Birth, Marriage, Divorce and Death Certificate Translation - Notarized and Apostilled for Georgia and Abroad

What a civil status certificate proves, and who asks for it

A birth certificate proves identity, parentage and age; a marriage certificate proves the marriage and the spouses' names; a divorce certificate or decision proves that a previous marriage has ended; a death certificate opens an inheritance and ends a marriage. Between them they support most of what people do across borders. In Georgia, the House of Justice requires them to register a marriage with a foreign spouse and to register a birth or a marriage that took place abroad; the Public Service Development Agency requires them for family residence permits of spouses, children and parents; notaries require them for inheritance proceedings and for property transactions where a spouse's consent is at stake; courts require them in divorce and custody cases; and schools, clinics and banks ask for children's birth certificates. Abroad, foreign civil registries, immigration offices, courts and pension funds ask for Georgian certificates for exactly the same purposes in reverse, and Georgian citizens marrying, registering children, divorcing or inheriting in another country present them apostilled and translated.

Georgian certificates for use abroad: apostille and translation

Georgian birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates are issued by the Public Service Development Agency through the Public Service Halls, in Georgian on the current form, and re-issued on request for events registered decades ago, which matters because foreign registries want recent copies and old Soviet-era certificates in Russian are often refused. For use in a Hague member country the certificate is apostilled by the Public Service Development Agency, which takes one to three business days; we submit, track and collect the apostille, then translate the certificate and the apostille together into the target language and notarize the translation, and apostille the notarized translation as well where the receiving country asks for it - Italian comuni, Spanish and Portuguese registries and some German Standesämter do, while most immigration offices do not. For non-Hague countries the certificate goes through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the receiving country's embassy instead. Divorce is proved abroad by the divorce certificate or, for contested divorces, the court's decision with its note of finality, and we translate whichever the foreign registry expects.

Foreign certificates for use in Georgia: what the House of Justice checks

A foreign civil status certificate presented in Georgia must be apostilled (or legalized, for non-Hague countries) in the issuing country and translated into Georgian by a translation notarized by a Georgian notary; the House of Justice and the Public Service Development Agency check the apostille, the translation and the consistency of names against the passport. The certificate must be the right type: many countries issue several forms of the same certificate, and the short extract that satisfies a domestic office often omits the parents' names or the marginal notes a Georgian registrar needs, so an Italian estratto per riassunto, a French extrait avec filiation, a German beglaubigte Abschrift aus dem Geburtenregister, a Spanish certificación literal, a Finnish virkatodistus showing family relationships or a Thai Kor Ror 3 rather than Kor Ror 2 is what we tell you to order. Divorce is proved by whatever the issuing country produces - a certificate, a court decision, a marginal note on the marriage certificate - and we translate the document and explain it where the format is unfamiliar. Countries that issue certificates electronically with QR codes - Albania, Kazakhstan, Estonia, Uzbekistan among them - are handled by verifying the document through its code and notarizing the translation with a printout.

Multilingual, Soviet-era and unusual formats

Several formats need explanation rather than just translation. Multilingual extracts under the Vienna Convention, issued by many European registries with fields in up to ten languages, are accepted by some Georgian offices without translation and by others only with a notarized Georgian translation of the fields and the stamps, and we produce the translation where an office asks. Soviet-era certificates from any of the former republics, in Russian and the republic's language on the old green forms, remain valid but are often replaced by a current re-issue at the receiving office's request; where re-issue is impossible we translate the original with a note. Certificates from countries whose civil registration works differently - Finland's and Norway's population register extracts, the Chinese notarial certificate that attests a birth or marriage rather than certifying it directly, the Albanian family certificate, the Malaysian Syariah marriage certificate, the Thai house registration - are translated with a translator's note explaining what the document is, which Georgian registrars accept. Name changes after marriage, adoption records and corrections are translated with the chain of documents that links the names.

The errors that get certificates rejected, and how we avoid them

The apostille certificate left untranslated, because it was attached after the translation was made; a certificate translated from the short extract when the registrar needed the full one; a maiden name on the birth certificate and a married name on the passport with no marriage certificate to connect them; a marginal note about a divorce or a name change left out; a date in a foreign calendar not converted; a stamp or seal skipped; a Soviet certificate submitted without a current re-issue; and a bundle taken apart for scanning so that the apostille no longer sits on its page. We check every certificate for these before translating, tell you what to re-order if needed, translate the apostille and every stamp, mirror the original field by field so that the registrar can compare the two side by side, and keep the bundle stapled as issued.

Pricing, timing and how to order

Civil status certificates are priced at a fixed rate per certificate, whatever the language, with a modest supplement for rare languages, plus the notary's fee; the apostille on a Georgian certificate is charged at the state fee plus handling, and a second apostille on the notarized translation, where required, the same. Translation takes 1-2 hours from the moment the original is with us; the apostille adds one to three business days; consular legalization for non-Hague countries two to four weeks.

To order, send photos of both sides of the certificate and of any apostille or legalization stamps on WhatsApp or Telegram, and tell us the receiving office and country; the quote arrives within 15 minutes with the certification level and sequence we recommend. Bring the original to Agmashenebeli 117, near Marjanishvili Metro, when the translation is ready, or courier it from any city; clients abroad have a relative bring it, and we handle the apostille and ship the finished set by DHL. Delivery is by scan when the notary signs, by collection, by same-day courier in Tbilisi or by courier anywhere.

Frequently asked questions

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