Apostille and Legalization Between Georgia and Norway - County Governors, Notaries, Sequence and Timing

Apostille replaces legalization between Georgia and Norway

Norway has been a Hague Apostille member since 1983 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. Norway is accredited to Georgia from an embassy in the region and does not legalize Georgian documents; nor does the Georgian embassy in Oslo legalize Norwegian ones. What the embassies handle is passports, consular registrations and the intake of some UDI applications, which is separate from the apostille.

Which Norwegian authority wants an apostille differs. The UDI requires apostilles on civil status documents for family immigration; Skatteetaten requires them for Folkeregister registration and marriage; HK-dir and Helsedirektoratet require them on diplomas; courts require them on everything. Whether the translation itself must be apostilled is rarely asked in Norway, because Norwegian offices look at the translator's credentials instead; we apostille the notarized translation only where an office specifically asks. Georgian offices require a Georgian notarized translation and an apostille on the Norwegian original.

Where Norwegian documents get their apostille: Statsforvalteren and notarius publicus

Norway splits apostille authority between two bodies. The Statsforvalteren (county governor) of each county apostilles documents issued by public bodies - fødselsattester, vigselsattester and utskrifter from the Folkeregister (issued by Skatteetaten), politiattester from the police, vitnemål from universities and schools, firmaattester from the Brønnøysundregistrene, and documents from NAV, municipalities and ministries - in person or by post, usually within a few days. Notarius publicus at the tingrett (district court) apostilles notarial documents - fullmakter, certified copies and declarations that the notarius has notarized - and can also apostille translations by a statsautorisert translatør. Norwegian citizens already in Georgia can obtain apostilles through a relative, a lawyer with a fullmakt, or by post to the Statsforvalteren. We confirm the route for each document.

Apostille on Georgian documents for Norway

Georgian documents going to Norway 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 Norwegian or English and notarize it, and arrange statsautorisert re-certification in Oslo where the receiving office asks. Clients in Norway receive the finished set by courier within two to three days.

Documents most often apostilled between Georgia and Norway

• UDI family immigration: Georgian marriage certificate, children's birth certificates, marital status certificate, divorce decisions.
• Skatteetaten registration and prøvingsattest: the same civil status documents for the Folkeregister and for marriage in Norway.
• HK-dir recognition and university enrollment: Georgian diplomas, supplements, school leaving certificates with national exam results.
• Helsedirektoratet authorization: medical, dental and nursing diplomas, curricula, practice records, the Georgian conviction certificate.
• NAV pensions: Georgian employment records and archive extracts for pension rights accrued in Georgia.
• For Georgian residence permits: Norwegian politiattest, Folkeregister utskrifter, vitnemål.
• For company registration in Georgia: Norwegian firmaattester, vedtekter and fullmakter, particularly for hydropower and energy subsidiaries.
• Succession and property: Georgian death certificates and inheritance certificates for Norwegian skifteattester, Norwegian skifteattester and testamenter for Georgian notaries.

The sequence for Norwegian files

• Step 1: the Georgian original is apostilled by the competent Georgian authority, where the receiving Norwegian office requires it.
• Step 2: we translate the document and its apostille into Norwegian or English and the translation is notarized.
• Step 3 (where asked): the text is re-certified by a partner statsautorisert translatør in Oslo.
• Step 4: the bundle is kept stapled as issued, scanned as one file for the UDI's and HK-dir's online portals, and shipped where paper is needed.

Translating before apostilling leaves the apostille certificate untranslated; skipping the apostille for Skatteetaten costs a second appointment at the ID-kontroll office. 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 a few days for statsautorisert re-certification where required. Norwegian Statsforvalteren apostilles take a few days by post; notarius publicus apostilles are usually same-day. Skatteetaten wants civil status documents recently issued, and the politiattest 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 politiattest issued for the wrong purpose (Norwegian politiattester are purpose-specific), a Folkeregister utskrift of the wrong type, a marital status certificate obtained too early, a Georgian document in a maiden name that differs from the passport, æ, ø and å transliterated inconsistently into Georgian, 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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