Apostille and Legalization Between Georgia and Israel - Ministry, Courts and the Marriage File

Apostille replaces legalization between Georgia and Israel

Israel has been a Hague Apostille member since 1978 and Georgia since 2007, so a public document from either country is recognized in the other once apostilled by the issuing country's competent authority. The Israeli Embassy in Tbilisi does not legalize Georgian documents and does not need to; nor does the Georgian embassy in Tel Aviv legalize Israeli ones. What the embassies handle is consular registrations, Law of Return processing, passports for Israeli citizens in Georgia, and consular certificates, which is separate from the apostille and presupposes apostilled originals.

Whether the translation must also be apostilled depends on the side. Israeli authorities do not look for a foreign apostille on a translation; they look for an Israeli notary's certification, and the notary's own document is then apostilled by the court where a further foreign use is intended. Georgian offices require a Georgian notarized translation and an apostille on the Israeli original. We prepare whichever the destination requires.

Where Israeli documents get their apostille: the Ministry and the courts

Israel splits apostille authority by document type. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem apostilles documents issued by government bodies: תמצית רישום and תעודות לידה, נישואין and פטירה from Misrad HaPnim, תעודות יושר from the Israel Police, תעודות גמר and גיליונות ציונים from the Ministry of Education and public universities, and תדפיסים from the Registrar of Companies; applications are made in person, by post or through Misrad HaPnim's service centers, and Misrad HaPnim can issue extracts already apostilled for use abroad, which is the fastest route for marriage files. The secretariats of the magistrates' courts (בתי משפט השלום) apostille notarial documents - notarial translations, ייפויי כוח, notarized declarations and certified copies - and Israeli notaries routinely obtain these apostilles on their own documents. Israeli citizens already in Georgia can obtain apostilles through a relative, a lawyer with a power of attorney, or by ordering pre-apostilled extracts online. We confirm the correct authority for each document.

Apostille on Georgian documents for Israel

Georgian documents going to Israel are apostilled here, and this part we handle entirely. Civil status certificates and Public Service Hall extracts - above all the marriage certificates of Israeli couples who married in Georgia - 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; and archive extracts for Law of Return files through the Public Service Development Agency after the archive issues them. You bring the original to Agmashenebeli 117 once, or a relative brings it, or we obtain it from the archive on your behalf; we submit, track and collect the apostille, translate the bundle into Hebrew, notarize it, and arrange Israeli notarial certification through our partner where Misrad HaPnim or a court requires it. Clients in Israel receive the finished set by DHL within two to three days.

Documents most often apostilled between Georgia and Israel

• Marriage of Israeli couples in Georgia: Israeli tamtzit rishum and divorce documents for the House of Justice; the Georgian marriage certificate for Misrad HaPnim.
• Law of Return and citizenship: Georgian and Soviet-era birth, marriage and death certificates, archive extracts and community records proving Jewish descent.
• For Georgian residence permits and property: Israeli teudat yosher, tamtzit rishum, diplomas, ייפויי כוח for property purchases.
• Caregivers and workers: Georgian conviction certificate, training certificates and diplomas for the Israeli Population and Immigration Authority; Israeli employment and Bituach Leumi records for Georgian purposes.
• For company registration in Georgia: Israeli Registrar of Companies extracts, תקנון and board resolutions.
• Universities: Georgian diplomas for Israeli universities and the Ministry of Education's recognition; Israeli diplomas for Georgian recognition.
• Succession and property: Georgian death certificates, inheritance certificates and Public Registry extracts for Israeli courts and heirs of Georgian-Jewish families; Israeli צווי ירושה and צווי קיום צוואה for Georgian notaries.

The marriage file, step by step, on both sides

• Before travel: each spouse obtains a tamtzit rishum from Misrad HaPnim, pre-apostilled for use abroad, and divorced spouses their divorce documents apostilled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the court.
• In Tbilisi, the day before: we translate the extracts, passports and divorce documents into Georgian and the notary certifies them; the couple files at the House of Justice and, if required, we provide the ceremony interpreter.
• After the ceremony: the House of Justice issues the marriage certificate; we obtain the apostille through the Public Service Development Agency in one to three business days and translate the certificate into Hebrew.
• For Misrad HaPnim: our partner Israeli notary certifies the translator's declaration, and the couple registers the marriage at Misrad HaPnim with the apostilled certificate and the certified translation; the marriage is then recorded in the population registry and on the teudat zehut.

Couples who leave Georgia before the apostille is ready receive the apostilled certificate and translation by DHL in Israel within a week of the wedding.

Timing, validity and common errors

Apostilles on Georgian civil status documents usually take one to three business days; notarial acts and court documents about the same; education documents up to five; archive extracts add one to three weeks for issuance. Add 1-2 hours for the translation and a few days for Israeli notarial certification. Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs apostilles take a few days by post or are immediate on pre-apostilled Misrad HaPnim extracts; court apostilles on notarial documents a day or two. The House of Justice wants the tamtzit rishum recent, and Israeli authorities accept the Georgian conviction certificate and marital status documents for a limited period, so timing matters. The errors we correct most often are an untranslated apostille certificate, a tamtzit rishum without the apostille or in the wrong version (it must show marital status), a divorce judgment from the Rabbinate presented without the civil divorce certificate, a Georgian document in a maiden name that differs from the passport, a Georgian-Jewish surname in three forms across a citizenship file, a Hebrew date converted to the wrong Gregorian year, and a bundle unstapled for scanning. Send photos of both sides of every page and we run this check before submitting.

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