living in Andorra guide on residency relocation advice

All applicants for andorran residency and for work permits will need to present certain documents from their country of residence in support of their application. Immigration will only accept those documents if they bear the correct stamp. Please note that an Apostille stamp or stamps for Legalisation can ONLY be obtained in the country where they are issued, so all this needs to be done before your arrival in Andorra.

All documents issued by authorities need to be Apostillised or Legalised, and this is explained below. Police certificates, marriage certficates, birth certificates, divorce certificates are the most common documents required. The section below explains what you must do with these documents to make them acceptable by the authorities in Andorra.

If you have any problems whatsoever with identifying the authorities, or you are unclear which circumstances apply to your particular country, please contact me for advice.

Each country has its own procedure for issuing certificates and for apostillising them or for legalising them. Whilst I cannot on this website give details and procedures for all countries, I can offer this general advice:-

• Identify which documents you are going to require for your residency application in your specific circumstances.
• Find out how these can be obtained by your country’s authorities and apply.
• Find out whether your country is a party to the Hague Convention which allows the Apostille stamp to legalise the document for use in Andorra. (See the tables below and find out whether your country is a party to the convention)
• If your country is a party to the convention, find out who is the issuing authority and how to submit your documents for the Apostille stamp.
• Ensure your documents are either in English, French or Spanish (in some but not all cases in German)
• IF the documents cannot be obtained in any of these languages they must either go for OFFICIAL translation and be notarised as such in your country, and then BOTH the original document AND the official notarised translation must be Apostillised. Alternatively the original documents can be Apostillised without a translation but then officially translated in Andorra. The second option may be easier if it is difficult to obtain notarised translations in your country. If done in Andorra, they only require the official translators stamp and nothing further.

If your country is not a party to the convention you will need to find out which department is responsible for legalising documents for use in other jurisdictions, normally the Department for Foreign Affairs, or Ministry of the Exterior, and then:-

• The same procedure for translations should be applied as if being Apostillised.
• After the correct legalising stamp has been appended the documents (and official translations if done) must then be presented to the Embassy of Spain OR France in your country for their stamp to be added. This is a most important additional step not required for Apostilles.

In all cases I recommend to applicants to e-mail me the documents for approval in advance from Immigration. I can also assist with your questions, and please if in any doubt contact me as this is a vital step in your application and if the wrong stamp is applied it WILL be rejected AND you will need to resubmit the documents when corrected.

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