Countries › Philippines
Using a U.S. document in Philippines
Step by step
- For private documents (special power of attorney, affidavits, deeds), sign before a local U.S. notary public; for government records (birth, marriage, death certificates, court documents), get a certified copy from the issuing office.
- Get an apostille from the competent authority of the U.S. state (each state has its own); federal documents (e.g., FBI background check) are apostilled by the U.S. Department of State, Office of Authentications.
- Use the document in the Philippines for its intended purpose: Philippine embassies and consulates no longer authenticate ('red ribbon') documents from Apostille countries.
Translation
No official Philippine page consulted (DFA, Embassy in Washington, Consulate General in Honolulu) states a translation requirement for U.S. documents.
Common uses
- Special powers of attorney (SPA)
- Affidavits, sworn statements and deeds
- Birth, marriage and death certificates
- Court judgments, divorce decrees and probated wills
- School records
- Business-related documents
Important
The Philippines joined the Apostille Convention on 14 May 2019, replacing the 'red ribbon' authentication. The Embassy in Washington says it 'does not apostille documents or issue red ribbon certificates'. Philippine embassies and consulates can still provide consular acknowledgment and jurat (notarial) services for documents signed in person; the Consulate General in Honolulu charges USD 25 per document. In the Philippines' accession declaration, an apostille does not satisfy the requirements of the Philippine Extradition Law.
Which state issued your document?
Apostille fee and processing time in that state.
Sources
See the official sources (7)
- https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/?cid=41
- https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/notifications/?csid=1398&disp=type
- https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/notifications/?csid=1398&disp=resdn
- https://www.hcch.net/en/states/authorities/details3/?aid=353
- https://dfa.gov.ph/dfa-news/dfa-releasesupdate/22280-question-and-answer
- https://philippineembassy-dc.org/apostille/
- https://honolulupcg.dfa.gov.ph/consular-services/legalization
Editor's note
HCCH: accession, in force 2019-05-14, marked A** (objection). Objections came from Germany (no withdrawal listed), Finland (withdrawn 2025-08-22), Austria (withdrawn 2023-05-31) and Greece (withdrawn 2024-06-25); the United States did not object, so the Convention applies between the U.S. and the Philippines. The DFA Q&A page still names Austria, Finland, Germany and Greece as exceptions, which is outdated for three of them per HCCH (irrelevant for U.S. documents). Translation: no official statement found either way, so it is set to null; U.S. documents are normally in English, but no official page confirming that English documents are accepted without translation was retrieved. The Washington embassy page covers only the states in its jurisdiction (AL, DC, FL, GA, KY, MD, NC, PR, SC, TN, USVI, VA, WV); other Philippine consulates in the U.S. publish their own pages.