Document apostille is a procedure whose appearance half a century ago was inevitable. The consular legalization system that preceded it, with no alternative (and still in force in relations with some states), was long and multi-stage, which considerably slowed down foreign citizens in resolving a wide range of business and personal matters abroad. The Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, adopted in The Hague in 1961, introduced the apostille as an alternative to consular legalization and greatly simplified the whole procedure. Now, for an official document to be recognized as legally valid abroad, it is enough to affix an apostille: a special rectangular stamp (mark) that certifies the signature, the full name and the capacity in which the signatory acted, and, in some cases, the authenticity of the seals attached to the document. The details of the mark include the name of the state that issued the apostille, the full name of the person who signed the documents, the document subject to apostille, the name of the institution whose seals are attached to the documents, the authority that issued the apostille, and other details.
Under Russian legislation, apostille falls within the competence of such bodies as the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Prosecutor General's Office, civil registry offices (ZAGS), the Federal Archival Agency, and the executive authorities of the regions of the Russian Federation. For example, if you need to legalize a university diploma or a Candidate of Sciences diploma, the document is translated into the official language of the relevant country, the translation is notarized (strictly speaking, the notary certifies the signature of a professional certified translator), and the notary's seal and signature are certified by an apostille. Note that in some cases, under the law, documents do not require notarization, and the seal of the translation bureau alone is sufficient. One more nuance: an apostille is not affixed to commercial documents (customs declarations, certificates, etc.).
However, an apostille may not be needed at all if the states have agreements on mutual recognition of official (notarized) documents. For example, apostille (and legalization in general) of Russian documents is not required for most CIS countries and the former socialist bloc in Europe and Asia (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, the countries of the former Yugoslavia, etc.). At the same time, apostille is required for legalizing documents in England, the USA, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, partly in Spain (except ZAGS documents), and so on.
You can always order a notarized translation or a translation with an apostille from the Kerner bureau. We are ready to arrange the apostille within the agreed timeframe with the relevant authorities and institutions of the Russian Federation.
The document apostille process consists of attaching a special certificate, called an "Apostille", to the document directly in its country of origin.
It can be affixed to the document itself as a stamp or attached to it on a separate sheet.
The certificate has a standard form prescribed by the convention and contains, in numbered fields, information about the country of origin of the document, the person who signed it, and who certified it, where and when, together with their signature and seal and the registration number.
States party to the Hague Convention in which simplified legalization is applied by means of the "Apostille" stamp
* – including: Jersey, Bailiwick, Guernsey, Gibraltar, the Isle of Man, Montserrat, Bermuda, Saint Helena (Netherlands Antilles), New Hebrides, Turks and Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands, Falkland Islands.
** – only in the territory of Hong Kong and Macao.
The Hague Convention applies to documents on education, civil status, employment history, certificates of being alive, certificates and references, powers of attorney, court decisions, and materials in civil, family and criminal cases.
An apostille requires no further certification or legalization and is recognized by the official authorities of all states party to the Convention.
An apostille may be unnecessary if there are legal grounds that abolish or simplify the legalization of a document.
An apostille is not affixed to:
The apostille procedure itself is not carried out by the translation bureau: our staff perform the translation and prepare the documents for approval by the relevant authorities.
An apostille is affixed by the following authorities:
The translators of our bureau have accumulated considerable experience in the legalization of various official documents.