You do not have the document, or it is not fit for use

When the document has to be obtained again

There are usually four reasons, and all of them come to light at the counter:

• Lamination. The film makes it impossible to verify the form and the seal, and it cannot be removed without damaging the document.
• Soviet-era forms. Forms from the USSR and the early 1990s are not always apostilled: if the record exists in the register, it is simpler to obtain a certificate on the current form.
• Corrections and additions, even certified ones, even made by the authority itself years ago.
• Wear: a worn seal, tears, entries that cannot be read.

A duplicate civil status certificate: anywhere, not where the record was made

This is the main thing to know and the thing most often missed. A duplicate is issued not by the office where the event was registered but by the office you name in your request. This is stated in article 9(4) of the Federal Law on Civil Status Acts: the document ‘is issued by the civil registry office named in the person's request’. The same provision says that where you apply in person the certificate is issued the same day.

This became possible once civil status records were brought together in a single state register: the office no longer has to request a paper book from another city, because the record is visible in the system.

Why this changes the region of the apostille

The apostille on a civil status document is affixed by the authority of the region that issued the document. What matters is the issuing office, not where the event was once registered.

Hence the point of all this. Suppose the certificate was issued in Vladivostok and you live in Moscow. While the document is in your hands and usable, only Primorsky Krai can apostille it: you travel or post it across the country. But if the document has to be obtained afresh anyway, the duplicate can be issued in Moscow — and the Moscow authority affixes the apostille. The journey disappears entirely.

There is a second, less obvious gain. The time for affixing an apostille is five working days, but it is extended to thirty where the authority has to request a specimen signature and seal from whoever issued the document. A certificate issued recently, on the spot, needs no such check.

A duplicate diploma or school certificate

Educational documents work differently: the duplicate is issued by the institution that issued the original. If it has closed, by its legal successor, and if there is none, by the regional education authority that holds the archive. The institution sets its own timescale; there is no single norm, so we do not quote one in advance. The apostille is affixed to a duplicate exactly as to an original.

A criminal record certificate: produced anew, not restored

This certificate is different again: there is no ‘original’ to lose. It is issued as at the date of the request and reflects the records on that day, so an out-of-date one is not repaired — a new one is ordered. The certificate itself is free and is not tied to your registered address: you may apply to the Information Centre of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in any region. Production takes up to thirty calendar days.

It is essential to state the purpose from the outset: ‘for use outside the Russian Federation’. A certificate ordered ‘for personal use’ is issued on a different form and cannot be apostilled, which means ordering again and waiting another month.

Power of attorney: we send you the wording free of charge

A document can be collected on behalf of someone else only under a notarised power of attorney. Inside Russia any notary certifies it; abroad it is certified by a Russian consulate. The wording is where people go wrong: a power of attorney ‘to represent interests’, without express authority to obtain duplicate civil status documents, is refused at the counter, and redoing it from another country means another consular appointment and another month.

So we send the wording for your situation free of charge, before you order anything from us. Certification is paid to the notary or the consulate at their own rate, which we do not influence.

What we need from you

• Your passport: a scan or a photograph of the data page.
• A notarised power of attorney, if we are to collect the document. Abroad it is certified by a Russian consulate, in Russia by any notary.
• Details of the record: what was registered, where and roughly when. The exact date is not essential, as the search runs through the register.

What we do not do

• We do not decide for the registry office. If the record contains an error or cannot be found, correcting it is a separate procedure: we will help file the application, but the outcome does not depend on us.
• We do not promise a timescale for a duplicate diploma: the institution sets it.
• We do not bundle payments. The apostille, the translation and delivery are each charged separately, with no mark-up for a ‘package’.