Apostille in Georgia: Legalizing Documents for Use Abroad

What an apostille is and what it actually confirms

An apostille is a standardized certificate attached to a public document under the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961. It confirms three things: that the signature on the document is genuine, that the person who signed it acted in an official capacity, and that any seal or stamp on the document belongs to the authority it claims to belong to. It does not confirm that the content of the document is true, and it does not translate anything.

Georgia has been a member of the Hague Apostille Convention since 2007. In practice this means that a Georgian birth certificate, diploma, court decision, notarial act or company extract can be accepted in more than 120 countries once it carries an apostille, without any further consular legalization. The same works in reverse: a document issued in Germany, Italy, the United States or Turkey and apostilled there is accepted by Georgian authorities after translation into Georgian.

The apostille is always issued in the country where the document was issued. A Georgian document is apostilled in Georgia, and a foreign document is apostilled in its country of origin. This point causes more confusion than any other: clients living abroad often ask a foreign notary or consulate to "apostille" a Georgian certificate, and the request is refused because only the Georgian competent authority can do it.

Where the apostille is issued in Georgia

For most public documents, the competent authority in Georgia is the Public Service Development Agency (PSDA) of the Ministry of Justice. Applications are accepted at Public Service Halls (Houses of Justice) in Tbilisi and other cities, and for many document types the procedure can also be started online. Civil status documents (birth, marriage, divorce, death, name change certificates), notarial acts, court decisions, criminal record certificates, public registry extracts and documents issued by ministries and public agencies all go through this route.

Education documents follow a separate path. Diplomas, diploma supplements, school leaving certificates and academic transcripts issued in Georgia are apostilled through the National Center for Educational Quality Enhancement (EQE), which first verifies that the document was issued by an accredited institution and appears in the education records. This verification step is the reason education apostilles usually take longer than an apostille on a birth certificate.

Processing times depend on the service tier you choose. A standard apostille on a civil document is typically ready within a few working days, and expedited options are available for an additional fee. Education documents may need extra days for verification. Because the rules and fees are updated from time to time, we confirm the current timing with the issuing authority when we plan your package, rather than promising a fixed number of days.

If you are outside Georgia, you do not have to travel back for the stamp. The application can be submitted by a representative with a power of attorney, and in many cases a family member or our office can handle the visit on your behalf. We explain what the representative needs before anyone stands in a queue.

Which documents can be apostilled and which cannot

An apostille can only be placed on a public document or on a notarial certification. Documents that are eligible in Georgia include civil status certificates issued by PSDA, extracts from the Public Registry (both property and company extracts from the National Agency of Public Registry), conviction certificates from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, court judgments and rulings, notarial acts such as powers of attorney and declarations, and education documents from accredited institutions.

Private documents cannot be apostilled directly. A contract between two companies, a letter from an employer, a CV, a bank statement printed from online banking or a medical report from a private clinic is not a public document. The usual solution is to have the document notarized first: the notary certifies the signature or the copy, and the apostille is then placed on the notarial certification. This is why the sequence of steps matters so much and why we ask where the document comes from before advising.

A second important limit concerns old and foreign documents. Certificates issued in the Soviet period may need to be replaced with a modern duplicate from PSDA before an apostille is possible, and certificates issued by another country cannot be apostilled in Georgia at all. Georgian passports and ID cards are not apostilled either; instead, a notarized copy of the passport is prepared and the apostille goes on the notarial act.

The correct order: apostille, translation and notarization

The most common mistake we see is a document that was translated and notarized first and then brought for an apostille. Depending on where the document is going, that order may be exactly right or completely wrong. There are three typical patterns, and the receiving institution decides which one applies.

Pattern one: apostille on the original, then translation of everything. The original Georgian document receives an apostille, and the complete document including the apostille certificate is translated into the target language. The translation is then notarized in Georgia or certified by a sworn translator in the destination country. This pattern is standard for Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic, Greece and most other EU countries. Pattern two: translation and notarization first, then apostille on the notarial act. The document is translated, the notary certifies the translator's signature, and the apostille is placed on that notarial certification. Some institutions accept this because it produces a single apostilled bundle in the target language. It is used when the receiving side only asks for "an apostilled translation" without specifying more. Pattern three: two apostilles. The original is apostilled, translated and notarized, and the notarial certification is apostilled as well. This is the safest option when the requirement is unclear and the client cannot afford a rejection, but it costs more, so we recommend it only when the destination country is known to be strict.

Before starting, send us the instructions you received from the university, embassy, employer or foreign notary, even as a screenshot. The wording usually tells us which pattern is expected. If no instructions exist, we recommend the pattern most commonly accepted in that country and explain the risk honestly.

Do you need to translate the apostille certificate itself?

Under the convention, the apostille is valid without translation because its ten numbered fields are standardized and the title "Apostille (Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)" is always in French. In practice, many institutions still want the certificate translated together with the document, especially when the apostille was issued in Georgian and the destination is a country where Georgian script is unfamiliar. We translate the apostille as a separate numbered block at the end of the translation so that the receiving officer can match each field to the original.

When the direction is reversed and a foreign document arrives in Georgia with an apostille from Turkey, Ukraine, the United States or another country, Georgian authorities expect the full document, including the apostille page, to be translated into Georgian and notarized. Registration offices, banks and notaries in Georgia will not accept an untranslated apostille on a foreign power of attorney or marriage certificate.

Countries outside the Hague Convention: consular legalization

Not every country accepts an apostille. Several states in the Gulf region, parts of Africa and Asia and a few other countries are not parties to the convention, and for them the older consular legalization procedure applies. The document is first certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia (through PSDA) and then legalized by the embassy or consulate of the destination country. Each stage has its own fee and processing time, and the embassy often has its own translation requirements.

The list of member countries changes. China joined the convention in 2023 and Canada in 2024, which simplified document flows that used to require consular legalization. Saudi Arabia joined in 2022. If you are preparing documents for a country whose status you are not sure about, tell us the country and we will check the current position before you spend money on the wrong procedure.

How TARGMANEBI helps with an apostille package

TARGMANEBI is a translation bureau, not a government authority, so we do not issue the apostille stamp. What we do is make the whole package work: we look at your document, confirm whether it is eligible, identify the correct authority, advise on the order of steps for your specific destination, prepare the translation with the apostille fields included, arrange notarization, and, when you are abroad or short of time, handle the submission and collection through a representative.

Typical projects include university admission packages (diploma, supplement and transcript), marriage abroad (birth certificate and certificate of marital status), family reunification files (birth and marriage certificates plus criminal record), employment abroad (diploma, criminal record, medical certificate) and corporate matters (company extract, charter, board resolutions and powers of attorney for foreign registries). Each of these has a known set of pitfalls, and we have seen most of them.

When a foreign document needs to be used in Georgia, we work in the other direction: translation of the apostilled document into Georgian, notarization of the translation, and, if required, preparation of certified copies for the notary, bank, registry or PSDA office where the document will be submitted.

What to send before we plan the package

Send a clear photo or scan of the document, front and back, including any stamps on the reverse side. Tell us the country and the type of institution that will receive it: a university, a civil registry, an embassy, an employer, a notary or a court. If you have written instructions from that institution, forward them as they are.

Let us know whether the original is with you in Georgia, with a relative, or abroad, and whether you need the finished package delivered to an address outside Tbilisi or outside Georgia. These details determine who can apply for the apostille and how the final documents will reach you.