What is legalization and apostille?

CERTIFICATION OF AUTHENTICITY OF DOCUMENTATION\

 If it is necessary, that document you provide is legal at the territory of another country (in case you would like to emigrate, marry or work abroad, open representative office of you company or open account in foreign bank), in major cases you will need to pass procedure of legalization, or in other words, witness, verify and confirm authenticity of signatures and stamps of authorities on documents, and their legal compliance in the country of origin.

In some cases the necessity for legalization does not exist, in case you submit your documents to the entity, which has no such requirement or between Kazakhstan and country, where you plan to submit you documents there is double treaty (Table 1). Also there are such cases, when because of the type of the document it’s legalization is not possible.

Table 1
List of countries having double treaty, canceling requirement for legalization
(information provided in alphabetic order as of 1-st November 2005)

Azerbaijan Albania Algeria Armenia Byelorussia Bulgaria Bosnia & Herzegovina Hungary Vietnam Greece Georgia Iraq Italy

Yemen Cyprus Kyrgyzstan China DPRK Cuba Latvia Lithuania Macedonia Moldova Mongolia Poland

Romania Russia Slovakia Slovenia Tajikistan Tunisia Turkmenistan Uzbekistan Ukraine Finland Croatia Czech Estonia

At the same time, please note, that even if there is a double treaty on cancellation of legalization between Kazakhstan and a country , where you plan to use your document, sometimes it is still required. Please query the entity where you plan to submit your documents beforehand!

ATTENTION! Translation Centre «EPMG» carries out services of legalization only for the documents , issued or arranged in Kazakhstan.

Apostille – is a special stamp on official documents of non-commercial content, issued by entities of countries-participants of Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (signed 5 October 1961, entered into force 24 January 1965), and proving it’s authenticity abroad.

Types of documents legalization
There are two types of documents legalization: consular legalization and conventional legalization, by apostillation. Translation centre «EPMG» carries out only conventional legalization by stamping “apostille”.

• Consular legalization – applied when document circulated between countries, which are not participants of Hague Convention.
  Consular legalization provides for confirmation of documents compliance to the legislation of the country of origination and authenticity of the signature of authority, it’s status, and in some cases stamp of authorized body, for the possibility of it’s use in another country.
  Initially document goes to Ministry of Justice of Kazakhstan (legalization sector), then it is legalized in the department of consular of Ministry of Foreign affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and then in Diplomatic representative office or Consular office in the country where such documents are planned for circulation.
  Consular legalization is a quite complicated procedure, requiring sufficient expenses. By this, the document will be valid only for the country, which consular service has legalized it, different to conventional legalization, where document is getting legal force in all countries which joined Hague Convention.
• Conventional legalization, by stamping “Apostille”, is used for document circulation with entities, originating from countries who joined Hague Convention (pls. see table 2).
  Kazakhstani documents are legalized as in originals as well in notary verified copies, where copies of documents shall be arranged not by copying, but the following way: text of notary verification shall be input on PC (not stamp) and printed on blank paper, but not on official letterhead.
  ”Apostille” stamp is arranged on documents, issued by Notary, administrative bodies, courts; Civil Registry Offices; documents, issued by authorities subordinating jurisdiction of the country.
  Moreover, stamp “Apostille” can be arranged on charters and constituent documents; patents and other documentation, issued by state body or administration.
  It is necessary to remember, that “Apostille” can not be arranged on documents, issued by diplomatic and consular agents. These documents should be legalized by “consular legalization”!
  

Table 2
Countries joined Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents
(information provided in alphabetic order as of 1 November 2005)

Albania Andorra Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria China (Macau) China (Hong Kong) Colombia Cook Islands Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Dominica Ecuador El Salvador Estonia Fiji Finland

France Georgia Germany Greece Grenada Honduras Hungary Iceland India Ireland Israel Italy Japan Kazakhstan Korea Latvia Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malawi Malta Marshall Islands Mauritius Mexico Moldova Republic of Monaco Montenegro Namibia Netherlands

New Zealand Niue Norway Panama Poland Portugal Romania Russia Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent Grenadines Samoa San Marino Serbia Seychelles Slovakia Slovenia South Africa Spain Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom (U.K.) United States of America Venezuela

* - including: Jersey, Bailiwick, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Man Island, Montserrat, Bermuda, Saint Helena (Netherlander Antilles Islands), New Hebrides, Terke and Kaikos, Caiman Iceland, Virgin islands, Falkland islands.
** - only at the territory of Hong-Kong and Makao.

Please pay attention to the fact, that many countries, which are not participants of Hague Convention accept documents, which are “apostilled”. At the same time, in some countries which joined Hague Convention recently, “apostilled” have no legal force. Please contact in advance the entity in the country where you plan to submit your documents!

Moreover, it is necessary to take into account that commercial documents (e.g. agreements or invoices), are not subject for consular legalization and “apostille”. For their revision there is a special procedure – Verification by Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and then in the consular department of country where you plan to use legalized document.

Procedure of legalization of documents in the translations centre «EPMG»

This procedure is quite simple and will require from you minimum of time. You need to bring documents in our centre personally or send to us by fax or e-mail and our specialists will carry out preliminary check for possibility/necessity of legalization. In some cases we will need advise from state authorities, which will provide official resolution.

After this we will contact you for the receipt of documents (in Kazakh, Russian and notary verified Foreign language) and after receipt of prepayment we will bring documents to state authorities for legalization. Then you will be contacted by the specialists from translation centre for handover of legalized documents.

Need to take into account, that practically in all countries of the world, official documents must be provided in national language. In cases of necessity, specialists of EPMG will carry out direct translation (from foreign language) or reversal (into foreign language) professional translation of the documents, provided for legalization.

The optimal variant will be “apostille” of the Russian language document, as, translation will be pretty easy and quickly as in Kazakhstan as well as in another “accepted” country.