Apostille of documents in territory of Ukraine

If the package of documents for their further use in territory of other state, whether it be for the reasons of immigration, representation opening abroad, account opening in foreign bank, necessity of giving of documents for consideration in foreign judicial bodies, or for other reasons prepares, it is necessary for you to remember that the documents given out and having a validity in territory of one state, can be used in territory of other state only after their legalisation in established form.

The documents given out and having a validity in territory of Ukraine, can be used in territory of other state only after their legalisation in established form if other is not provided by the legislation of the states or positions of the international contracts cancelling procedure of legalisation, the participant which Ukraine is.

There are two ways of legalisation of documents – putting down of a stamp “Apostille” and consular legalisation.

The apostille is put down on documents of the countries-participants of the Hague convention and does not demand the further consular assurance.

There are countries with which Ukraine has signed one- or bilateral contracts which cancel “Embassy (Consular) Legalization” and “apostille” documents:

Azerbaijan Albania Belarus Bulgaria Armenia Georgia Estonia
Kazakhstan Mongolia Cuba Latvia Lithuania Macedonia Moldova
Kyrgyzstan Czechia Romania Poland Tajikistan Turkmenistan Hungary
Russian Federation

Apostille of documents in the country where they have been given out

Documents issued in one country and intended for use in another country must be “authenticated” or “legalized” in order to be recognized as valid in the foreign country.

The number and type of authentication certificates you will need depend on the nature of the document and whether or not the foreign country is a party to the multilateral treaty on “legalization” of documents.

If your document is intended for use in a country which is a party to a treaty called the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents (“Hague Legalization Convention” HLC), obtaining a special “apostille” certificate is generally all that is required.

There are countries with which Ukraine has signed one- or bilateral contracts which cancel “Embassy (Consular) Legalization” and “apostille” documents:

Azerbaijan Albania Belarus Bulgaria Armenia Georgia Estonia
Kazakhstan Mongolia Cuba Latvia Lithuania Macedonia Moldova
Kyrgyzstan Czechia Romania Poland Tajikistan Turkmenistan Hungary
Russian Federation

List of the countries-participants of the Hague Convention – the ‘Apostille’ regime:

Australia Austria Azerbaijan Albania Andorra Argentina
Armenia Bahamas Barbados Belize Belgium Belarus
Botswana Hungary Venezuela Honduras Grenada Greece
Georgia Denmark Ecuador El Salvador Estonia Israel
India Ireland Iceland Spain Italy Kazakhstan
Cyprus Colombia Korea Latvia Lesotho Lithuania
Liberia Liechtenstein Luxembourg Mauritius Macedonia Malawi
Malta Mexico Moldova Monaco Namibia Netherlands
Niue Norway Panama Poland Portugal Romania
Antigua and Barbuda Bulgaria Bosnia and Gertsegovina Brunei – Darussalam Cook islands Russian Federation
Sent-Kits and Nevis Republic of South Africa Federal Republic Germany Serbia Slovak Republic Slovenia
Samoa San Marino Czech Republic Sent-Lusija Dominican republic China, Hong Kong
China, Macao Marshall Islands New Zealand Republic of Seychelles Japan The USA
Surinam Tonga Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Sweden
Fiji Finland France Croatia Swaziland Montenegro
Trinidad and Tobago The United Kingdom Great Britain and Northern Ireland Saint Vincent and the Grenadines