Legalization and Apostille — Translation agency «Aspira»

Legalization

Legalization is a procedure of translation and execution official documents issued by Russian official bodies so that the documents had legal force abroad. This procedure has its own specifics and requires time consumption.

The procedure of execution consists of several stages:

Translation of the documents (please specify the time required for the translation at our manager)
Notarization
Execution at the Ministry of Justice (time required for execution is no less then seven working days)
Execution at the Consular Department of the RF MFA. (time required for execution is seven working days)
Execution in the consulate of the country where you are going to present the documents (the time and cost are determined by each consulate separately in each particular case).

Apostille

Apostille is a simplified procedure of legalization and execution of the documents to be presented in the countries, being a part of the Hague Convention (you can specify the list of the countries with the company’s manager).

The procedure of execution consists of several stages:

Translation of the documents (please specify the time required for the translation at our manager)
Apostilization of the documents in the Ministry of Justice (time required for execution is no less then seven working days)
Please take into account that in case you translated the document yourself, certifying of each document can be effected only after verification (editing) of the translation by our translators.

At your request we supply services on preparation of the documents for apostille and legalization.

If you prepare the documents for their further use on the territory of another state, whether for reasons of immigration, establishing a representative office abroad, opening an account in a foreign bank, necessity to submit documents foreign judicial bodies, or for other reasons, you should keep in mind that the documents issued and having legal force on the territory of one state may be used on the territory of another only after their legalization in due order.

The procedure of legalization is easy to understand, but sometimes it requires additional time to be accomplished (taking into account the specifics of the bodies that take decisions in our country).

There is a list of documents that require no legalization:

originals and copies of passports
trade union cards
work record books
military ID cards
identity cards
pension card
driver’s licenses
letters of reference
documents certifying identity to estates and religions

Legalization is also not required for the documents meant for use in the countries with which Russia has concluded a bipartite agreement (list of countries).

At present there are two ways of such certification — consular legalization and apostilization. It all depends on the country where the documents are meant to be used.

List of countries where consular legalization and apostille are required.

Consular legalization implies confirmation of the fact that the documents conform to the laws of the state of their origin and constitutes authentication of the signature of the official, his/her status and, in appropriate cases, of the seal of the authorized state body on the documents and deed with the purpose to use them in another state.

Consular legalization is rather a complicated procedure requiring considerable expenses. Besides, the document undergoing such a multilevel and time-consuming procedure is effective only in the state the consular service of which has legalized it.

In 1992 the Russian Federation joined the Hague Convention (see the text of the Convention, 1961), which cancels the requirement for the member countries to do diplomatic or consular legalization of official documents forwarded to any of that countries. The documents issued in Russia and meant for presenting to official bodies of other countries (members of the Hague Convention) are certified in a special simplified procedure.

The apostille certifies authenticity of the signature, the quality in which the person signing the document acted and, in appropriate cases, the authenticity of the seal or the stamp affixed to the document.