Notarization and apostille

Noricom is happy to handle the process of getting your documents notarized and/or legalized by apostille from the County Governor.

Notary public

In Norway, notary public is the term for a public official who handles so-called notarization.
Getting a document notarized means having a notary attest to the validity of a document or signature. In Oslo, the notary public is co-located with the city judge (Oslo Courthouse, 5th floor). The district courts handle notarizations in the rest of the country.

Apostille

In order for a document issued in Norway to be accepted as valid in another country, it must be legalized. Normally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs handles the legalization of documents. However, if the destination country has ratified the Apostille Convention of 05 October 1961, a “shortcut” to legalization has been established. In this case, the County Governor can affix an apostille to the document, and this certification is equivalent to standard legalization. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintains an updated list of eligible countries. Before the County Governor can issue an apostille for the document, it has to be notarized, i.e. signed and certified by a notary public. The apostille does not attest to the accuracy of the document’s content, but confirms that the signature of the notary public/translator is genuine.

Documents destined for countries that have not ratified the Apostille Convention, must be legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For more information, please go to the Ministry of Foreign Affair’s website: https://www.regjeringen.no/en/dokumenter/legalisation-mfa/id752911/?q=apostille
If the document is going to be used in another Nordic country, notarization is sufficient.