Notarized and Certified Spanish Translation - Traductor Jurado, Traductor Público and the Georgian Notary

The Spanish-speaking world has five certification systems, not one

In Spain a traducción jurada is produced by a traductor-intérprete jurado appointed by the Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, whose stamp and certification alone give the document official value. Argentina has the traductor público, a university-trained professional sworn at a provincial Colegio, whose translation is then legalized by that Colegio. Colombia has the traductor oficial certified by the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. Mexico has the perito traductor registered with the Tribunal Superior de Justicia of each state. Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay and most of Central America rely on translations certified by a notary or by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' own translation service. Georgia has none of these institutions; here the official form is the translation notarized by a Georgian notary, who certifies the signature of a translator registered with that notary as competent in Spanish.

The systems connect through legalization: a Georgian notarized translation becomes a foreign public document that a Spanish or Latin American office can accept once it carries an apostille. Where an office insists on its own national certification, partner jurados, públicos and peritos in the destination country certify our text, which avoids paying for a second translation.

Spain: Extranjería, Registro Civil, consulate, universities and courts

Georgians applying for Spanish visas at the Spanish Embassy in Tbilisi, for residencia through arraigo, family reunification, work or study at an Oficina de Extranjería, for marriage or the inscripción of a foreign birth at a Registro Civil, or for nacionalidad, present Georgian documents with apostille and Spanish translation. Extranjería and the consulate accept translations legalized by apostille or certified by a Spanish consular office; Registros Civiles vary, and some insist on a jurado's stamp, particularly for marriage files and nationality applications. We prepare the notarized and apostilled bundle for the first group and arrange jurado certification for the second. Spanish courts handling Georgian evidence, and notarías handling Georgian heirs or property owners, generally accept apostilled Georgian notarized translations; universities accept certified translations for admission and require the apostilled bundle for homologación.

Mexico, Argentina and Colombia

Mexico. The Instituto Nacional de Migración, the Registro Civil of each state and the SEP accept apostilled foreign documents with Spanish translation; migration offices and notarías generally accept our apostilled notarized translation, while some state Registros Civiles require a perito traductor, which a partner in Mexico City or Guadalajara provides using our text.

Argentina. The Dirección Nacional de Migraciones, Registros Civiles and universities require foreign-language documents to be translated by a traductor público and legalized by the Colegio de Traductores Públicos; a partner traductor público in Buenos Aires certifies our text and obtains the Colegio's legalization, which is faster than translating from scratch there.

Colombia. Migración Colombia, notarías and universities accept translations by a traductor oficial or apostilled foreign translations; our apostilled notarized translation is accepted in most cases and a traductor oficial is arranged when required.

Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Central America and the Caribbean

Chile's Departamento de Extranjería, the Registro Civil and universities accept apostilled foreign documents translated and certified by a notary, and the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores offers its own translation certification; our apostilled notarized translation is accepted directly. Peru's Migraciones and RENIEC accept apostilled documents with translation certified by a traductor público juramentado or a notary. Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic are all Hague members and accept apostilled Georgian documents with notarized translations, sometimes requiring local notarial re-certification. Cuba and Bolivia are outside the Hague Convention and require consular legalization, which we handle through the embassies accredited to Georgia. Venezuela is a Hague member but practice is inconsistent; we advise case by case.

Spanish-language documents for Georgian authorities

Any Spanish-language document used in Georgia must be translated into Georgian and notarized here. The most frequent are pasaportes, DNI, cédulas de identidad and permisos de conducir (translated from a photo, no visit needed), certificados de nacimiento, matrimonio and estado civil for marriage registration and family residence permits, certificados de antecedentes penales for residence permits, títulos universitarios for work permits and recognition, escrituras de constitución, estatutos, certificados del Registro Mercantil and poderes notariales for company registration, contratos de trabajo, nóminas and extractos bancarios for proof of income, and certificados de pensión for retirees. Spanish public documents must carry an apostille - from the Colegio Notarial for notarial documents, the Tribunal Superior de Justicia for judicial ones, and the Ministerio de Justicia or its Gerencias Territoriales for the rest - before the translation is notarized. Latin American documents carry the apostille of their national authority: the SRE in Mexico, the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores or Colegio de Escribanos in Argentina, the Cancillería in Colombia, the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores in Chile and Peru. We also offer e-Notary certification with a qualified electronic signature.

Certified translation without notarization, and when it is enough

Not every recipient needs the notary. Universities for admission, employers, landlords, insurers and online portals often accept a certified translation with our agency stamp and declaration, which is quicker and cheaper. Extranjería, Registros Civiles, migration offices, Georgian courts, registries, the Public Service Hall and banks do not. Tell us who will receive the document and we recommend the right level; if you later need a notarized or jurado-certified version, we upgrade it without re-translating. For clients who submit everything online - Spain's Extranjería portal, Mexico's INM appointments, Argentina's RaDEX - we issue digitally signed PDFs, and we print, stamp and courier the same file when paper is required.

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