Brazil Overseas Consulate Legalizations No Longer Required

.... since Brazil last month became a member (a bit late) of the 1961 Hague Convention.   You can verify that Brazil's membership entered into force on August 14, 2016 on The Hague's official web site here:

https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/con … le/?cid=41

As a result, for most overseas documents to be recognized in Brazil, all one apparently needs is a notarized document authenticated by an 'Apostille' (usually issued by a state notary authentication office) - the Brazil 'middleman' is thus cut out, significantly reducing time and effort for expats.   

However, you should definitely still check out the website of the overseas consulate you are concerned with for the gory details, from their points of view.   For example, you can check out New York's here:

http://novayork.itamaraty.gov.br/en-us/ … cation.xml

Likewise, the US  no longer requires Brazil documents to be legalized here either - at least by the US Consulate - apparently certain cartorios will be able to issue Brazilian Apostilles.

Warning:  all documents previously legalized by Brazilian consulates will apparently lose their validity as of February 14, 2017. 

Apologies if this is a duplicate post - I did not find this elsewhere.

Anyone who has dealt with the Legalization Departments of Brazilian Consulates overseas recognizes what a tremendous potential savings in both time and $$$$  this represents.   However, we definitely need to see if this new procedure actually lives up to its promise - never a sure thing here.