Apostille or Consular Legalization for Documents Used in China: India Still Needs Legalization, Viet Nam Switched on 11 September 2026, Thailand Waits Until 28 February 2027

Checked on 22 October 2026. We are a translation and interpreting company in Guangzhou (Guangzhou Guanri Translation Services Co., Ltd.). We are not a notary, not a law firm and not a government office; apostilles and consular legalizations are issued by government offices, not by us. The service this article ends up recommending, the Chinese translation of foreign documents, is one we sell ourselves. This is not legal advice. Every rule below comes from an official text linked in the sources; whether a particular document is accepted is decided by the office in China that receives it, not by us.

Since 7 November 2023, a foreign public document for use in mainland China usually needs one apostille from the country that issued it, instead of a chain that ended at a Chinese embassy. "Usually" is the whole question. The answer depends on three things: which country issued the document, on which date the Convention came into force between that country and China, and what kind of document it is. This article goes through them in that order, using the treaty's own status table, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announcement, and notices from two Chinese embassies, one published on 18 September 2026 and one dated 22 October 2026.

1. Which line is yours

Your situation	What it means	Who decides, and where to ask
The document was issued in a country where the Convention is in force with China (most of Europe and the Americas, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the Philippines and many others; check the list as in section 2; Kosovo is the exception, see section 2)	One apostille from that country's competent authority. No Chinese embassy step	The office in China that receives the document can still set requirements on format, content, validity period and translation. Ask it before you start
The document was issued in India	The Convention does not apply between China and India. Notarize in India, then authentication by India's Ministry of External Affairs (or its offices in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai), then legalization at the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi or the Consulate General in Mumbai, filed in person or through an agent; the notice says applications by mail or fax are not accepted (section 3)	Chinese Embassy in India: +91-11-24675259, new-delhi@csm.mfa.gov.cn. Consulate General in Mumbai: +91-22-66324305 ext. 36, mumbai@csm.mfa.gov.cn
The document was issued in Viet Nam	The Convention came into force for Viet Nam on 11 September 2026. An apostille from Viet Nam's Consular Department or the Ho Chi Minh City External Relations Office replaces legalization (section 4)	The Chinese office receiving the document decides whether it accepts it; the Chinese Embassy in Viet Nam advises asking that office first
The document was issued in Thailand	Thailand has acceded, but the status table gives 28 February 2027 for entry into force. Until then the apostille route is not open (section 5)	Chinese Embassy in Thailand, consular enquiries: +66-2-2450888, bangkok@csm.mfa.gov.cn (as given on its notarization page); or the Chinese Consulate-General that covers your area
The document was issued in Bangladesh, Algeria, Canada or Rwanda	Treat it as in the first row: one apostille. All four acceded after China. The status table gives entry into force on 30 March 2025, 9 July 2026, 11 January 2024 and 5 June 2024; the objection records do not list China (section 5)	If the receiving office is unsure, show it the status table page
The document was issued in a country that is not a party (for example the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Malaysia or Iraq, none of which appears in the status table on 22 October 2026)	Legalization: the issuing country's foreign ministry or authorized body, then the Chinese embassy or consulate there	The Chinese embassy or consulate in that country
The document was issued in Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan	This article does not cover these documents. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announcement on the apostille speaks of documents from other Contracting States	Ask the office in China that will receive the document what it requires
The document is one the Convention excludes: issued by diplomatic or consular agents (for example a certificate your own country's embassy or consulate in China issued to you), or an administrative document dealing directly with commercial or customs operations (section 6)	The apostille route does not apply to it	Ask the receiving office in China what it accepts, and the issuing country's authority what it can certify
The document is a private one: a declaration you signed, a company letter	The Convention covers public documents. A private document is normally made into one first, for example by notarization, and the apostille then goes on the notarial certificate (section 6)	The apostille authority of the issuing country decides what it will put an apostille on
The document has an apostille but is in a foreign language	The apostille does not translate the document and does not certify its content (section 7)	The receiving office decides what translation it accepts. If it is the Guangzhou exit-entry administration, see section 7 before ordering any translation
A Chinese office refuses an apostille on a document from a country where the Convention is in force with China	The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announcement says documents from other Contracting States need only that country's apostille (section 2)	The receiving office still decides. Show it the announcement and the status table page, and ask in writing what it requires instead
The document is Chinese and will be used abroad	In another Contracting State: an apostille from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs or an authorized provincial or municipal foreign affairs office. In India: notarization and the full legalization chain (section 8)	On the Ministry's 2023 list: the Shenzhen Municipal Foreign Affairs Office for documents issued in Shenzhen, the Guangdong Provincial Foreign Affairs Office for the rest of Guangdong

2. How to check a country yourself

The depositary of the Convention, the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), keeps a status table. On 22 October 2026 it lists 130 parties. Two columns matter. EIF is the date the Convention entered into force for that party. Type shows A** where objections were recorded against an accession; clicking it shows who objected.

