Apostille and consular legalization: what is the difference?

Apostille and consular legalization are similar in the fact that they give legitimacy to documents for their further use on the territory of another state outside the country of issue of this document.

What are the significant differences between them?

What is an apostille?

The apostille is affixed according to a simplified procedure.

To affix an apostille stamp on documents issued by justice authorities and Courts, as well as documents that are issued by notaries of Ukraine, you need to contact any regional department of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

The apostille is affixed at the request of the person submitting such documents.

What documents are needed to affix an apostille?

When submitting documents, the applicant must present an identity document to an official of the regional body of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, and:

• the original of the document on which it is necessary to affix the apostille stamp, or its copy,
• certified in accordance with the established procedure;
• a document on payment for a state service for affixing an apostille.

The apostille is affixed within 2 working days.

What is legalization?

The consular legalization of the document provides for the implementation of more steps and takes much longer, from two weeks.

The process of legalization of documents is carried out by the Department of Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

• The originals of official documents issued by the registry offices are previously certified by the regional State Registration Authorities of the region where they were issued.

• Documents certified or issued by notaries must be duly pre-executed in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, in the Department of State Registration and Notary.

• The last step of legalization takes place in the Department of Consular Service, then official documents must be certified at the diplomatic mission of the country where they will be used.

How do I find out if a document is subject to legalization, or do I need to put an apostille on it?

It all depends on whether the country in which it will be used in the future has joined the Hague Convention, abolishing the requirement to legalize foreign official documents.

Such a document can be used on the territory of any country that has ratified the Convention.

That is, to use a Ukrainian document abroad, you need either an apostille or legalization?

This is not quite true. There are also countries that do not require either consular legalization or apostille affixing.;
These are the countries that signed The Hague Convention:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia,, they have concluded a bilateral agreement with Ukraine on legal assistance in civil cases.