Documents: no apostille, no legalisation

Kenya is outside the Apostille Convention; the Embassy cannot legalise; document checks by lawyers cost money.

What applies to Kenya

• No apostille: Kenya has no row in the HCCH status table of the Apostille Convention, and it is not on the Federal Foreign Office list of states where the convention applies with Germany (list, 21 July 2026). Re-check before you act; states can join.
• No legalisation: the Federal Foreign Office lists Kenya among the states where the conditions for legalisation are not met (list, 2 May 2025). The Embassy page says legalisation of Kenyan documents is not possible.
• Document check by cooperating lawyers: the Embassy has civil-status documents checked against the Kenyan registers by lawyers it engages (Embassy: Urkundenüberprüfung). Affidavits and Chief's letters cannot be matched to a register; only the circumstances of signing are checked.

How the check works (Embassy page)

• Private persons cannot request it. A German authority (for example a registry office or immigration office) sends a request for administrative assistance with a cost commitment, plus the original document, two simple copies and passport copies of the holders. The authority forwards the originals via the official Foreign Office courier route; the Embassy accepts nothing directly from private persons.
• Fees per document (depending on the county of issue): birth certificates €300, €400 or €500; Muslim marriage certificates, court judgments, affidavits and Chief's letters €200, €300 or €400; civil marriage certificates and certificates of no impediment €150. A surcharge applies for hospital records; billing is at a daily rate. A cost commitment is needed.
• Processing usually takes up to six months, in individual cases longer. The checked document gets a check note on the back. Translations are not needed for the check.
• For a visa application, the Embassy may verify documents too, at an extra fee (Visa and Embassy).

Practical steps

1. Ask the German authority or Embassy which documents they need checked before you collect copies.
2. Get fresh certified copies from the Kenyan registry; keep originals safe. Procedure and issuing offices in Kenya (Civil Registration, county offices, Attorney General) were not verified.
3. Translations: German authorities normally want a German translation by a sworn translator in Germany. Whether English documents are accepted without translation depends on the authority; the Embassy says English documents are often accepted.

Police certificate: only if a German office asks; the Kenyan "Certificate of Good Conduct" and its use were not checked. Nobody may charge you for a "guaranteed" check: Avoiding scams.