Legalization

What is consular legalization?

Consular legalization is a process which is performed to confirm the authenticity of official signatures, stamps and documents in general. Such a procedure is required for all official documents, which were issued in Ukraine and need to be presented abroad, but cannot be apostilled.

Legalization procedure

Consular legalization is divided into four stages:
• Notarization of the document copies. This step applies only to those documents that can be notarized.
• Legalization of the document copies at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine;
• Legalization of the document copies at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine;
• Legalization of the document copies at the appropriate consulate in the territory of Ukraine;

It is important to bear in mind that the requirements for legalization of documents may differ from country to country. For example, certain consulates legalize both the copies of the documents and translations of these documents at the same time. In other consulates it is necessary to legalize the document then perform the translation of the legalized document and then legalize the translated document.
Moreover, the documents obtained in another country are not subject to consular legalization in Ukraine. In order to give them legal force for use on the territory of Ukraine is necessary to turn to a foreign consulate of Ukraine (i.e., Ukrainian consulate in the territory of another country). If there is no such institution in the issuing country, it is necessary to apply to the Department of Consular Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Countries that require consular legalization
UAE, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Kuwait, China (excluding Hong Kong and Macao), Costa Rica, Canada, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, Uruguay, Chile, Qatar.
Legalization of Ukrainian documents is not required for the states have signed bilateral agreements with Ukraine (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Vietnam, China, Japan, Mongolia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan). In these countries it will be enough to present the notarized translation of the document.

Legalization of translations

The consular seal is affixed either on the original legalized document or a legalized translation of the document. Translations that have been made in person do not have legal force, therefore it is necessary to use the services of a specialized agency. The Ukrainian Medical Council performs professional translations and provides the service of legalization of any documents.