Legalization of documents

Employment, marriage, acquiring higher education levels, and other rights of foreigners abroad are impossible without official certificates, extracts, and identifications obtained in their country of origin. Each country establishes its forms and rules for issuing documents, so preliminary legalization is required for their use abroad, which is one of the main services of our company.

What is document legalization?

All documents can be used within the country by the authorities that compiled and issued them, but they lose validity outside its borders (as a general rule). Legalization is a formal procedure to confirm that a certificate, decision, or resolution was obtained in a competent state institution according to the established legal procedure. Such a document will be recognized by the official bodies of another state as valid.

Most often, legalization is required for certificates of education (diplomas, certificates) and civil status (marriage, divorce, family relations), powers of attorney, wills, court decisions and investigative bodies, extracts from registers of owners, entrepreneurs, and legal entities, licenses, certificates, notarial contracts.

Meanwhile, in most countries of the world, the following do not require legalization:

passports, driving licenses, membership cards, military records, pension, and employment records, as well as other documents with the owner’s photo;
correspondence, including corporate one;
personnel documentation and personality characteristics;
business contracts that are not subject to notarization;
banking, accounting, customs, tax certificates;
weapon permits;
legislative, regulatory acts and explanations to them;
technical documentation.

It should be noted that some countries (e.g., Georgia, North Macedonia) do not recognize some of the above documents without legalization, so the requirements of a particular state should be clarified in advance.

When is document legalization required?

Legalization is aimed at certifying the authenticity of signatures and seals of the issuing entity and its authority to do so. The procedure is mandatory in all situations, except the following:

Presence of an apostille (allowed in some countries)

Ukraine is a participant in the Hague Convention, concluded between 124 states, which have agreed to recognize each other's documents through a simplified procedure — by stamping an apostille.

Use in a country with which Ukraine has concluded a bilateral agreement on their recognition

For example, such agreements on the validity of education diplomas have been signed by the state with Romania, Hungary, Poland, France, Moldova, Estonia, and some other countries.

Use between member states of the Minsk Convention

Along with Ukraine, these include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and some other countries.

For all other documents, especially those required for establishing relations in other countries (e.g., UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Canada, Egypt), legalization is required.

Most often, citizens of Ukraine turn to our specialists to confirm family composition, education levels, and specialties, disability status that gives the right to a residence permit in another state, and in some cases — benefits. Common reasons for conducting document legalization also include marriage to a foreign citizen, inheritance abroad, participation in scientific projects, etc.

Certificates, extracts from registries of legal entities and property rights, title documents need to be certified if a person plans to start a business abroad, enter into economic agreements, obtain a grant. Legalization of court decisions and expert opinions helps them to be valid for consideration of disputes in commercial arbitrations, including with control bodies.

The procedure for legalization of documents

The step-by-step legalization procedure includes:

Preparation of notarized copies of documents and their certification.

Notarized translation of documents.

Affixing of stamps in the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Certification of documents with a seal at the diplomatic institution where they are planned to be used.

The last stage requires applying to a foreign consulate, which is why legalization in Ukraine is called consular. The processing time of a document in each institution is from 2 to 10 days.

Features of consular legalization

Specifics of the procedure:

the document for legalization is submitted personally by the owner or another person under a notarized power of attorney;
the method and place of affixing ministerial stamps depend on the type of document to be certified;
legalization of a higher education diploma requires a certificate from the archive of the issuing educational institution;
Italy and Spain require notarized translation of documents with an apostille stamped by a sworn translator at the consulate;
civil status certificates issued before 1991 must be replaced with copies of the new model to be able to confirm them;
legalization for a legal entity requires a cover letter from the manager with information about the authorized submitter;
documents compiled and issued in other countries are legalized by Ukrainian consulates operating there.

Legalization requires knowledge of the procedure and legislation of the chosen country, as well as certain efforts and time, but it can be expedited by entrusting its execution to our specialists. The experts of the company have developed reliable mechanisms of interaction with ministerial and consular institutions and are capable of overcoming bureaucratic obstacles.

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