When does a document need an apostille, and when consular legalisation?

Three routes for a document

An official document from one country does not automatically work in another. For it to be accepted, the authenticity of the signature and seal has to be confirmed, and there are three ways of doing this. Which one applies depends not on the type of document but on the country where it will be used. So the first question is always which country the document is for.

Under the first route no legalisation is needed at all. That happens when the two countries have a treaty on legal assistance. The second route is an apostille, a simplified procedure for countries party to the 1961 Hague Convention. The third route is consular legalisation for countries that have not joined the convention. The first documents a foreigner deals with in Ukraine are covered more broadly in the guide to first steps in Ukraine.

Apostille

An apostille is a stamp that certifies the authenticity of the signature of the person who signed the document, the capacity in which they acted and the authenticity of the seal or stamp. It does not certify the content of the document. A document bearing an apostille is accepted in every country party to the convention without any further procedure.

In Ukraine three authorities issue apostilles, and Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 61 divides the work between them.

Consular legalisation

For countries outside the Hague Convention the document passes through a chain of certifications. Usually this means notarisation, then legalisation at the Ministry of Justice, then at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and finally at the embassy or consulate of the destination country. Membership of the convention changes, and several large states have joined in recent years. Before choosing the procedure, check the current list on the website of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

The chain depends on the document. The original of a new-style Ukrainian civil registry certificate needs no notarial step, because the signature and seal are certified by an interregional office of the Ministry of Justice. Certificates of the old Soviet style are not legalised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at all, and a duplicate certificate has to be obtained first.

A legalised document is valid only in the country whose consulate certified it, and this is the main limitation of consular legalisation. For another country the whole procedure starts again.

When no legalisation is needed

Ukraine has treaties on legal assistance with a number of countries, and documents from them are accepted without an apostille or legalisation. These include Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia, Vietnam, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Poland, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and others. For most former Soviet countries a multilateral convention on legal assistance in civil, family and criminal matters applies.

In practice, however, Ukrainian authorities do not always apply these treaties consistently. For documents a foreigner files personally, we therefore budget time and money for an apostille whenever the issuing country is party to the Hague Convention. That is safer than arguing with an inspector.

When an apostille cannot be placed

An apostille is not placed on the following documents:

The authority will also refuse when the text is illegible, the document is signed in pencil or was received by fax, it contains corrections that have not been certified, or the authority has no specimen of the signature and seal.

For documents from private institutions, such as a certificate from a private clinic, an affidavit works. The person signs a statement before a notary that reproduces the required facts, the notary certifies it, and the Ministry of Justice then places the apostille on the affidavit.

• character references and trade union cards;
• documents on membership of social estates or religious denominations;
• firearms permits and regulatory acts;
• documents that look like correspondence;
• documents issued by Ukraine's diplomatic missions abroad;
• administrative documents for commercial or customs operations.

Foreign documents for use in Ukraine

If a document was issued abroad and is needed in Ukraine, for example a marriage certificate for a посвідка (temporary residence permit, TRP), the apostille or legalisation is done in the country that issued it. Ukrainian authorities apostille only Ukrainian documents. The document is then translated into Ukrainian, as described in the article on notarised translation. How foreign documents are used for a TRP is explained in the article on documents for a residence permit.

Lawyer's experience

Most often time is lost because the first question asked is the wrong one. A client asks how much an apostille costs, while we first ask which country the document is for. The answer decides whether an apostille is needed at all, whether a treaty is enough, or whether the document has to go through legalisation at an embassy.

Another tip concerns translation. Once the document has its apostille, check again whether a translation is needed and whether that translation will require a second apostille. We ask this question twice, at the start and when the document is handed over, because this is where we most often have to go back.

If you would rather not work out which ministry handles what, we take care of apostille and consular legalisation from reviewing the document to collecting it.

Frequently asked questions