China's row reads: accession 8 March 2023, entry into force 7 November 2023, type A**. There is one objection on that page, dated 8 September 2023:

[…] in accordance with Article 12 of the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents 1961, the Republic of India objects to the accession of [the] People’s Republic of China to the Convention.

China's declarations, on the same HCCH page, add that the Convention "will not be applicable between the People's Republic of China and those Contracting States that China does not recognize as sovereign states". Kosovo is in the status table, but its page lists China, with an objection dated 29 January 2016, among the states with which the Convention will not enter into force for Kosovo; the page adds that this is for the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, which were then the parts of China the Convention applied to. Together with the declaration above, a document from Kosovo should not be assumed to take the apostille route into mainland China; ask the receiving office what it accepts.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the change on 23 October 2023. For documents coming into China it says this, in one sentence (our translation; the announcement is in Chinese):

Public documents of other Contracting States for use in mainland China need only that country's apostille, without legalization by that country and by the Chinese embassy or consulate there.

Its first attachment is a list of Contracting States as of 23 October 2023, 125 names including China, with three notes. The third is one sentence (our translation):

The Convention does not apply between China and India.

That list predates Bangladesh, Algeria, Viet Nam and Thailand, so for those four the status table is the place to look.

3. India: the full legalization chain still applies

The Chinese Embassy in India's notice on consular legalization carries the date 22 October 2026 in its title. Its "special reminder" section is three sentences; the first two are (our translation; we quote the Chinese page):

The Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (the Hague Convention) does not apply between China and India, and public documents passing between the two countries must go through consular legalization. Chinese domestic documents to be used in India must be notarized and then, following the authentication procedure, go through authentication by the Department of Consular Affairs of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs or its authorized offices and consular legalization by the Indian embassy or consulates in China; documents from within India to be used in mainland China must go through local notarization in India, authentication by the Consular Division of India's Ministry of External Affairs or its authorized offices, and consular legalization by the Chinese embassy or consulates in India.

The third sentence says the Convention does apply between India and the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, which does not help a document headed for the mainland.

The same notice says where to file. Documents issued in Maharashtra and Karnataka go to the Consulate General in Mumbai. Documents from the other states go to the Embassy in New Delhi, which is for now also handling Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. The applicant files in person, or an agent files with copies of both people's identity documents; the notice says applications by mail or fax are not accepted. Normal processing is 4 working days counted from the day after submission; 2 to 3 working days for urgent cases, at the Embassy only. Two other points from the notice matter for documents headed to China: documents of two or more pages must be bound so pages cannot be swapped, and the embassy does not legalize documents that have expired. For a statement or certificate of no marriage used to register a marriage in China, the notice gives a validity of no more than 6 months from notarization.

4. Viet Nam: apostille since 11 September 2026

On 18 September 2026 the Chinese Embassy in Viet Nam published a four-point reminder. Points 2 and 4 are the ones a reader needs. Point 2 (our translation):

Under the Convention, public documents issued by Viet Nam within the scope of the Convention need only an apostille to be sent for use in mainland China and the Hong Kong and Macao regions, without legalization by Viet Nam and by the Chinese embassy or consulates in Viet Nam.

Point 4 (our translation):

An apostille issued by a country certifies the authenticity of the signature on a public document, the capacity in which the signer signed, and, where needed, that the seal on the document is genuine. Obtaining an apostille from the competent Vietnamese authority does not mean the public document will necessarily be accepted by the Chinese office using it. We recommend that you first find out the Chinese office's specific requirements on the format, content, validity period, translation and so on of foreign public documents before going through the procedures.

Point 3 names the authorities that accept apostille applications: the Consular Department of Viet Nam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ho Chi Minh City External Relations Office.

5. Thailand, and the others that joined late

The Convention does not take effect for a new party on the day it accedes. Article 12, second paragraph, has two sentences; the first is:

Such accession shall have effect only as regards the relations between the acceding State and those Contracting States which have not raised an objection to its accession in the six months after the receipt of the notification referred to in sub-paragraph d) of Article 15.

