Apostille in Georgia: what the certificate proves and when you need it

Apostille: the one-step certificate for a foreign public document

An apostille is a single standard certificate, issued by an authority of the country where a public document was made, that confirms the signature on that document, the signer's capacity and, if the document bears one, the seal, so that the document can be used in another member state of the 1961 Hague Convention without consular legalisation.

The legal basis is the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, HCCH Convention No 12, Articles 2 to 5. Georgia deposited its accession on 21 August 2006, and the Convention has applied to Georgia since 14 May 2007. Article 55 of the Law on Notaries lets a Georgian notary accept a foreign document "if it is legalised or authenticated by apostille", and Government Resolution No 520 applies the same test to residence permit files.

The certificate looks the same in Tbilisi as in London or Tel Aviv, because every member uses one model. What differs is the next step: Georgian notaries and the Public Service Hall work in Georgian, so an apostilled English or Hebrew paper is unusable until a certified Georgian translation covers it. Buyers also use the word loosely for any official stamp. A notary's seal under your signature is not an apostille; the apostille is the separate certificate that later vouches for that notary's signature.

Six articles of the 1961 Convention a buyer should know

Article 1 explains a common surprise. A power of attorney you sign at home is private, so it cannot carry an apostille by itself. The notary who witnesses your signature adds an official certificate, and that certificate is what the competent authority apostilles. Our glossary entry on the power of attorney covers what the document itself must say.

Georgia among 130 Convention parties

The HCCH status table, updated on 30 June 2026, lists 130 Contracting Parties. Georgia joined by accession and declared that the Convention does not cover documents of the de facto authorities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Objections involving Germany, Greece and Kosovo, and the dates for the countries most buyers come from, are in our guide to apostille or consular legalisation for Georgia. A country's documents can carry an apostille for Georgia only from the day the Convention takes effect for it, so the newest entries matter.

Members may object to a newcomer, as Georgia did with Kosovo, so look for an objection involving Georgia before relying on an apostille from a recently joined state. Some papers need nothing at all: Article 13 of the 1993 Minsk Convention, in force for Georgia since 11 July 1996, accepts properly certified documents from its parties without a special certificate.

Georgian apostilles on paper and as e-Apostilles

A Georgian extract or notarial deed sent abroad needs a Georgian apostille, issued by the Public Service Development Agency of the Ministry of Justice. Under the Apostille Rules, Government Decree No 404 of 2009, it is issued within 10 days, in Georgian and English. The fee starts at GEL 30; we could not confirm that the faster tiers the HCCH published in 2023 still apply in 2026.

In October 2020 the agency launched an electronic apostille with support from UNDP and the UK Good Governance Fund, and UNDP said Georgia became "the 19th country out of 119 members of the Hague Convention" to do so. Applications go through sda.gov.ge or my.gov.ge, the result is a PDF, and its number can be checked at apostille.cra.ge, the Article 7 register in online form. We found no published count of apostilles Georgia issues each year.

Reading an apostille certificate, field by field

Every apostille, stamped on the document or printed on an allonge, is headed "APOSTILLE" with the French line "(Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961)" beneath. The ten fields below follow the Convention's model certificate.

Fields 2 to 4 describe the person who signed the underlying paper; fields 5 to 10 describe the certification. Compare field 2 with the signature line of the document and field 3 with the title printed beneath it. A Georgian apostille shows the same fields in Georgian and English.

Worked example: a British marriage certificate on its way to a Tbilisi notary

A British buyer's sale file in Tbilisi calls for a marriage certificate. The United Kingdom has applied the Convention since 24 January 1965, so no Georgian consulate is involved.

1. Apostille in the UK. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office adds it. Field 2 names the registrar who signed, field 3 gives the role, field 8 the UK register number.
2. Translation in Georgia. The certificate and the apostille are both put into Georgian, so the notary can read every field.
3. Notary's certificate. A Georgian notary certifies the translator's signature: GEL 6 for a one-page translation or GEL 4 for 2 to 10 pages under Resolution No 507 as amended by Resolution No 272 of 30 May 2022, plus the GEL 5 register fee and the translator's own charge.

