Notarized Translation in Georgia

What a Georgian notary actually certifies

Under the Georgian Law on Notaries, a notary can deal with a translation in two ways. If the notary personally knows the language pair, they may certify the accuracy of the translation itself. In everyday practice, however, the notary certifies the authenticity of the translator's signature: the translator appears before the notary, signs the translation, and the notary confirms who signed it and that the translator is a person whose qualifications are on record with that notary office. The certification is written in Georgian and attached to the translation together with the notary's seal and register number.

This distinction matters when you are dealing with a foreign institution. A Georgian notarized translation confirms that a specific, identifiable translator takes responsibility for the text. It does not turn the translator into a "sworn" or "court-certified" translator in the sense used in Germany, Poland, Italy or Spain, where translators are appointed by courts or ministries. Most embassies, universities and employers accept Georgian notarized translations without difficulty, but some national registries insist on a translation done by a sworn translator in their own country. We tell you when we know a destination is strict, so you can check before paying for a format that will not be accepted.

The notarized translation is physically bound to the source: usually the original document or a notarized copy of it, then the translation, then the notarial certification page, all fastened together and sealed. This is why the notary needs to see the source document. A loose translation with a stamp on it is not a notarized translation in the Georgian sense.

When a notarized translation is required and when it is not

Inside Georgia, notarized translation into Georgian is the standard requirement whenever a foreign document is submitted to a public body or used in a notarial transaction. The Public Service Development Agency requires it for foreign birth and marriage certificates used in marriage registration or citizenship matters. The National Agency of Public Registry requires it for foreign company documents used to register a Georgian company or branch, and for foreign powers of attorney used in property transactions. Banks require it for foreign passports, corporate charters and proof-of-address documents when opening accounts, and Georgian notaries require it for any foreign document that will be part of a notarial act.

For Georgian documents going abroad, notarization is requested by most embassies for visa files, by foreign universities for diplomas and transcripts, by foreign registrars for civil status certificates, and by employers and licensing bodies for criminal record certificates, medical certificates and professional qualifications. In many of these cases the notarized translation is combined with an apostille, and the order of the two steps depends on the country.

Notarization is not needed for everything. A translation for internal reading, a website, a marketing text, a business email, a technical manual or a medical report that a doctor will read for treatment purposes does not benefit from a notary's seal. Some institutions, including a number of British and American ones, are satisfied with a translator's certification on the bureau's letterhead instead. If the receiving side has not asked for notarization, we will not add it just to increase the price; we will ask what the document is for and recommend the lightest format that will be accepted.

Originals, notarized copies and what you must bring

Because the translation is attached to the source document, the first practical question is whether the notary will bind it to your original or to a copy. Binding to the original is possible for documents that are issued in unlimited copies or that you can afford to have stapled and sealed, such as a criminal record certificate, a bank statement or a company extract. Binding to a notarized copy is the usual choice for passports, ID cards, diplomas, birth certificates and anything else you need to keep intact.

A notarized copy is made by the notary from the original, which means that the original must be presented at the notary office at least once. If you are abroad, a relative or our representative can present it on your behalf. When even that is impossible, some notaries accept a copy certified by a foreign notary and apostilled, but this adds a step and we would rather discuss it with you before you order.

Foreign documents in languages other than Georgian must be complete. A notary cannot certify a translation of an excerpt while the rest of the document is missing, and a translation of a document with an untranslated apostille page will be sent back. We translate every page, every stamp, every handwritten annotation and every seal, and we mark illegible fragments as illegible instead of guessing.

How the procedure works at TARGMANEBI

You send us a photo or scan of the document by WhatsApp, email or the form on this page, together with the target language and the place of submission. We check whether the document is complete, whether notarization is realistic for the language pair (the translator for that language must be registered with a notary office), and whether the original will be needed. You receive a price that already includes the notarial fee, and a completion date.

The translation is prepared and checked against the source for names, dates, numbers, registry references, stamps and structure. Names are matched to the Latin spelling in the passport whenever the client provides it, because a mismatch of a single letter between a passport and a certificate is one of the most common reasons for an official document to be questioned. Once the text is final, the translator signs it before the notary, the package is bound and sealed, and you collect it at our office on Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue or receive it by courier.

For urgent orders, a short standard document can often be translated and notarized on the same day when the original is available in Tbilisi and the notary's schedule allows. Larger packages, rare languages and cases where an apostille must be obtained first take longer, and we say so at the start rather than promising a same-day result we cannot keep.

Notarized translation combined with apostille or legalization

When the document will be used abroad, the notarized translation is often only one layer of the package. The original may need an apostille before translation, and the notarial certification of the translation may itself be apostilled, depending on what the foreign authority wants. For countries outside the Hague Convention, the notarial certification goes through consular legalization instead. Getting the order wrong means repeating the notarization, so we plan the sequence with you before the first stamp is placed. The details are explained on our apostille page.

In the reverse direction, a foreign document with an apostille or consular legalization is translated into Georgian in full, including the apostille or legalization page, and the translation is notarized in Tbilisi. Georgian authorities do not accept foreign notarized translations into Georgian unless the translation was certified by a Georgian consulate abroad, so the safe route is to have the translation done and notarized here.

Languages available for notarized translation

Notarized translation is available for the language pairs in which our translators are registered with notary offices, which covers the languages most often needed in Georgia: English, Russian, Turkish, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Ukrainian, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Czech and Polish, as well as a number of others on request. For a rare language, we confirm availability before accepting the order. If the notarized route is not possible for a language pair, we explain the alternative, which is often a notarized translation via English or a translator's certification accepted by the receiving side.

Whatever the language, the translation itself is done by a person who works with that document type regularly. A notarial seal cannot repair a poor translation, and an institution abroad will compare the text with the original. That is why the checking stage is part of every notarized order and why we ask for reference spellings, previous translations and instructions from the receiving institution before starting.

Before you order a notarized translation

Check with the receiving institution whether they need a notarized translation, a sworn translation done in their own country, or a simple certified translation. Ask whether the apostille should be on the original, on the translation, or both. A short screenshot of their requirements saves a lot of time.

Collect the Latin spelling of every name that appears in the document from the passports of the people concerned, and send previous translations if you have them so that the wording stays consistent across the whole file.