Apostille and Legalization Between Georgia and Hungary - Three Authorities, One Sequence

Apostille replaces legalization between Georgia and Hungary

Hungary has been a Hague Apostille member since 1973 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 Hungarian Embassy in Tbilisi does not legalize Georgian documents and does not need to; nor does the Georgian embassy in Budapest legalize Hungarian ones. What the embassies handle is visas, the intake of residence permit applications, and the registration of their citizens' marriages and births abroad, which is separate from the apostille and presupposes apostilled originals.

Whether the translation must also be apostilled is rarely the question in Hungary, because Hungarian offices look at who certified the translation - OFFI or a qualified translator - rather than at a foreign apostille on it. We apostille the notarized translation only where an office specifically asks, and otherwise arrange OFFI certification where required. Georgian offices require a Georgian notarized translation and an apostille on the Hungarian original.

Where Hungarian documents get their apostille for Georgia

Hungary splits apostille authority three ways. The Ministry of Justice (Igazságügyi Minisztérium) apostilles documents issued by courts and judicial bodies. The Magyar Országos Közjegyzői Kamara (Hungarian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries) apostilles documents issued or certified by közjegyzők, including notarial meghatalmazások and certified copies. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Külgazdasági és Külügyminisztérium) apostilles all other public documents - anyakönyvi kivonatok, erkölcsi bizonyítványok, oklevelek and school certificates, cégkivonatok, NAV and health insurance igazolások, and documents from ministries and municipalities. Hungarian citizens already in Georgia can obtain apostilles through a relative, a lawyer with a meghatalmazás, or by post; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade offers an online application. We confirm the correct authority for each document before you request it.

Apostille on Georgian documents for Hungary

Georgian documents going to Hungary 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. You bring the original to Agmashenebeli 117 once, or a relative brings it, and we submit, track and collect the apostille, then translate the bundle into Hungarian and notarize it; where the Hungarian office requires OFFI, we submit the text for hiteles certification through our partner. Clients in Hungary receive the finished set by courier within two to three days.

Documents most often apostilled between Georgia and Hungary

• Stipendium Hungaricum and university enrollment: Georgian school leaving certificates with national exam results, diplomas and supplements, for enrollment and the student residence permit.
• Guest worker and employment permits: Georgian conviction certificate, diplomas and vocational certificates where the job requires them.
• Family reunification and marriage in Hungary: Georgian birth certificate, marital status certificate, divorce decisions, for the Idegenrendészet and the anyakönyvi hivatal.
• Ekvivalencia Központ recognition: Georgian diplomas, supplements and transcripts.
• For Georgian residence permits: Hungarian erkölcsi bizonyítvány, anyakönyvi kivonatok, oklevelek.
• For company registration in Georgia: Hungarian cégkivonatok, alapító okiratok and meghatalmazások.
• Succession and property: Georgian death certificates and inheritance certificates for Hungarian közjegyzők, Hungarian hagyatéki végzések for Georgian notaries.

The sequence for Hungarian files

• Step 1: the Georgian original is apostilled by the competent Georgian authority.
• Step 2: we translate the document and its apostille into Hungarian (or English where the receiving office accepts it) and the translation is notarized.
• Step 3a (embassy, universities, employers, most Idegenrendészet files): the certified or notarized translation is submitted as is.
• Step 3b (anyakönyvi hivatal, Ekvivalencia Központ, courts, közjegyzők): the text is certified by OFFI through our partner.
• Step 4: the bundle is kept stapled as issued, scanned as one file for online submissions, and shipped where paper is needed.

Translating before apostilling leaves the apostille certificate untranslated and the file is returned; sending a file to the anyakönyvi hivatal without OFFI costs a month. We confirm the sequence in the first reply based on the receiving office.

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. Add 1-2 hours for the translation and one to two weeks for OFFI certification where required. Hungarian ministry apostilles typically take a few days by post or in person. Hungarian anyakönyvi hivatalok want civil status documents recently issued, and the erkölcsi bizonyítvány and the Georgian conviction certificate are accepted for a limited period, so timing matters. The errors we correct most often are an untranslated apostille certificate, a document sent to the wrong Hungarian apostille authority, a Hungarian name entered in Georgian forms with the family name last where it was first, a year-month-day date read as day-month-year, a marital status certificate obtained too early, a Georgian document in a maiden name that differs from the passport, and a bundle unstapled for scanning, which both countries' offices treat as invalid. Send photos of both sides of every page and we run this check before submitting.

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