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Translation of passports, ID cards and civil status certificates

Birth certificate, marriage certificate, passport: the shortest documents, and the ones authorities check most strictly. One letter in a surname, one digit in a series, and a family is held up at the border or at an embassy. We translate civil documents so that every name matches the passport, every number matches the original, and the apostille and notary are done in the right order.

  • Names as in the passportLetter for letter, consistent for every family member

  • Apostille and notary in one cycleYou do not have to go to the Public Service Hall

  • Translation in 1 working dayThe apostille time is added according to the Public Service Hall's terms

Find out the price and procedure before you order

Upload a photo of the certificate and tell us the country. We will tell you whether an apostille and a new extract are needed.

Photo of the certificate

The assessment is free; we use your personal number nowhere except in the translation.

In short: six rules for translating certificates and passports

  • In every translation the first name and surname are copied letter for letter in the Latin form of the current passport.
  • In a family package each person's name must read the same in every document, otherwise the authority will treat them as different people.
  • For official submission abroad, a duplicate certificate or extract issued by the Public Service Hall is as a rule used instead of an old Soviet form.
  • Marriage, divorce and change-of-surname documents are translated as one chain, so that it is clear how the person arrived at their current surname.
  • A certificate going abroad usually needs three steps: apostille or legalisation, translation, and notarisation.
  • In dates we write the month as a word, so that the order of day and month is not misread in another country.

Four fields where a civil document translation gets stuck

A certificate contains almost no text: names, dates, places, numbers and seals. That is exactly why every element is decisive, and the authority compares them all.

  • Transliteration: the standard or the passport

    Under the national standard the Latin form of Georgian names is written in one consistent way, but older passports were issued under different rules. The translation always uses the form in the current passport, and the standard only when there is no passport. We confirm this before you order.

  • Places and institutions

    The place of birth must be translated so that it can be found on a map: by its official name, with the old name in brackets if that is what the certificate shows. The name of the registration body is given as an accurate translation together with the original form, so that the authority can identify the issuer.

  • Series, number, date

    The series and number stay unchanged, in Georgian letters if they are Georgian on the original, with the Latin equivalent in brackets. Dates follow the target country's format, so that 03.05 is not read as 5 March where the month is written first.

  • Seals, stamps, handwritten entries

    Every seal, including the apostille stamp and any handwritten note, is reflected in the corresponding place in the translation. A missing seal is an incomplete translation for the notary and a question mark for the authority.

The order of steps: certificate, apostille, translation, notary

A civil document rarely goes abroad just translated. Usually a package is needed, and the order in which it is put together depends on who receives it and in which country.

  1. The right document

    We check whether your certificate will do: instead of an old-format or laminated certificate, a new extract is sometimes needed, which we obtain on your behalf.

  2. Apostille on the original

    If the document is going to a country party to the Hague Convention, we first have the original apostilled at the Public Service Hall. For non-member countries we take the consular legalisation route.

  3. Translation including stamps

    We translate the certificate and the apostille stamp as one document, with the passport transliteration and the receiving country's date format.

  4. Notarisation

    The notary binds the translation to the original or a certified copy and certifies the translator's signature. We return the finished package to you by courier.

Document Who it most often goes to Typical package
Birth certificate For an accompanying parent at a clinic, enrolling a child in school, residence, citizenship Apostille, translation, notary
Marriage or divorce certificate Accompanying a spouse and visas, family reunification, inheritance abroad Apostille, translation, notary
Death certificate Inheritance abroad, bank accounts, insurance, repatriation Apostille, translation, notary
Passport, ID card Contracts and powers of attorney abroad, banks, notaries abroad Translation, notary; apostille rarely
Change of name certificate, extract Explaining discrepancies between documents, replacing an old certificate Apostille, translation, notary

The translation is ready in one working day; the apostille time is added according to the Public Service Hall's terms. The price is per document, not per page, because certificates are of a standard length. The apostille and legalisation procedure is described in detail on the legalisation page.

A chain of documents: when marriage, divorce or a change of surname changes a name

For an authority, the passport confirms present identity and a certificate confirms a past event. If the surname has changed even once, these two documents need a bridge between them, and that bridge is the translation of every intermediate record.

  • An accompanying person at a clinic

    A parent accompanying a child for treatment proves the relationship with the child's birth certificate. If the mother's surname changed later, the certificate shows the old surname and a marriage certificate is added to the package. Some countries or airlines also ask for the other parent's notarised consent, which we translate in the same package.

  • Inheritance abroad

    A foreign bank or notary needs, together with the death certificate, the whole line of kinship: the heir's birth certificate, sometimes the parents' marriage certificate as well. In every link the names of the deceased and the heir must be brought to one form, otherwise the chain breaks.

