The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has officially launched a fully digital apostille system covering electronic documents issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), marking a major step in the country’s digital transformation and compliance with global standards on document authentication.

The new system allows Filipinos to obtain apostilles online for PSA e-certificates—such as birth, marriage, and death records—and CHED’s Electronic Certification, Authentication, and Verification (eCAV) documents, eliminating the need for physical submission.

This significantly reduces processing time while ensuring secure, traceable, and government-to-government transmission of authenticated records.

DFA Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro described the initiative as a “milestone” that reflects the agency’s commitment to modernizing public services and strengthening the country’s international engagement.

She emphasized that the digital platform enables faster, more reliable, and accessible authentication services for Filipinos anywhere in the world.

The initiative builds on the Philippines’ accession to the Apostille Convention in 2018, which simplified the legalization of public documents for use abroad among member countries.

With the e-Apostille system, documents authenticated in the Philippines are more readily recognized overseas without additional certification.

The DFA said it is also coordinating with other government agencies to expand the system and integrate more document types into the platform. The service is accessible through the DFA’s official e-Apostille portal, while supporting platforms such as PSAHelpline and CHED’s One Touch portal facilitate document requests.

Officials noted that the move is expected to benefit overseas Filipino workers, students, and professionals by making document processing more efficient, secure, and globally accepted.