Legalizations taking longer than normal

IMPACT – MEDIUM

What is the change? A high volume of requests for legalization and apostillizations is causing delays for these services.

What does the change mean? Individuals requesting legalization or apostillization from Venezuelan ministries or consular missions should anticipate longer wait times of several days at each ministry. In particular, nationals of countries that are not part of the Hague Convention must go through three steps, which will lead to delays of several weeks.

• Implementation time frame: Immediate and ongoing.
• Visas/permits affected: Legalizations and apostillizations.
• Who is affected: Companies and foreign employees seeking legalization and apostillizations of documents.
• Impact on processing times: Legalizations are taking, on average, 15 business days at the Ministry of Internal Affairs; 17 business days at the Ministry of External Affairs; and 10 business days at the consular missions. Apostillizations at the Ministry of External Affairs are taking an average of 17 business days. Please note that these are averages and may vary.
• Business impact: Companies and assignees should plan for longer time lines when setting travel and work schedules.

Background: Nationals of non-Hague Convention countries must obtain legalization through the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of External Affairs and the consulate.

The high volume of requests apparently stems from a large number of Venezuelan nationals migrating abroad.

BAL Analysis: Employers and foreign nationals should leave more time for this process in the document preparation stage of their applications.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group and our network provider located in Venezuela. For additional information, please contact your BAL attorney.

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