As the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) reopens its walk-in apostille service on Monday 11 March 2024, an important change is afoot: Ms Michelle Aspeling, a pillar of the DIRCO Legalisation Section who has been certifying South African documents for international recognition, is leaving the Legalisation Section.
Michelle Aspeling’s signature has had a huge impact on the lives of many South Africans, influencing countless international endeavours such as enabling international trade, studying abroad and even navigating government procedures.
The purpose of this article is to provide clarity on the recent changes to the DIRCO Apostille certification process and its implications. By understanding the shift away from Mrs M Aspeling, everyone can better understand the updated process and won’t be surprised by the changes.
Michelle Aspeling: Ensuring Legal Documents Are Recognised Worldwide
As the long-standing supervisor of the Legalisation Section, Ms Michelle Aspeling was like the guardian of official documents, making sure they were ready for the international world.
As a senior public servant, she had a very important job, which included supervising and managing a team of registrars at DIRCO, providing guidance and support to the Legalisation Section team, ensuring the efficient delivery of consular services, overseeing and managing the organisation’s legal processes and procedures, ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and most importantly, signing the Apostille certificates.
Michelle Aspeling leaves the DIRCO’s Legalisation Section with a solid reputation of visionary and ethical leadership. For decades, she has been a driving force behind countless international opportunities for both individuals and companies, and her dedication and expertise have been greatly appreciated.
In addition, her responsiveness and efficiency in providing legalisation services has been commendable. Michelle Aspeling has consistently provided individuals and companies with apostilled certificates quickly and effectively. Her contributions have undoubtedly made a significant impact and opened doors to new horizons for many South Africans.
DIRCO Continues to Issue Apostille Certificates During the Changeover
Apostilles are still issued by DIRCO, but with a different signature and different officials certifying the apostille. Despite this transition, DIRCO continues to uphold the standards of document authentication and legalisation for international use. This means that individuals and organisations can continue to rely on DIRCO for their certification needs as new officials have been appointed to certify documents in the legalisation field. DIRCO for their certification needs as other individuals have been appointed to certify documents in the legalisation section.
Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) is committed to providing consular notarial services to South African citizens and foreign nationals who require South African official (public) documents to be legalised for use abroad. These services are provided to give legal validity to South African official (public) documents to enable a person to use the documents outside the Republic of South Africa.
Legalisation of documents means that official (public) documents executed in the Republic of South Africa for use outside the Republic of South Africa are affixed, sealed and signed with either an Apostille Certificate (in countries that are signatories to the Apostille Convention) or a Certificate of Authentication (in countries that are not signatories to the Apostille Convention).
Global Apostille provides quick legalisation of documents.
To apostille documents and ensure they are ready for use abroad, Global Apostille offers a fast, reliable 3-day express service. For both individuals and companies, we offer our premium DIRCO Apostille service in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. We handle all types of paperwork, including birth certificates, degrees and corporate documents. We also guarantee a secure and confidential translation services with our team of qualified and experienced translators offering same day translation services from Spanish, German, French and Portuguese into English and vice versa. Please contact us on 012 348 3134, 081 347 6060 on a mobile or email info@apostillelegalization.co.za for more information.
