Apostille and Legalization Between Georgia and China - After China's Hague Accession, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan

China joined the Hague Convention in November 2023

Until 7 November 2023, a Georgian document for use in mainland China had to be authenticated by the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then legalized by the Chinese embassy in Tbilisi, and a Chinese document for Georgia went through the Chinese MFA and the Georgian embassy in Beijing. China's accession to the Hague Apostille Convention ended that: a Georgian public document apostilled by the competent Georgian authority is now recognized in mainland China, and a Chinese public document - in practice a notarial certificate (公证书) - apostilled by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs or an authorized provincial or municipal Foreign Affairs Office (外事办公室) is recognized in Georgia. The Chinese embassy in Tbilisi and the Georgian embassy in Beijing no longer legalize documents between the two countries. Hong Kong and Macau, which joined the Convention through their previous administrations, issue their own apostilles and are separate from the mainland for this purpose; Taiwan is not a party and still requires authentication.

Which Chinese authority checks the apostille differs. Exit-entry administrations check it on conviction certificates and civil status documents for residence permits; the foreign work permit system on diplomas and conviction certificates; civil affairs bureaus on marital status certificates; market regulation bureaus on the founder's documents; universities on diplomas; courts on everything. Georgian offices require the apostille on the Chinese notarial certificate and a Georgian notarized translation.

Where Chinese documents get their apostille: the MFA and Foreign Affairs Offices

Mainland Chinese apostilles are issued by the Department of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing and by the Foreign Affairs Offices of provinces, autonomous regions and major municipalities that the MFA has authorized - Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Beijing, Sichuan and most others - usually within a few working days, and the apostille is a stickered certificate with a QR code verifiable online. The document apostilled is almost always a notarial certificate from a 公证处, which attests the underlying passport copy, household register, degree certificate, criminal record check or civil fact, so the chain for a Chinese citizen is: obtain the underlying document, have the 公证处 issue the 公证书 (often with an English translation bound in), have the FAO apostille the 公证书, and then have us translate the whole thing into Georgian and notarize it. Some notarial certificates can be applied for through the FAO's agency network or online in major cities. Chinese citizens already in Georgia can obtain notarial certificates and apostilles through a relative or an agent with a power of attorney in their home province. We confirm the route for each document.

Apostille on Georgian documents for mainland China

Georgian documents going to mainland China are apostilled here, and this part we handle entirely. Civil status certificates and Public Service Hall extracts are apostilled through the Public Service Development Agency; notarial acts and court documents through the Ministry of Justice route; diplomas and school certificates through the education verification route, which is the slowest at up to five business days; the conviction certificate from the Ministry of Internal Affairs through its own route. You bring the original to Agmashenebeli 117 once, or a Georgian partner brings it, and we submit, track and collect the apostille, then translate the bundle into Simplified Chinese and notarize it, and arrange the translation company stamp in the destination city where the receiving office requires it. Clients in China receive the finished set by DHL or SF Express within three to five days. Chinese receiving offices sometimes ask for the apostille to be on a notarized copy rather than the original, or for the translation to be made in China; we check the specific office's practice before submitting.

Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan

Hong Kong apostilles are issued by the High Court Registry for Hong Kong public documents and for documents notarized by a Hong Kong notary public, usually within a few days; Hong Kong authorities accept apostilled Georgian documents with certified translations into Chinese or English, and Hong Kong companies registering Georgian subsidiaries provide apostilled Certificates of Incorporation and Business Registration certificates. Macau apostilles are issued by its courts, and Macau documents are in Chinese or Portuguese, which we translate either way. Taiwan is not a Hague party: Georgian documents for Taiwan are notarized and translated into Traditional Chinese here, authenticated by the Georgian MFA, and then authenticated by the Taipei representative office responsible for Georgia, which is located outside Georgia; Taiwanese documents for Georgia are authenticated by Taiwan's Bureau of Consular Affairs and then through the Georgian side before translation and notarization here. Allow two to four weeks for the Taiwan chain.

Documents most often apostilled between Georgia and China

• For Georgian residence and work permits: Chinese 无犯罪记录公证书, 结婚公证书, 出生公证书, 亲属关系公证书, 学位证公证书, 毕业证公证书, apostilled by the MFA or FAO.
• For company registration in Georgia: notarized and apostilled 营业执照, 公司章程, board resolutions and 授权委托书 of Chinese contractors and investors; Hong Kong Certificates of Incorporation.
• For Chinese work and residence permits: Georgian diplomas, conviction certificates, marriage and birth certificates.
• For marriage in China and Georgia: Georgian marital status certificates; Chinese 婚姻状况公证书 or embassy declarations.
• For Chinese universities and recognition: Georgian diplomas, supplements, school leaving certificates.
• For trade and customs: certificates of origin, quality and phytosanitary certificates, contracts and powers of attorney where a Chinese counterparty requires apostilles.
• Succession and property: Georgian death and inheritance certificates for Chinese estates; Chinese 继承权公证书 for Georgian notaries.

The sequence, timing and common errors

• Step 1: the Georgian original is apostilled by the competent Georgian authority (mainland, Hong Kong, Macau) or authenticated by the Georgian MFA (Taiwan).
• Step 2: we translate the document and its apostille into Simplified or Traditional Chinese and the translation is notarized.
• Step 3 (where asked): the notarized translation is apostilled, stamped by a partner translation company in China, or authenticated by the Taipei representative office.
• Step 4: the bundle is kept stapled or bound, scanned as one file for online systems, and shipped where paper is needed.

Apostilles on Georgian civil status documents usually take one to three business days; education documents up to five; the Taiwan chain two to four weeks. Add 1-2 hours for the translation and a few days plus courier for stamping in China. Chinese offices apply validity periods - conviction certificates and marital status certificates are typically accepted for six months, sometimes less - so timing matters. The errors we correct most often are an untranslated apostille certificate, a 公证书 apostilled before an error in the English translation bound in was noticed, a Georgian document apostilled on the original when the Chinese office wanted a notarized copy, a conviction certificate that expired while the work permit file waited, pinyin transliterated into Georgian inconsistently between documents, and a bound notarial certificate taken apart for scanning, which invalidates it. Send photos of every page and we run this check before submitting.

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