1.On March 8, 2023, China officially submitted documentation to accede to the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. On November 7, 2023, the Convention will enter into force between China and Malawi. The status of the Convention being already applied to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Macao Special Administrative Region of China will continue.

2.Starting from November 7, 2023, public documents within the scope of the Convention issued by Malawi can be used in China mainland after being apostillised by the relevant competent authority of Malawi. Consular legalizations by Chinese Embassy in Malawi are not required.

Starting from November 7, 2023, public documents within the scope of the Convention issued by China can be used in Malawi after being apostillised by the relevant competent authority of China. Consular legalizations by China and Malawian Embassy in China are not required. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China is the competent authority for issuing Apostilles and issues Apostilles for official documents issued within the country. Entrusted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foreign affairs offices of relevant local people's governments in China can issue Apostilles for official documents issued within their own administrative regions. Procedures and requirements for Apostilles application can be found at http://cs.mfa.gov.cn/, Apostilles can be verified online at https://consular.mfa.gov.cn/VERIFY/.

3.Starting from November 7, the Embassy will suspend consular legalization services. For documents issued in Malawi that are intended to be sent to Chinese mainland, please apply for an Apostille from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malawi.

The Convention stipulates that Apostilles issued by a country are used to prove the authenticity of the signatures on public documents, the identity of the signatory of the public documents at the time of signing, and to confirm the authenticity of the seal on public documents. It is recommended to confirm the specific requirements for format, content, time limit, translation, etc. of public documents before going through the relevant procedures.