Apostille and Legalization

Apostille is a simplified procedure and is suitable only for those countries that signed the Hague Convention on 05.10.1961, thereby canceling the legalization requirements among themselves. It is a special stamp affixed by one of the ministries of Ukraine on official forms. Thus, the Apostille confirms the signature of an official. If you are going to a non-party to the said Convention, then you will need legalization. This procedure includes 3 stages. At first, it must be certified by our Ministry of Justice, then by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs and finally by the Consulate of the country of destination located in Ukraine.

Legalization is a procedure turning a simply translated file into an official document for use outside the issuing country. The document is stamped and signed by a legal entity or a state body, after which it changes its status and authorized the performance of legal actions abroad. There are only two ways to assign an official status to a document, namely legalization and Apostille.

«OpenSpace» Translation Agency is your “lifeline” in the stormy sea of document legalization!

Apostille and legalization is a kind of a legal right of your official document existence in the free international space. Therefore, this is a mandatory procedure before traveling abroad, for example, to study, work, perform transactions and address the other business issues.

Documents usually subject to legalization:

• personal – a copy of a passport, TIN, driver’s license;
• administrative – birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates;
• official – issued by authorities, companies, institutions;
• legal – certificates from court bodies, sentences/judgments, documents issued/executed by notaries;
• other state documents

An Apostille or legalization shall be issued with respect to an original document only, so you must provide it to us in proper form, without lamination. As regards the terms, Apostille issue takes at least 5 business days, while legalization may take 10 to 30 days, depending on the procedure urgency and the country of destination. Please, note that the document legalization process shall be done for each country separately, and at the third stage, it shall be certified by the consulate of a specific state. For example, if you collect and register documents for Canada, this will be a completely new procedure for the United States, and you will have to go through all the steps again. That is why it is better to entrust the Apostille and legalization to professionals. It saves not only money, but also your precious time.

What «OpenSpace» translation agency needs to complete the procedure as quickly as possible:

• The original document, which you deliver to us at our office personally or send with a courier.
• At this key stage, you need to draw up and notarize a power of attorney for transacting business on your behalf in the name of our employee.
• We translate the document you provided into the language of the target country.
• We notarize the document (if it need to be legalized), so you do not need to do it separately.
• Then your document goes through the required stages in the state authorities of Ukraine and the Consulate of the target country as applicable.

Ultimately, you receive document with required seals and stamps. We discuss deadlines in advance and usually set them to the maximum, because there are processes beyond your or our control. Since most of the Consulates of foreign countries, just like our office, are located in Kyiv, while you are staying in another city, our help would be the right solution. If you still have questions regarding this procedure, we will be happy to answer them in person at the office, by phone or email.

«OpenSpace» Translation Agency – we save 2 of your most valuable resources, time and nerves!