Apostille and Legalization Between Georgia and Slovakia - Authorities, Sequence and Timing

Apostille replaces legalization between Georgia and Slovakia

Slovakia has been a Hague Apostille member since 2002 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 Slovak embassy accredited to Georgia does not legalize Georgian documents and does not need to; nor does the Georgian embassy in Bratislava legalize Slovak ones. What the embassies handle is the issuance of visas and the registration of their citizens' marriages and births abroad, which is separate from the apostille and presupposes apostilled originals.

Because Slovak offices require an úradný preklad rather than a legalized foreign translation, the Georgian notarized translation itself usually does not need to be apostilled for Slovakia; the sworn translator's certification replaces that function. Georgian offices require a Georgian notarized translation and do not care about Slovak certification of it.

Where Slovak documents get their apostille for Georgia

Slovakia distributes apostille authority across five bodies by document type. The krajské súdy (regional courts) apostille documents issued by courts, notaries and úradní prekladatelia in their district. The Ministry of Justice apostilles court documents in certain cases and documents from the ministry itself. The Ministry of Interior apostilles the výpis z registra trestov (issued by the Register trestov Generálnej prokuratúry but apostilled through the Interior Ministry's route in current practice) and civil status documents from matričné úrady - rodné, sobášne and úmrtné listy. The Ministry of Education, Research, Development and Youth apostilles diplomas, vysvedčenia and other education documents. The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs apostilles documents from other state bodies, including výpisy z obchodného registra and documents from the Sociálna poisťovňa. Slovak citizens already in Georgia can obtain apostilles through a relative, a lawyer with a plnomocenstvo, or by post. We confirm the correct authority for each document before you request it, because sending a document to the wrong ministry is the most frequent Slovak error.

Apostille on Georgian documents for Slovakia

Georgian documents going to Slovakia 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 Slovak, notarize it and forward the text to a partner úradný prekladateľ in Bratislava for re-certification. Clients and employers in Slovakia receive the finished set by courier within two to three days of re-certification.

Documents most often apostilled between Georgia and Slovakia

• Národné vízum and employment permits: Georgian conviction certificate, diplomas and vocational certificates where the job requires them, marriage and birth certificates for family members.
• Family reunification and marriage in Slovakia: Georgian rodný list, marital status certificate, divorce decisions.
• Uznávanie dokladov and university admission: Georgian diplomas, supplements, school leaving certificates with national exam results.
• For Georgian residence permits: Slovak výpis z registra trestov, rodné and sobášne listy, diplomas.
• For company registration in Georgia: Slovak výpisy z obchodného registra, spoločenské zmluvy and plnomocenstvá.
• Succession and property: Georgian death certificates and inheritance certificates for Slovak notári, Slovak uznesenia o dedičstve for Georgian notaries.

The sequence for Slovak files

• Step 1: the Georgian original is apostilled by the competent Georgian authority.
• Step 2: we translate the document and its apostille into Slovak and the translation is notarized.
• Step 3: the text is re-certified by a partner úradný prekladateľ in Bratislava, who binds it to the apostilled original or a certified copy.
• Step 4: the bundle is delivered to you, your employer or the Cudzinecká polícia.

Translating before apostilling leaves the apostille certificate untranslated and the file is returned. For employer groups we run all candidates' documents through the sequence in parallel so the group's files are ready together. 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 úradný prekladateľ re-certification in Slovakia. Slovak ministry and court apostilles typically take a few days. Slovak matričné úrady want civil status documents less than six months old, and the výpis z registra trestov and the Georgian conviction certificate are accepted for a limited period, so timing matters, especially for worker files where the employer's národné vízum application has its own deadline. The errors we correct most often are an untranslated apostille certificate, a document sent to the wrong Slovak apostille authority, a marital status certificate obtained too early, a Georgian document in a maiden name that differs from the passport, Slovak diacritics transliterated inconsistently into Georgian, 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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