General Provisions

Legalization is a special procedure used to lend legal validity to public documents abroad. It is carried out in several stages: translation of documents, certification of documents by a notary public and their execution by Ministry of Justice. The legalization process also includes issue of documents by an embassy of the country where the documents are to be produced.

At present time, most common are the following two methods of such validation:

    1. Consular legalization consists in validating documents compliance with legislation of the country of their origin and represents certification of officials’ signatures, their status and, when necessary, verification of authorized public agency’s seal affixed to documents and acts with the aim of their use in another country.

The procedure of legalization is quite complex and entails considerable expenses. However, it is not immaculate - a document, which underwent such a multi-level, time-consuming and labor-intensive procedure is valid only for that country, which consular service legalized it.

With the aim of simplifying the process of recognizing foreign documents, in 1961 in Hague (the Netherlands) they signed the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. It became valid for Ukraine December 22, 2003.  

   2. Apostille

List of Documents Usually Subject to Legalization

• Certificate of birth, marriage, divorce, death;
• Marriage/marital status references;
• Educational documents (testimonials/diplomas and their appendices, academic transcripts);
• Invention certificates;
• Medical certificates;
• Labor references and others.

List of Documents Not Subject to legalization:

• Documents and acts, which are contrary to the laws of Ukraine or which by their contents can cause damage to the interests of Ukraine, or which contain information discrediting honor, dignity and business reputation of citizens of Ukraine;
• Originals, copies and photocopies of passports, military IDs, driver licenses, employment record books (if you require certification of your employment information, you are to legalize references from each place of work), regulatory legal acts and clarifications to their application;
• Documents issued by authorities and officials exceeding limits of their power.

 Legalization Procedure

• Documents are certified by Ministry of Justice of Ukraine;

• Documents are certified by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine;

• Documents are certified by a consular agency of the country where they are supposed to be used. (executed in the form of consular statement of certification).