At the end of the chain the apostille has proved one thing: a real registrar, acting as a registrar, signed the certificate under a genuine seal. Whether the couple are still married on the day of the sale is a question it cannot answer.

The in-force date matters too. A buyer in Bangkok who signs a power of attorney before a Thai notary in November 2026 needs consular legalisation, because the Convention takes effect for Thailand only on 28 February 2027.

Apostille, legalisation, notarisation and translation compared

Four procedures often appear on the same document, and each answers a different question. Skip one, or do them in the wrong order, and a Georgian notary may be unable to accept the paper.

The apostille never replaces the translation; that step is explained in our glossary entry on notarised translation. Checking an apostille online is not a further certification either: it only confirms that the certificate exists in the Article 7 record.

The word apostille in five languages

Georgian contracts and notarial deeds write აპოსტილი, while the certificate keeps its French title. All five forms borrow the French word, so it is easy to spot in any of these languages.

Apostille mistakes and warning signs

• An apostille on a bare signature. A private paper needs the notary's certificate first.
• Translating first. A translation made before the apostille leaves the certificate untranslated.
• Treating it as proof of content. A false statement in a genuinely signed paper passes straight through Article 5.
• Assuming membership. Non-members, and Thailand until 28 February 2027, need legalisation.
• Papers from Abkhazia or South Ossetia. Georgia's declaration keeps them outside the Convention.
• Consular papers. Article 1 excludes them, so ask the Georgian office how it treats one.
• A field 2 name that differs from the signature. Check the register before sending the file.

How to check an apostille before the document leaves home

1. Confirm membership

   Find the issuing country and its in-force date in the HCCH status table.

2. Start with a public document

   For a private paper, have a notary certify the signature first.

3. Apply to the competent authority

   The one designated by the country where the document was made.

4. Compare the fields

   Field 2 and field 3 must match the signature and title on the document.

5. Look up the number

   Use field 8 to check the issuing authority's register.

6. Translate in Georgia

   Have the document and its apostille translated together into Georgian.

Frequently asked questions

What does an apostille certify?

Signature, capacity and seal (Art. 5), not the content.

Since when does Georgia accept apostilles?

Since 14 May 2007.

How many countries use the apostille?

130 Contracting Parties on 30 June 2026, per the HCCH.

Can I apostille a document I signed myself?

Only after a notary certifies your signature.

Must the apostille be in French?

Only its title; the fields may be in the issuing authority's language (Art. 4).

Is there an electronic apostille in Georgia?

Yes, since October 2020, verifiable at apostille.cra.ge.

Do I still need a translation after the apostille?

Yes, of the document and the apostille, into Georgian.

Can a Thai document carry an apostille for Georgia now?

Not before 28 February 2027; until then, legalisation.

Sources

1. Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, full text and model certificate, Hague Conference on Private International Law (accessed 28 October 2026)
2. Status table: Apostille Convention, Hague Conference on Private International Law, updated 30 June 2026 (accessed 28 October 2026)
3. Law of Georgia on Notaries, Article 55, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 28 October 2026)
4. Launch of Georgia's e-Apostille service, United Nations Development Programme (accessed 28 October 2026)
5. Report on the e-Apostille launch, Agenda.ge, 2020 (accessed 28 October 2026)
6. Minsk Convention on legal assistance of 22 January 1993, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 28 October 2026)
7. Government Resolution No 507 on notarial tariffs, Article 31, as amended by Resolution No 272 of 30 May 2022, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 28 October 2026)
8. Instruction on notarial acts, Order No 71 of 31 March 2010, Ministry of Justice of Georgia, Legislative Herald of Georgia (accessed 28 October 2026)

Change log

• 28 October 2026 - Glossary entry published from the HCCH, the Legislative Herald of Georgia, UNDP and Agenda.ge.