Apostille and Translation of Documents for Portugal: US and UK

Documents issued in the United States or the United Kingdom must be authenticated before a Portuguese office will rely on them, and for these two countries that means a Hague apostille. AIMA, the immigration agency, adds that foreign documents are in most cases also translated into Portuguese, with a rule that documents in English need no translation.

This guide follows what the official pages say about that chain: who issues the apostille on each side, what it costs, how long the issuing offices say it takes, and where the Portuguese side words its rules differently. It is not legal advice, and the office that receives your file decides what it accepts. We read the pages on 18 October 2026. The latest dated information is the State Department’s page on requesting authentication services, last updated on 1 October 2026, which sets its processing times and fee.

Which documents need an apostille for Portugal?

AIMA’s page on recognition of documents says documents issued abroad must be duly authenticated before they are presented to the Portuguese public administration. For a country that is a party to the Hague Convention, it says recognition is done by affixing the apostille.

The Convention applies, in its own words, to public documents executed in the territory of one Contracting State and to be produced in another. Its list of public documents covers documents from courts and public prosecutors, administrative documents, notarial acts and official certificates placed on documents signed in a private capacity. The Hague Conference’s status table, last updated on 30 June 2026, lists Portugal (in force since 4 February 1969), the United Kingdom (24 January 1965) and the United States (15 October 1981) as Contracting Parties.

The ministry’s list of documents for a residence visa asks for a criminal record certificate from your country of nationality or of residence for over a year “with the Hague Apostille (If applicable) or legalised”. See the guides to the visa application from the US and the visa application from the UK for the visa file, and the citizenship process for the documents of the nationality file.

What if a country is not in the Hague Convention?

This does not apply to Americans or Britons, but AIMA’s page describes it. For a country that is not a party, authentic documents are considered legalized only if the signature of the public official is recognized by a Portuguese diplomatic or consular agent in that State and that agent’s signature is authenticated with the consular white seal, under article 440 of the Code of Civil Procedure. If that is not possible, AIMA says recognition can be done before the Directorate-General for Consular Affairs and Portuguese Communities. If you have a document from a third country, for example from a country where you lived for over a year, check the Hague Conference’s status table first.

How does an American get an apostille?

The State Department page on preparing a document for an apostille certificate (last updated 16 June 2026) separates federal and state documents.

Federal documents. Get an apostille if the document is signed by a U.S. federal official, a U.S. consular officer, a foreign consul registered with the Department of State’s Office of Protocol, or a military notary or judge advocate. The examples it gives include federal court documents and FBI background checks issued by the Department of Justice, a certificate of naturalization, and a certification of U.S. tax residency issued by the IRS.

State documents. The page says to get your document certified by the state that issued it if you are using it in a country that is part of the Hague Convention, and that you do not need an apostille certificate (the page means one from the State Department; it does not say what the state issues instead). We did not read any state office’s page, so we cannot tell you which office does it for a birth or marriage certificate in your state. Ask the office that issued the record.

To prepare a federal document, the page says:

• make sure it is an original or certified copy, with a legible signature, the official’s printed name and title, the seal of the agency, and the date of issue
• make sure seals and signatures are originals, on agency letterhead
• do not notarize your original document, because it will no longer be valid if notarized
• send your request with Form DS-4194, the fees and the documents

The State Department’s page on requesting authentication services gives the fee as a nonrefundable 20 dollars per document. It gives the processing times by when you need the document: a mailed request is processed within 5 weeks of receipt, and for a trip in 2 to 3 weeks you can walk in and the request is processed within 7 business days. For a trip in 2 weeks or less, the page says you may qualify for an appointment if an immediate family member abroad has died, is dying or in hospice, or has a life-threatening illness or injury, and if approved the request is processed the same day. By mail you pay by check or money order, in person by card or contactless payment. The page says it will answer a status inquiry within 7 business days.

The FBI check itself, and how to order it, is covered in our guide to the US visa application.

How does a Briton get an apostille?

GOV.UK’s guide “Get your document legalised” says the Legalisation Office checks whether the signatures, stamps or seals on a UK document match its records and, if they do, attaches an apostille. It can legalise documents issued by a court with a wet ink court seal, a public registry (a birth, marriage or death certificate, a Companies House certificate), a government department and signed by an official, or a registered doctor. Other documents, such as a power of attorney or copies of a passport or driving licence, can be legalised if a UK public official such as a notary or solicitor has certified them. The guide says you cannot use the service for documents issued outside the UK.