The third paragraph then sets entry into force on the sixtieth day after that six-month period ends. That is why the dates below are months after the accessions:

Party	Accession (status table)	Entry into force (status table)	China in the objection records?
Canada	12 May 2023	11 January 2024	No objections recorded
Rwanda	6 October 2023	5 June 2024	No
Bangladesh	29 July 2024	30 March 2025	No
Algeria	5 November 2025	9 July 2026	No
Viet Nam	31 December 2025	11 September 2026	No
Thailand	30 June 2026	28 February 2027	No objections recorded so far

For Canada and Rwanda the Ministry's 2023 list also states the dates on which the Convention would start to apply with China. For Thailand, the six-month objection period is still running; counting back sixty days from 28 February 2027, it ends around 30 December 2026. Until then, the status table on the day you file is the version to rely on. Neither the status table nor the two embassy notices say how a document issued or legalized before a country's entry-into-force date is treated; ask the receiving office. Until 28 February 2027 a Thai document for use in China follows the legalization route; ask the Chinese Embassy in Thailand, or the Chinese Consulate-General that covers your area, what it needs.

6. Documents the apostille does not cover

Article 1 lists four kinds of public document the Convention applies to: documents from courts and court officials, administrative documents, notarial acts, and official certificates placed on documents signed by private persons. It then excludes two kinds, in one sentence:

However, the present Convention shall not apply: a) to documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents; b) to administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations.

The fourth kind is the way in for private papers. A declaration you sign, or a letter from a company, is not a public document. Typically a notary certifies the signature, and the apostille then certifies the notary's signature and capacity. India's notice in section 3 builds the notary step into its chain. Whether a degree certificate or a company document from your country needs a notary first depends on that country's apostille authority, so ask it.

7. What the apostille does not certify, and the translation

Article 5, second paragraph, is one sentence:

When properly filled in, it will certify the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted and, where appropriate, the identity of the seal or stamp which the document bears.

It says nothing about the content, and nothing about translation. The Chinese Embassy in Viet Nam's point 4 (section 4) tells readers to ask the receiving office about translation before starting. That office decides who may translate. Our certificate pages say the same in their own words: rules vary by city and change, so confirm with the authority before ordering.

For Guangzhou there is one case where this matters before you pay anyone. Our certificate translation pages say that some authorities accept only certain translations, and that the Guangzhou exit-entry administration requires notarized translations. If your document is going to the exit-entry administration, ask the exit-entry administration what it wants, then ask the notary office that will do the notarization whether it accepts a translation from a translation company or makes its own, so you do not pay for the translation twice.

The apostille itself usually needs translating too. Article 4 allows it to be drawn up in the official language of the issuing authority; only its title has to be in French. Our degree certificate page says an attached apostille or consular authentication is normally translated with the certificate, and our police clearance page asks for those pages to be sent with it.

8. Going the other way: Chinese documents used abroad

The 2023 announcement names China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the competent authority, and says that the relevant provincial-level and some municipal foreign affairs offices, authorized by the Ministry, may issue apostilles for documents issued in their own areas. Its second attachment lists 31 offices as of 23 October 2023. Guangdong Province and the city of Shenzhen are on it; the city of Guangzhou is not listed separately. For a document issued in Guangzhou, the Guangdong Provincial Foreign Affairs Office was therefore the local office on that list. The announcement says Chinese apostilles can be checked online at consular.mfa.gov.cn/VERIFY/. For India, section 3 gives the chain.

9. What we do

We translate foreign documents into Chinese, including the apostille or legalization pages attached to them. Apostilles and legalizations are issued by government offices, not by us, and we cannot tell you whether a particular office will accept a document; the receiving office decides that.

Our certificate pages publish prices, which depend on the language of the original. On 22 October 2026 the degree certificate translation page lists ¥50 for an English original, ¥80 for French, German, Japanese, Korean or Russian, and ¥100 for 18 other languages. The police clearance translation page lists ¥80, ¥110 and ¥130. Check the page on the day you order. If the document has apostille or legalization pages attached, ask us before ordering whether they change the price. Payment there is by WeChat Pay or Alipay. If that does not work for you, or your document is something else, write to us on WhatsApp / WeChat (WhatsApp +86 139 2416 6640, WeChat Saralee93) or through the contact page.

Two earlier articles go further on specific documents: the degree certificate for a work permit and the criminal record certificate for foreign teachers.