Legalisations

While Germany has no diplomatic relations with Taiwan, some official documents from Taiwan can still be legalized by the German Institute Taipei as some of its German staff has been authorized to perform consular acts under German law.
Please contact the German authority to whom you intend to submit your document from Taiwan to determine if your document requires the legalization process or if it will be accepted in its current state. Please note that only the original document can be legalized, notarized copies cannot be legalized. The document legalization process, conducted by the German Institute, establishes that the Taiwanese document is an “adequate document for use in Germany”. The legalization confirms the authenticity of the notary's capacity, signature and seal.

Please note that we accept only official Taiwanese documents issued by a public authority (e.g. household registration certificate, birth certification, marriage certificate, divorce certificate), judicial documents, and documents issued by a government office (e.g. confirmation of company registration) for legalization.

Documents of a private nature (e.g. sales contract, power of attorney, authorization letter) will not be legalized by us. In cases where a power of attorney, authorization letter or a declaration of consent is needed for a legal transaction in Germany, you can apply for a certification of your signature by an authorised officer of the German Institute. It is required that the signatory/signee himself/herself comes to the German Institute to affix his/her signature on the original draft document in front of one of our officials. Please bring along your photo ID (passport, official ID card). The fee for a certification of a signature is 56,43€.

To have your original document legalized, please follow these steps:

Step 1
Have your original document notarized by a Taiwanese notary. The notary confirms the signature and/or seal of the issuing authority.

**Please note: Taiwanese notaries often use the translation of the Taiwanese document for their confirmation. This is not sufficient for the German Institute as translations can not be legalized. Please ensure that the notary's confirmation is on the original document.

Notaries are attached to local courts and a list of Taiwanese notaries can be found here.
List of Taiwanese notaries

Step 2
Take the original document with the notary's confirmation to the German Institute. The German Institute confirms the notary's signature and seal based on samples. If the signature varies from the sample or no sample exists you might be asked to have the document confirmed again by a different notary.

If you are not able to contact a Taiwanese notary personally, the German Institute can provide a list of commercial businesses which offer notary confirmation on your behalf. **Please note that the German Institute does not recommend or promote any commercial notary but provide this list as a service.

If you cannot come to the German Institute personally, the documents can be submitted by a third person (relatives, friends etc). This person must present a written authorization as well as a passport copy of the authorizing person.

The legalization fee is 29,88 Euro per document payable cash in TWD according to the daily exchange rate of the German Institute.

Authentication of Copies

The German Institute is authenticate (certify as a true copy) the copy of an original document for use in Germany. The authentication process requires that you submit/present to us the original documents that you wish to have certified. The fee 24,61 Euro for each authentication of a document.
The fee is charged in NTD/TWD according to the daily exchange, the German Institute only accepts cash payments.

Authentication of signature

The German Institute Taipei is also entitled to authenticate signatures on document for legal use in Germany. By authenticating signature, the officer legally confirms that the document was signed in the presence of an authorized official. Therefore all documents must either be signed in front of the officer or the signature has to be acknowledged in his/her presence.
The fee for the signature authentication depends on the value of the legal transaction for which the document is needed. The fees are Euro 56,43 and Euro 79,57 (for Signature authentification of Name Declaration according to German Law). Fees are charged in NTD/TWD according to the daily exchange and the German Institute only accepts cash payments. You are required to show your passport.