Glossary

Glossary of apostille and legalisation terms

30 terms in plain words: what each means, where it comes up and what people get wrong.

‘Certificate of authenticity’: An unofficial name some agencies give to their own verification stamp; it has none of the legal effect of an apostille.
Apostille: A stamp of a single international form confirming the authenticity of the signature, the seal and the office shown on a public document for use in another country.
Apostille on the translation: An apostille affixed to the notarised translation rather than to the original, where the destination country requires the translation itself to be legalised.
Chisinau Convention: The 2002 convention on legal assistance; from 2023 it replaces the 1993 Minsk Convention for Russia and part of the CIS.
Competent authority: The body authorised to affix an apostille to a given category of Russian documents — a different one for each type of document.
Constitutional documents: A company's articles of association together with an extract from the state register; the apostille goes on a notarised copy, not on the original.
Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: The division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that confirms the signature of the Ministry of Justice official before the document goes to a foreign consulate.
Consular fee: The payment to a foreign consulate for the final stage of consular legalisation; the amount and the currency are set by the consulate, not by Russia.
Consular legalisation: The chain of notary, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the destination country's consulate, in place of a single apostille.
Criminal record certificate: A certificate from the Ministry of Internal Affairs stating whether or not a person has a criminal record; it is free, and only the apostille is paid for.
Double apostille: A requirement to apostille the original and the translation separately; as at the date checked no country in our database requires it.
Duplicate certificate: A further copy of a civil status certificate, needed where the original is damaged, laminated or on a form that cannot be apostilled.
Extract from the state register of legal entities: A tax service document about a company; for an apostille you need a paper extract with a seal, or a notarial certificate that a paper copy matches the electronic one.
Federal Law No. 330-FZ on affixing apostilles: The law of 28 November 2015 setting out how apostilles are affixed to Russian public documents intended for use abroad.
Federal Register of Educational Documents: The federal register of diplomas and school certificates, used to verify that a document was in fact issued by the institution named.
Hague Convention: The Convention of 5 October 1961 abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents between contracting states and introducing the apostille.
Laminated document: A civil status certificate sealed in plastic film: it cannot be apostilled and a notarised copy cannot be made from it either. A duplicate on an ordinary form is needed.
Legalisation of documents: The general name for the procedures that make a Russian document usable abroad: an apostille, consular legalisation, or nothing at all under a treaty.
Minsk Convention: The 1993 convention on legal assistance between CIS countries, under which documents from one country are accepted in another without an apostille or legalisation.
Notarised copy: An exact reproduction of a document certified by a notary; it is the copy, not the original, that is apostilled where the original cannot be.
Notarised translation: A translation where the notary certifies not its accuracy but the authenticity of the translator's signature.
Parental consent for a child's travel: A notarial document by which a parent consents to a child travelling abroad; the apostille is affixed by the territorial body of the Ministry of Justice.
Power of attorney: A notarial document delegating authority; the apostille is affixed by the Ministry of Justice office of the region where the certifying notary works.
Recognition of foreign qualifications: Recognition in Russia of a qualification obtained abroad — the reverse direction from apostilling a Russian diploma for use abroad.
Soviet-era document: A certificate, diploma or other document issued before the collapse of the USSR; if it was issued in another union republic, a Russian authority will not apostille it.
State fee: A payment under the Russian Tax Code: RUB 2,500 per document for an apostille and RUB 350 for legalisation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as at the date checked.
Sworn translator: A translator approved by a court or a competent authority of a particular country; their stamp is accepted by that country's institutions without further certification.
Treaty on legal assistance: A bilateral or multilateral treaty under which the documents of one country are accepted in the other without an apostille or legalisation.
Unified State Register of Civil Status Records: The federal register holding civil status records — births, marriages, divorces and deaths — from 1926 onwards.
Visa centre handling legalisation: A commercial intermediary to which some consulates have delegated the acceptance of documents for legalisation instead of receiving them in person.