  • Residence and family reunification

    An immigration service considers the marriage certificate, the children's birth certificates and, if there was a previous marriage, the divorce certificate together. A missing link holds up the application, so we draw up the list according to the recipient's requirements before translation begins.

In every document of the chain we use one term for one concept. For example, the surname before marriage will be maiden name or surname at birth throughout an English translation, and Geburtsname in German, not one variant on one page and another on the next.

One name, one form: a transliteration sheet for the family package

Before translating several family documents we draw up a names sheet: each person, their Latin form from the current passport, and the place names. Every translator working on the package uses this sheet, and before the notary we check the translation against it one last time.

Georgian letter, example National standard In older or foreign documents What we do
ჯ: ჯაფარიძე J: Japaridze Dzh, Dj: Dzhaparidze, Djaparidze We write the passport form; if another document in the chain has a different variant, we let you know before you order
ღ: ღლონტი Gh: Ghlonti G: Glonti Where needed, we confirm the link between the two forms with a certificate from the Public Service Hall
ყ: ყიფიანი Q: Qipiani K: Kipiani Q looks unusual to a foreign official, but we still do not change the passport form
წ და ც: წერეთელი Ts: Tsereteli C, Z: Cereteli, Zereteli Converting back from Latin to Georgian creates ambiguity, so when translating a foreign document we confirm the Georgian form from the family's documents
Patronymic in a Soviet certificate A separate field (patronymic) Russian form: -vich, -ovna We keep the form of the original and write it as a separate field, so that the authority does not take it as part of the surname

A certificate translation is priced per document, and you can estimate the cost of the whole family package in advance with the translation price calculator. Depending on the destination country, check whether it needs an apostille or legalisation: in a country not party to the Hague Convention the consular route takes longer, and this time must be built into the family's plan in advance.

Frequently asked questions about civil document translation

How are the first name and surname written in the translation if they do not match the passport?

In the translation the first name and surname are written exactly as in the current passport, letter for letter, even if this does not match the national transliteration standard. A foreign authority compares documents precisely against the passport, and a difference of one letter reads as two different people. If family members' surnames are transliterated differently in different passports, we clarify this before you order and follow the passport of the person each document concerns. To confirm the link between two forms of a surname, the Public Service Hall issues a certificate, which we also translate.

I have an old Soviet-era certificate in Russian. Can it be translated, or do I need a new one?

It can be translated, directly from Russian into the target language, and for many authorities this is enough. The problem arises with the apostille: Georgia puts an apostille only on documents issued by a Georgian authority, and a Soviet form is not one of them. So if the certificate is going to an official authority abroad, you first need to obtain a new-format extract or a duplicate certificate from the Public Service Hall, then the apostille and the translation. We handle this whole route for you, on your behalf.

Should the apostille come first, or the translation?

In most cases the apostille goes on the original first, then comes the translation, which also covers the apostille stamp, and finally notarisation. This way the recipient sees a complete, certified package in one language. Some countries or authorities require the reverse: an apostille on the notarised translation. We check which rule applies in your case, by destination country and authority, before you order, so that you do not have to go through the procedure twice.

Is the whole passport translated, or only the data page?

As standard, the data page: the photo page with all its fields and the machine-readable zone, which is carried over unchanged. Pages with visas and stamps are translated only when the recipient specifically asks for them, for example to prove a residence history. An ID card is translated on both sides; for an electronic ID card, without the chip information. If you do not know what the recipient requires, tell us who it is for and we will tell you what is enough.

My birth certificate is lost or very old. Where do I get a new one, and can you get it for me?

A duplicate certificate or an extract from the civil status record is issued by the Public Service Hall. An apostille can also be put on a new-format document, which is not possible on an old form, so this is the one to take abroad. A third party usually needs a notarised power of attorney to collect the document, and we prepare its text for you in advance. The timing and the state fee depend on the service term you choose; we tell you both before you order, so that the finished package fits the date of the embassy or clinic.

We registered our marriage abroad. How is a foreign certificate translated in Georgia?

For official use in Georgia, a foreign certificate as a rule needs an apostille or legalisation done in the issuing country and a notarised Georgian translation. With this package the marriage can be recorded at the Public Service Hall and a Georgian certificate issued. In the translation we write the Georgian spouse's name exactly as in their ID card, and the foreign spouse's in Georgian transcription, with the original Latin form in brackets. The apostille must be obtained abroad, before you come to Georgia, because doing it from here is much more difficult.

Send us a photo of the certificate and tell us the country

We will tell you whether your certificate will do, whether it needs an apostille, and what the full package will cost.

Get the price and procedure

Certificates: price before you order.

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