Certification of Document Copies - A True Copy With the Force of the Original, So the Original Stays With You

What a certified copy is under Georgian notarial law

Certification of the accuracy of a copy (a "true copy", "certified copy", "beglaubigte Kopie", "copia conforme") is the notarial act by which the notary certifies that a copy of a document corresponds to the original presented to the notary, in full and without alteration. The notary examines the original for authenticity on its face - it must be intact, without erasures, insertions or unspecified corrections, with legible text, seals and signatures - makes or checks the copy, binds and seals multi-page copies, adds the certification with the notary's signature, seal and register number on each page or on the bound copy, and enters the act in the electronic register. The certified copy then serves in place of the original before every Georgian authority and, apostilled, before foreign ones; it does not become a new original, and it does not certify the content or validity of the document, only that the copy reproduces it. Copies are charged per page under the official tariff, which is why we advise on copying only the pages an institution needs.

What can be certified, and what cannot

The notary may certify copies of documents issued by state bodies, legal entities and individuals, provided the document is presented in the original and complies with the law: passports and ID cards (whose copies are certified routinely for banks, universities and registries), civil status certificates, diplomas and transcripts, licenses and permits, contracts and notarial acts, corporate documents, court decisions, medical and employment documents, and foreign documents that have been apostilled or legalized. The notary must refuse to certify copies of documents that contain erasures, additions, crossed-out words or other corrections not certified by the issuer, of documents whose pages are not numbered and bound when the law requires it, of documents written in pencil or otherwise unstable, of documents that are themselves copies (a copy of a copy is certified only where the first copy was itself notarially certified), of documents whose content is contrary to law, and, by long-standing practice, of documents whose reproduction the issuer or the law prohibits. We look at a photo of the document before you come and tell you whether the copy can be certified or whether a duplicate must first be obtained from the issuer.

Extracts, partial copies and multi-page documents

A certified copy need not be of the whole document. The notary may certify an extract - specific pages or sections of a document - where the extract is complete in itself and the omission does not distort the meaning, which is how a passport's data page is certified without its visa pages, a company charter's relevant articles without the rest, or a court decision's operative part; the certification states that it is an extract. Multi-page documents are copied in full, the pages numbered, bound and sealed by the notary, and certified once for the bundle, so that a fifty-page contract is one act with a per-page charge rather than fifty acts. Copies of documents that carry apostilles or legalization stamps include the stamps, since a copy that omits the apostille is refused abroad. Where a copy will be translated, we certify the copy first and bind the notarized translation to it, so that the translation refers to a document the reader can verify.

Copies of foreign documents and copies for abroad

Foreign documents are copied on the same terms as Georgian ones, with one addition: a foreign public document must carry its apostille or consular legalization before a Georgian notary certifies a copy of it, since the copy inherits the document's standing and a Georgian authority will not accept a copy of an unlegalized foreign original. Passports are the exception in practice, being identity documents rather than public documents for this purpose. In the other direction, a certified copy of a Georgian document for use abroad is a Georgian notarial act and is apostilled through the Ministry of Justice route in one to three business days, then, where the destination needs it, translated by a notarized translation; foreign universities, employers and registries that ask for "a certified copy of your diploma" are asking for exactly this bundle, and we produce it in one visit with the original. Where a foreign institution insists on a copy certified by its own consulate or a local notary, we say so.

Electronic certified copies

Georgian notaries may issue certified copies as electronic documents signed with the notary's qualified electronic signature, and may certify that an electronic copy corresponds to a paper original or a paper copy to an electronic original; these electronic acts are entered in the register and verified in the same way as the e-Notary translations described elsewhere on this site. An electronic certified copy is what a client needs when a foreign university's portal, a foreign bank's onboarding system or the Public Registry's online filing asks for a certified copy uploaded as a PDF, and it is issued in parallel with the paper copy at the same appointment. Electronic originals - a diploma issued as a signed PDF, an extract from a foreign register with a QR code - are certified as copies on paper after the notary verifies the electronic original through its signature or verification code.

What to bring, fees and timing

Bring the original document - not a photocopy, not a scan, and not a duplicate unless the duplicate is itself an original issued by the issuer - and your identity document; the person presenting the document need not be its subject, so a relative can bring a diploma for certification. Send a photo in advance on WhatsApp or Telegram and we confirm that the document can be copied, tell you how many pages an institution will need, and prepare the copies before you arrive so that the act takes minutes at Agmashenebeli 117. Fees follow the official tariff per page, with multi-page bound copies charged for the pages copied; a translation bound to the copy, and the apostille for abroad, are quoted separately. Copies are certified while you wait, a scan of the certified copy is sent at once, and an electronic certified copy is issued in parallel where wanted.

Frequently asked questions

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