Department of Consular Affairs, Chaeng Watthana, 4) attestation at the Chinese Visa Application Service Centre (CVASC). Standard turnaround is about 4 working days, express 2, with fees depending on document type and your nationality.

Australia accepts NAATI-certified translations as standard. The practical chain is: registrar-certified Thai original, NAATI translation, then MFA legalisation (Apostille once in force). Most Australian departments do not require additional embassy attestation in Bangkok.

Germany usually runs a document verification procedure (Urkundenüberprüfung) through an embassy-appointed lawyer rather than a simple stamp. It typically takes 6-12 weeks and carries a substantial fee, so start at least three months before your deadline and prepare originals plus a German translation from an accepted translator.

No. China, Vietnam, Taiwan and most Gulf missions accept authorised representatives, while several European missions require the signatory to appear in person, especially for signature legalisation as opposed to document attestation.

Reverse the chain: notarisation plus Apostille or foreign-ministry legalisation in the issuing country, attestation by the Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate there, then Thai translation certified by the Department of Consular Affairs in Bangkok before any district office, court or Land Department will accept it.

The standard set is the company affidavit, shareholder list (BOJ.5), memorandum of association, VAT certificate (Phor Phor 20) and the board resolution approving the investment. Order the extracts freshly from DBD, translate them into the destination language, legalize the translation and the registrar's signature at the MFA Legalization Division, then add the destination embassy step or an Apostille where accepted. The common trap is document age: most recipients count validity from the DBD issue date, not the legalization date. Our team orders, translates and queues the whole set in one pass so nothing expires mid-process.

Normally four: the authorised director signs with the company seal as shown on the affidavit; a Notarial Services Attorney certifies the signature and signing authority; the MFA legalizes the attorney's signature and the translation; the destination embassy legalizes next, or an Apostille is issued where the destination accepts it. Keep the scope specific — opening an account, signing a named contract, selling a named asset — because broadly worded powers are routinely rejected abroad.

If the institution issues an official English version and the destination works in English, a further translation is usually unnecessary — but it must be an originally issued copy bearing the registrar's signature and institutional seal, not a photocopy. Legalize the issuer's signature at the MFA, then add the embassy step if required. If the destination uses German, French or Japanese, translate from the Thai original into that language rather than relaying through the English version.

Three routes exist: in person at the Consular Affairs Department on Chaeng Watthana Road or at passport offices accepting legalization work, by EMS post with the application form and a return envelope, or through an authorised representative. Applicants abroad can courier documents to a representative in Thailand. Postal filing takes longer and leaves no chance to fix a defect at the counter, so where you have a hard deadline we recommend representative filing, which lets issues be corrected on the spot.

The frequent causes are uncertified photocopies, name spellings in the translation that differ from the passport, extracts older than the accepted window, signatures with no specimen on file, and documents amended with pen or correction fluid. The fixes are to re-order the extract from the issuing office, match every spelling to the current passport, and have the issuer sign a clean replacement rather than correcting the original. We pre-check each file before filing to avoid losing a submission round.