Apostille and Legalization Between Georgia and Turkey - Authorities, Sequence and e-Devlet

Apostille replaces legalization between Georgia and Turkey

Turkey has been a Hague Apostille member since 1985 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 Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi and the consulate in Batumi do not legalize Georgian documents and do not need to; nor does the Georgian embassy in Ankara or the consulates in Istanbul and Trabzon legalize Turkish ones. What the consulates do handle is the registration of Georgian-Turkish marriages, births and vekaletnames for their own citizens, which is separate from the apostille and which presupposes apostilled originals.

Whether the translation must also be apostilled depends on the destination. Most Turkish offices prefer re-certification of the translation by a Turkish yeminli tercüman over a foreign apostille on the translation; some courts and universities accept a Georgian apostille on the notarized translation. Georgian offices require a Georgian notarized translation and do not care about Turkish certification of it. We prepare whichever the destination requires.

Where Turkish documents get their apostille for Georgia

Turkey splits apostille authority by document type. Administrative documents - nüfus kayıt örneği, doğum, evlilik and ölüm belgeleri, diplomas and transkripts from the Ministry of Education and YÖK institutions, ticaret sicil and chamber of commerce documents, SGK documents - are apostilled by the kaymakamlık (district governorship) or the valilik (provincial governorship) of the place of issue. Judicial and notarial documents - court decisions, adli sicil kaydı issued by the adliye, vekaletnames and other noter acts - are apostilled by the adliye (courthouse) through the Adli Yargı İlk Derece Mahkemesi Adalet Komisyonu Başkanlığı. Turkish citizens already in Georgia can obtain apostilles through a relative, through a lawyer with a vekaletname, or through the Turkish consulate in Batumi for some document types. Increasingly, e-Devlet issues documents with QR verification that many Georgian offices accept without apostille; we translate the verification block and confirm the practice for your office.

Apostille on Georgian documents for Turkey

Georgian documents going to Turkey 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 Turkish and notarize it. For the Göç İdaresi, nüfus offices and noters we forward the text to a partner yeminli tercüman in Turkey for re-certification; for courts and universities that accept a Georgian apostille on the translation, we obtain it. Clients in Turkey receive the finished set by courier within one to two days.

Documents most often apostilled between Georgia and Turkey

• For Georgian residence permits: Turkish adli sicil kaydı, evlilik and doğum belgeleri, diplomas for work permits.
• For marriage in Georgia: Turkish evlenme ehliyet belgesi and divorce decisions, apostilled by the kaymakamlık and adliye respectively.
• For company registration in Georgia: ticaret sicil gazetesi, faaliyet belgesi, ana sözleşme, imza sirküleri and vekaletnames.
• For Turkish ikamet izni: Georgian birth and marriage certificates, the Georgian conviction certificate, proof of income and Georgian diplomas.
• For marriage in Turkey: Georgian birth certificate and marital status certificate (bekarlık belgesi), apostilled and translated.
• For YÖK denklik and Turkish universities: Georgian diplomas, supplements and school certificates.
• For Turkish hospitals and insurers: Georgian medical records, and Turkish hospital reports for Georgian insurers in the other direction.
• For property and inheritance: Georgian Public Registry extracts and inheritance certificates for Turkish noters, and Turkish tapu and veraset documents for Georgian notaries.

Marriage, children and family registration across the border

Georgian-Turkish marriages are frequent in Adjara and Tbilisi, and each produces a chain of documents. A Georgian marrying in Turkey needs the birth certificate and bekarlık belgesi apostilled and translated for the nüfus müdürlüğü; a Turkish citizen marrying in Georgia needs the evlenme ehliyet belgesi apostilled and translated for the House of Justice. After the marriage, the certificate is apostilled and translated for the other country's registry, and the Turkish spouse registers it at the Turkish consulate in Batumi or the embassy in Tbilisi. Children born in Georgia to Turkish parents need the Georgian birth certificate apostilled and translated for Turkish citizenship and kimlik registration at the consulate; children born in Turkey to Georgian parents need the Turkish doğum belgesi apostilled and translated for the Georgian embassy and the Public Service Development Agency. We prepare these as matched sets with identical transliteration of every name in both scripts.

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 re-certification by a yeminli tercüman in Turkey where required. Turkish kaymakamlık apostilles are often same-day; adliye apostilles a day or two. Turkish nüfus offices want civil status documents less than six months old, and the adli sicil kaydı is generally accepted for a few months, so timing matters. The errors we correct most often are an untranslated apostille certificate, an adli sicil kaydı apostilled at the kaymakamlık instead of the adliye or vice versa, a Georgian document in a maiden name that differs from the passport, a Turkish name with ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş, ü 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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