Apostille for Japanese Documents Used in Saudi Arabia: Required Documents, Translation and Fees

For work, bringing family, study or company procedures in Saudi Arabia, you may be asked to have Japanese documents such as your family register (koseki), graduation certificates or company documents certified. Saudi Arabia is a party to the Apostille Convention. For public documents to which the Convention applies between Japan and Saudi Arabia, an apostille from Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in principle replaces consular legalization by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Japan.

Royal Partners Administrative Scrivener Office offers an apostille service for Saudi Arabia for JPY 28,600 (tax included; actual costs extra). We check the type of document, the receiving authority's requirements and whether a translation is needed, then guide you through the required notarization, the apostille and shipping within Japan or abroad.

Rules and official guidance checked on 15 October 2026.

For Saudi Arabia, an apostille is the standard route

The Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents entered into force for Saudi Arabia on 7 December 2022, and Saudi Arabia appears on MOFA's list of Contracting States. If you have seen older guidance asking for "MOFA's certificate of official seal + embassy legalization", compare it with the receiving authority's current requirements. See: HCCH announcement on the entry into force for Saudi Arabia / MOFA list of Contracting States to the Hague Convention (in Japanese).

An apostille certifies the signature, seal and similar elements of a document. It does not guarantee the content of the document, the evaluation of academic qualifications, the accuracy of a translation, or that a visa or permit will be granted. Apart from the form of certification, you must meet the receiving authority's requirements for documents, issue dates, language and format.

The Convention also has exclusions. Administrative documents dealing directly with commercial or customs operations are checked separately from ordinary documents such as the koseki or company registration certificates. You cannot assume that "company documents are all excluded" or that "anything for Saudi Arabia is finished with an apostille". See: Apostille Convention, Articles 1 and 5.

Public and private documents follow different routes

Koseki, certificate of residence (juminhyo), company registration certificate, etc.

For public documents that meet MOFA's requirements, the basic route is obtain the document → apostille at MOFA → submit to the receiving authority. If a translation is needed, it is prepared separately in a way the receiving authority accepts.

Documents applied for directly must, as a rule, be originals issued within the last 3 months, showing the issue date and issuer and bearing an official seal. Copies of originals and documents with only a signature and no official seal cannot be certified by MOFA as they are. Exceptions such as diplomas and individual cases are checked in advance.

Powers of attorney, certificates of employment, company-prepared documents, translations, etc.

Private documents are not submitted directly to MOFA; they proceed in the order certification by a notary → certification of the notary's seal by the director of the Legal Affairs Bureau → apostille at MOFA. At participating notary offices, such as those in Tokyo, the one-stop service lets you obtain all of these at once.

The declaration needed for notarization, the signing method, identity documents and documents showing authority to act differ by document and application method. If the receiving authority specifies a form, let us know before signing or sealing it. See MOFA, "Documents that can be certified" and "Application flow" (in Japanese).

Points to check for documents submitted in Saudi Arabia

• Koseki and certificates of birth or marriage: for family procedures, check which facts the receiving authority needs certified. Ask the receiving authority whether a koseki can be used in place of a specified birth or marriage certificate.
• Graduation certificates, transcripts and diplomas: the certification method depends on the type of school and the form of the document. Certificates from national or public university corporations and private universities are generally not eligible for an apostille directly from MOFA, so we check the route via notarization. A certificate issued in English still needs certification.
• Company registration certificate, articles of incorporation, power of attorney: distinguish registration certificates issued by the Legal Affairs Bureau from documents prepared by the company or individual. For powers of attorney, the wording specified by the receiving authority and the signer's authority must also be checked.
• Criminal record certificate: if the envelope is marked "invalid if opened", do not open it yourself; consult us. MOFA also instructs that it be submitted unopened.

If work, study or similar requires verification of academic qualifications or another review procedure, do not treat it as the same procedure as the apostille; check the host institution's guidance. Certification by a specific cultural office or academic review is not necessarily required for everyone.

Guides by document: Graduation certificates and other school documents / Company registration certificate: certification and English translation / Powers of attorney, certificates of employment and other private documents. For official handling of school documents and criminal record certificates, see also MOFA's FAQ (in Japanese).

Check the receiving authority's requirements for Arabic or English translation

If a translation is needed, first check whether it must be in Arabic or English, whether a translator designated in Saudi Arabia is required, and whether a translation prepared in Japan is accepted. An apostille on the original does not automatically certify the translation.

Our office normally translates into English and Chinese. If Arabic is needed, we help obtain the apostille after any notarization required for the type of document, and recommend having the translation done by a local translator accepted by the receiving authority. If you want an Arabic translation prepared in Japan, please consult us individually about whether we can arrange it and in what format.

When the translation is to be notarized and apostilled in Japan, we first confirm the format accepted in Saudi Arabia. The order of translation and certification, and how the original and translation are bound together, follow the receiving authority's conditions.

Fees for our apostille service for Saudi Arabia

JPY 28,600 (tax included) is our service fee. It does not include notary and other actual costs, translation fees or shipping. MOFA charges no fee for the apostille itself. Before you request our service, we confirm the number of documents and the procedures required and give you a breakdown and total.

The basic service includes filling in application forms, preparing any required declarations and powers of attorney, the necessary certification applications at the notary office, Legal Affairs Bureau and MOFA, and collecting the documents. If it turns out that a separate procedure at an embassy or elsewhere is needed, we will tell you separately whether we can handle it and the cost. The basic service fee for Saudi Arabia is JPY 28,600 (tax included) as stated on this page, which differs from the general fee in our standard fee table. For translation, shipping and other additional costs, see also Fees.

What we need and typical timeline

First, tell us the document names, issuing bodies, number of copies, purpose, receiving authority and submission deadline. Guidance or emails from the receiving authority make it easier to confirm the certification and translation requirements. When you formally request our service, we will tell you which originals, powers of attorney, identity documents and so on are needed for your procedure.

For mail applications to MOFA, if there are no problems or further checks, certified documents are generally sent 3 business days after receipt. This is not the total time from your request to delivery; allow additional time for obtaining documents, notarization, translation, mail in both directions and international delivery.

Since 5 October 2026, applications at MOFA's Tokyo counter require an online appointment, and documents are returned by mail only. MOFA also does not accept applications mailed directly from abroad or return documents abroad. See: MOFA, how to apply and required documents (in Japanese).

Clients living in Saudi Arabia are also welcome. We confirm the procedure in Japan and the shipping method and plan the schedule around your deadline. We do not guarantee delivery times or acceptance dates, and our quote includes the preparation time needed.

From request to delivery

1. Inquiry: tell us the document names, number of copies, the receiving authority's instructions, whether a translation is needed and your preferred deadline.
2. Confirmation of the certification method and quote: we check the original and the translation separately and tell you the required notarization, apostille and total cost.
3. Preparing and sending documents: you prepare the originals and materials needed for notarization according to our individual guidance.
4. Certification: we obtain the notarization and apostille by the method suited to each document.
5. Delivery: we return the documents within Japan or ship them abroad, as you prefer.

If you are asked for embassy legalization

If the receiving authority's guidance mentions "embassy certification", "legalization" or "attestation", send us the original wording. We will check whether the document is covered by the Convention, whether an apostille is accepted, and whether the term refers to a review separate from certification. It is important neither to add embassy legalization based only on outdated guidance nor to skip it without checking the submission requirements.

We receive questions such as "which certification does my graduation certificate need?", "where should the Arabic translation be attached?" and "can I ask you to prepare Japanese documents from abroad?". We will tell you the procedure, cost and timeline that match your documents and the receiving authority's conditions.

Royal Partners Administrative Scrivener Office