The guide says the e-Apostille is not available for birth, death, marriage, civil partnership and adoption certificates or any other General Register Office document, for ACRO police certificates for England and Wales, for DBS certificates, for disclosure certificates for Scotland and Northern Ireland, or for fingerprint certificates, and the list also names membership certificates for the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). Return courier costs for the paper service to a European country (Portugal is not among the exceptions it lists) are 32 pounds per 1.5 kg; return to a UK address is 6 pounds per 1.5 kg, or you can pay for postage. The service can take longer if a signature must be verified. If your document cannot be legalised you are not refunded.

The guide tells you to ask the person requesting the document whether they need a paper apostille or accept an e-Apostille. For Portugal, that is the office or consulate that will read the file. Our guide to the visa application from the UK covers the ACRO certificate. AIMA’s recognition page adds a rule for documents issued with an electronic certification (obtained online and not apostilled): they always need at least recognition of their authenticity by the consular authorities. Ask AIMA whether this applies to an online certificate you hold.

Do my documents need a Portuguese translation?

AIMA’s page says that as a rule all documents in a foreign language come with a certified translation into Portuguese. It names two exceptions: documents presented in English, French and Spanish need no translation (it cites article 49(8) of the Civil Registry Code), and public documents of an EU Member State accompanied by the multilingual form under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191. For Americans and Britons, the first one is the relevant exception.

Do not stretch that to every office. The tax authority’s leaflet on the NIF for foreign non-resident citizens says that documents in a foreign language must be presented as a duly certified translated copy, and names no exception for English. The leaflet is dated July 2025. The leaflet and AIMA’s page are separate rules for separate offices, so for a NIF request, a bank or a landlord, ask what they accept. Our NIF guide has the rest of the NIF document list.

Who can make or certify a translation?

AIMA’s list: a Portuguese notary, a registrar or registry officer, a lawyer or solicitor practicing in Portugal, a chamber of commerce and industry recognized under Decree-Law 244/92 of 29 October, a suitable translator whose translation is certified by one of those, or a Portuguese consul in the country where the document was issued or the consulate of that country in Portugal. The tax authority’s leaflet names notaries, those chambers of commerce, lawyers and solicitors as able to certify a translation together with the original.

The State Department page has its own translation note for a different situation: if the country where you will use a federal document requires a translation from English, get a professional translation and have the translated copy notarized. It does not say Portugal requires this, and AIMA’s page says English needs no translation, so ask before you pay for it.

In what order should I do it all?

The pages do not set an order, and our reading of them gives this working sequence, which you should check with the receiving office:

1. Ask the Portuguese office or consulate what it needs: apostille, original or certified copy, any translation, and whether the document must be recent.
2. Get the original or a certified copy from the issuing office. For a federal US document, do not notarize it.
3. Send it for the apostille: the State Department for federal documents, the issuing state for state documents, the Legalisation Office for UK documents.
4. Add a certified translation only if the receiving office asks for one.
5. Keep time in hand: 5 weeks by mail at the State Department and up to 25 working days at the Legalisation Office, plus transit, before you book an appointment that depends on the document.

Where a document goes next depends on the file. For the residence permit after arrival, see the AIMA process. For bringing a spouse or child, see family reunification. The order of the other first-month tasks is in our first month paperwork guide.

More guides on this site: recognition of foreign degrees; U.S. Embassy notary services (not apostilles).

What did we read, and what did we not?

We read the pages below on 18 October 2026. The latest dated information is the State Department’s request-services page, last updated 1 October 2026. AIMA’s page and the GOV.UK guide show no date of their own. We could not read the ministry’s visa-portal page on document authentication, which showed its menu but no text on the topic in two browsers, nor any state-level US office, so we state nothing about state birth certificate apostilles or about the ministry’s own page on this topic.

Related guides: proving your address in Portugal, getting your Segurança Social number (NISS), what changed in the nationality law in 2026 and what to check before you apply.

Official pages read: AIMA’s page on recognition of documents, the Hague Conference status table and the text of the 1961 Convention, the State Department pages on preparing a document for an apostille and on requesting authentication services, the GOV.UK guide to getting a document legalised, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa page on documents for a residence visa, and the tax authority’s leaflet on the NIF for foreign non-resident citizens.