The Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents entered the United States in 1981.
The purpose of this convention was for the countries signing to recognize the official documents of other countries. This recognition was on the condition that the documents were authorized by an apostille (and an apostille stamp). So basically an apostille stamp is an international notary. This makes it clear that any nation will recognize your country’s official documents.
Apostille – Another word for certification.
Apostille is French for “certification.” An apostille stamp is certification that documents from foreign nations are legal. The variances of how to obtain legality of a document are dependent on what country or state you are in. Most often a place where you can get notaries will be able to issue an apostille stamp or at least be able to guide you to where you can get an apostille stamp.