Legalization

Legalization is a procedure of a document preparation, which lies in approval of legal force (validity) of the document abroad. The Legalization procedure consists of from 2 to 6 stages of certification of documents at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the embassy of the country for which the documents are prepared.

As compared to the Apostille, Legalization is a much longer and complicated procedure. Sometimes, it is difficult for our clients to understand the difference between the Apostille and Legalization. Our Apostille and Legalization managers can advise you in detail in this matter.

The standard Legalization procedure in Ukraine consists of a few stages: the copy of the document shall be certified by the notary (in case of Legalization of the document copy); then the Legalization stamp shall be affixed by the Ministry of Justice (in case of Legalization of the document copy); and only after that, the Legalization in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will take place. In general, the Legalization procedure of the Ukrainian documents is as follows: the Legalization seal shall be affixed to the original/copy of the documents by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. Then the document shall be submitted for Legalization to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. After that, the document shall be submitted for Legalization to the consular department/embassy. In some cases, it is necessary to make double Legalization, it means to legalize the originals at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, then to translate them to a foreign language, to certify the translation by the notary and then to submit them to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the consular department/embassy once again.