Document requirements at Directorate of Immigration

An original means a document in its original form, not a duplicate or a copy.

Original foreign documents submitted with an application are required to be legally authenticated. Original Icelandic documents do not need to be authenticated.

There are two recognised ways to legally authenticate documents: apostille certification and chain authentication. Which way is chosen depends on the country issuing the document.

Apostille certification

Apostille certification is done in the country that issues a document.

To receive apostille certification, an applicant must bring the original of a document to the competent authority for such certification in the respective country.

Information on the member states of the Apostille agreement (Hague Convention)

Chain authentication

Chain authentication (also called double verification) is used in countries where apostille certification is not possible.

This means that a documents needs two stamps in order to be considered legally authenticated, one from the country of issue of the document and the other from the Icelandic Embassy to the issuing country.

To receive such an authentication, the original document must first be brought to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country that issued the document. The Ministry confirms the document with a stamp and forwards it to the Embassy of Iceland to the issuing country - the applicant himself/herself can also arrange for the document to be sent to the Embassy. The Embassy then confirms that the previous stamp is correct with a second stamp.

Information on Iceland's diplomatic missions

A certified copy is a copy of an original document that has been certified by an authority authorised to certify documents.

A certified copy can be obtained from a public authority, a document's issuing body or another official body, in a document's issuing country.

It is important that the original document has been legally authenticated before a certified copy is made.

If a foreign document is issued in a language other than English or a Nordic language, its translation must also be submitted.

• A translation must be submitted in the original or in a certified copy.

• A translation must be made by a certified translator.

• A translation may be submitted in Icelandic, English or a Nordic language.

• If a translation has been produced by a translator which has not been legally certified in Iceland, the original of the translation must be legally authenticated.

Legally certified translators in Iceland
Icelandic court interpreters and translators

In some instances an applicant must submit a certified declaration. Such a declaration must be submitted in original format and be dated and signed by the party issuing the declaration. Furthermore, the declaration must be certified by a competent public authority (i.e. by a notarius publicus).