Notarized and Certified French Translation - Bridging the Sworn Translator and the Georgian Notary

Traduction assermentée, traduction certifiée and the Georgian notarized translation

In France a traduction assermentée (also called traduction jurée or certifiée) is produced by a translator sworn before a Cour d'appel and listed as an expert judiciaire; the translator's stamp alone gives the document official value. Belgium has traducteurs jurés registered with the courts, Switzerland relies on cantonal rules and notarial certification, and Québec on members of the OTTIAQ. Georgia has none of these institutions. Here the official form is the translation notarized by a Georgian notary, who certifies the signature of a translator registered with that notary as competent in French.

The two systems connect through legalization. A Georgian notarized translation becomes a foreign public document that a French or Belgian administration can accept once it carries an apostille, and this is exactly how documents from Georgia are processed by the French consulate in Tbilisi and by most préfectures. The alternative - sending the Georgian original to a sworn translator in France - is slower and more expensive, and still requires the apostille on the original.

France: préfectures, mairies, consulate, OFII and the courts

For a visa de long séjour, the French consulate in Tbilisi requires Georgian documents with apostille and French translation; our notarized and apostilled translations are used in these files daily. Once in France, the préfecture handling a titre de séjour, the mairie registering a marriage or a PACS, and OFII processing family reunification apply the same standard, though individual préfectures vary and some ask for a sworn translator's stamp on top. In that case we forward our text to a partner traducteur assermenté in France who certifies it, which avoids paying for a second translation. French courts handling Georgian evidence, and notaires handling Georgian heirs or property owners, usually accept apostilled Georgian notarized translations directly, and for succession files we prepare the translated actes d'état civil and certificats d'hérédité together.

Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco

Belgium. Communes and the Office des Étrangers require Georgian civil status documents to be apostilled and translated into French (or Dutch or German by region). Our notarized translation, itself apostilled, satisfies this in most communes; Brussels and Wallonia commonly accept it, and we arrange a Belgian traducteur juré where a commune insists. Belgian universities accept our certified translations for admission.

Switzerland. Cantonal migration offices in Geneva, Vaud, Neuchâtel, Fribourg, Valais and Jura take certified translations with apostille on the original; some cantonal civil registry offices require notarial certification of the translation, which our notarized version provides. Swiss universities accept certified translations.

Luxembourg and Monaco follow the French model with sworn translators but accept apostilled foreign notarized translations for most administrative purposes; we confirm case by case.

Québec and francophone Canada

Immigration to Québec runs through the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration (MIFI) for selection and IRCC for permanent residence. Both accept translations made abroad if accompanied by an affidavit sworn before a notary, since translators outside Canada are not OTTIAQ members. Our French translations for Québec always include the notarized translator's affidavit, and we format the certified translation of Georgian diplomas for the Évaluation comparative des études effectuées hors du Québec. Québec universities and professional orders (Ordre des ingénieurs, OIIQ for nurses, Collège des médecins) follow the same rule and often ask for the translation to be sent by the translator directly, which we do.

Francophone Africa: apostille or consular legalization

French is the working language of Georgian trade, study and family ties with Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gabon, the DRC and other French-speaking states. Legalization rules differ sharply. Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Burundi, Cape Verde and a few others are Hague Apostille members, so a Georgian notarized French translation with apostille is sufficient. Algeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Mali, the DRC, Gabon and most others are not; for these a Georgian document must be legalized at the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then at the receiving country's embassy, which for many African states is accredited from Ankara, Moscow or Paris rather than Tbilisi. We manage the whole chain, including embassy submissions abroad through partners, and we translate the resulting legalized bundle into French.

French documents for Georgian authorities

Any French-language document used in Georgia must be translated into Georgian and notarized here. The most frequent are passports and permis de conduire (translated from a photo, no visit needed), extraits d'acte de naissance and de mariage for marriage registration and family residence permits, the casier judiciaire bulletin n°3 for residence permits, diplomas for work permits and recognition, Kbis extracts, statuts and procès-verbaux for company registration, procurations for representatives, contrats de travail and bank statements for proof of income, and attestations from the CAF, CPAM or Pôle emploi for various procedures. French public documents must carry an apostille from the relevant Cour d'appel before the translation is notarized; Belgian ones from the SPF Affaires étrangères; Swiss ones from the cantonal chancellery. We also offer e-Notary certification with a qualified electronic signature for clients who need a verifiable PDF rather than paper.

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