When the electronic route applies
Portugal now issues electronic apostilles through the Ministério Público e-APP system. For a Portuguese public document created electronically, including documents signed digitally or issued with an official access code, the direct official apostille route is electronic.
This is common with digital civil-registry certificates, criminal record certificates and other Portuguese public documents that are issued or verified online.
Send us the file, access code and destination country. We identify the source document, prepare the apostille request and handle the Portuguese side of the process.
What you receive
You receive the apostilled electronic document set in digital form. The apostille is electronically signed and can be verified through the official system.
If you also need a certified translation, we prepare the translation as part of the same file. If the receiving authority wants a paper package, we arrange the paper document route and courier delivery instead of leaving you to solve the format problem yourself.
Electronic does not mean second-class
Under the Hague Apostille Convention, an electronic apostille is an official apostille. The HCCH states that an e-Apostille has the same legal status as a paper apostille and cannot be rejected simply because it is electronic.
In practice, some foreign institutions still work more comfortably with paper. We deal with that before the document is prepared. The goal is not to sell you a QR code. The goal is to deliver the format that works for the file you are actually submitting.
Need a paper apostille instead?
If the destination works better with paper, send us the requirement. We check whether the Portuguese source document can be obtained in paper form and prepare the paper route from the start.
Portugal Papers regularly handles both electronic and paper apostilles. We choose the route around the source document and the destination, not around a one-size-fits-all sales script.
Complete international document preparation
You do not need to split the work between several suppliers. We obtain the Portuguese document, apostille it, add certified translation and send the final set worldwide.
For clients outside Portugal, the whole process is coordinated from Lisbon.