Russian Translator and Interpreter in Tbilisi

Russian speakers living in Georgia: the documents you will be asked for

Residents from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and other Russian-speaking countries encounter the same list of requirements in their first year in Georgia. A residence permit application at the Public Service Development Agency needs a notarized Georgian translation of the passport and, depending on the category, of a criminal record certificate, an employment contract or company documents, a marriage or birth certificate, or proof of property. Registering a company or becoming an individual entrepreneur at the Public Registry needs the passport translation and, for company founders, sometimes a translated foreign corporate document. Opening a bank account needs the passport and, increasingly, translated source-of-funds documents. Buying or renting property through a notary needs the passport translation and an interpreter at the signing. Enrolling children in school needs translated birth certificates, report cards and vaccination records. Registering a marriage needs the passport, a certificate of no impediment or divorce certificate with an apostille, and an interpreter at the registration.

Russian documents used in Georgia must carry an apostille from the issuing country unless a bilateral arrangement or the receiving institution's practice waives it. Apostilles from Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan are standard; we translate the apostille page together with the document, and we tell you when a specific Georgian institution is known to insist on it, so that you can obtain it before or during your next trip rather than after a rejection.

Soviet-era and archival documents in Russian

Georgian families hold birth, marriage and death certificates, diplomas and transcripts, work record books (trudovaya knizhka), military service records, property documents and court decisions issued in Russian or bilingually before 1991. These surface in pension claims in Georgia and abroad, inheritance cases, citizenship and repatriation applications (to Israel, Greece, Germany and elsewhere), recognition of Soviet degrees, and family history research. We translate them into Georgian for Georgian authorities and into English, German, Hebrew, Greek and other languages for foreign ones, with the terminology of Soviet administrative documents rendered accurately: the distinction between nationality and citizenship, the names of Soviet institutions and job titles, the grading and qualification systems of Soviet education.

Old documents bring practical complications: faded handwriting, seals that are partly legible, place names that have changed, and institutions that no longer exist. We translate what is legible, mark what is not, use the current form of place names with the historical form preserved, and advise when a foreign authority is likely to require a modern duplicate from PSDA instead of the Soviet original, which is often the case for apostille purposes.

Georgian documents translated into Russian

Georgian citizens with family, property, business or study in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia need Georgian documents in Russian: powers of attorney for relatives handling property or inheritance, birth and marriage certificates for family matters and pensions, diplomas for employment and further study, criminal record certificates for work and residence permits, company documents for trade and subsidiaries, court decisions for recognition. Georgian documents are apostilled at PSDA and translated with the apostille; Georgian notarized translations into Russian are generally accepted by notaries and authorities in these countries, which makes Russian one of the language pairs where the whole package can be completed in Tbilisi.

For business, we translate contracts, tender documents, product documentation, certificates and correspondence between Georgian companies and partners across the Russian-speaking region, and we maintain glossaries for companies that trade regularly. Wine, mineral water, food and agricultural exporters, logistics companies, IT firms and tourism businesses are the most frequent clients in this direction.

Russian interpreters in Tbilisi

Georgian notarial acts are drawn up in Georgian, and a person who does not understand Georgian signs only with an interpreter present, whose participation the notary records. A large share of our Russian interpreting is exactly this: powers of attorney, apartment purchases, company founding documents, declarations and consents signed by Russian-speaking clients at Tbilisi notaries. The interpreter reads the act in Russian, interprets the notary's explanations and questions, and can provide a written Russian version of the act for the client to keep. The same applies at PSDA marriage registrations and at the Public Registry.

Beyond notaries, our Russian interpreters work at business negotiations and partner meetings, at banks for account opening interviews, at clinics for patients from the region, at court hearings, at real estate viewings and at conferences and trainings in simultaneous mode. Assignments in Tbilisi can often be arranged within a day; Batumi and the regions need more notice. Rates and modes are on our interpretation page.

Names, transliteration and quality control

Russian-Georgian translation involves three scripts, and a name may already exist in a Cyrillic form, a Latin form in the passport's machine-readable zone, and a Georgian form on an earlier Georgian document. The rule we apply: into Georgian, the name follows the Latin spelling in the passport rendered by Georgian civil registry conventions, so that PSDA, the bank and the notary all hold the same Georgian form; into Russian, the Cyrillic spelling follows the client's existing Russian documents where they exist. Patronymics are preserved where the destination uses them and explained in a note where it does not. Dates, personal numbers, series and numbers of documents are checked digit by digit.

Translation is done by native speakers of the target language who work with the document type, and reviewed by a second linguist. Standard documents are usually translated and notarized within one working day once the original is available for the notarized copy; multi-page files are quoted with a firm date. Delivery at our office on Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue or by courier, with PDF copies by email.

What to send for a Russian translation

Send a clear scan or photo of every page including the apostille and reverse sides, tell us which Georgian institution or which foreign country will receive the translation, and send the passport data page so that names are transliterated consistently. If you already have a Georgian document with your name on it (a residence card, a bank card, an earlier translation), send that too.