Employment certificate translation and notarization

The employment certificate is the document by which a consulate, an immigration service, a bank or a foreign employer judges your stability: whether you have a steady income, how long you have worked in one place and whether you will return home when the visa expires. In Schengen visa applications it is precisely this certificate and the bank statement that are the two most closely checked documents, and among the reasons for refusal "doubt about the intention to return" often starts with exactly an incomplete or unclear certificate. Our bureau in Tbilisi, on Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue, translates employment certificates according to the consulates' requirements, helps you draft the text where needed and certifies the translation the same day.

Which documents prove employment and income

• Certificate from the employer. On company letterhead, with the signature and seal of the manager or HR; the main document for a visa and residence.
• Salary certificate. The pay of the last 3-6 months by month, signed by the accounts department; often a separate document or part of the employer's certificate.
• Revenue Service certificate. The official extract on declared income; asked for in residence, mortgage and tax residency cases, because it is a source independent of the employer.
• Employment contract and appointment order. For long-term visas and employment abroad, where work experience has to be confirmed.
• Leave confirmation. For a tourist visa, the employer's confirmation that leave has been agreed for specific dates.
• Extract for a sole proprietor. For the self-employed, the employer's certificate is replaced by the Revenue Service certificate and the Register of Entrepreneurs extract.

What the certificate must contain for the consulate to accept it

A translation cannot fix a certificate that lacks the necessary information. So if you have not obtained the certificate yet, we recommend asking your employer to include the following:

• the company's full name, identification code, address, telephone and email, preferably on letterhead;
• the employee's name, surname and personal number exactly according to the passport;
• the job title and the start date of employment, and for a fixed-term contract the end date too;
• the amount of the salary (monthly, with the currency stated), preferably the total or the monthly figures for the last 3-6 months;
• the purpose and recipient of the certificate ("for submission to the Embassy of Germany");
• for a tourist visa, confirmation that leave has been agreed for specific dates and that the employee continues in the job after returning;
• the name and position of the signatory, the signature, the seal, the date of issue and the certificate number.

We share a typical template of the certificate in Georgian and English, to save your employer time.

What we pay attention to when translating

Job titles as they are known abroad

"Chief specialist", "head of division", "leading engineer", "deputy director for commercial affairs" become incomprehensible to a foreigner when translated word for word. We use the equivalents established in the target country (Senior Specialist, Head of Department, Lead Engineer, Deputy Director for Commercial Affairs) and, if the position is unique, add a short explanation in brackets. The company name is not translated: it is transliterated or given in its official Latin version, with the legal form (LLC, JSC) explained.

Amounts, currency, dates

The salary stays in the currency stated in the certificate (GEL), the decimal separator and thousands format are adapted to the standard of the target country, and no conversion into euros or dollars takes place in the translation: that is the consulate's job, and a rate added by the translator alters the document. The start date of employment, the date of issue of the certificate and the leave period are checked separately by the editor, because these are exactly the fields compared against the other documents.

Signature, seal, letterhead

The letterhead elements, the text of the seal, the signatory's position and the presence of the signature are described in square brackets. If the certificate was issued with an electronic signature, we note that too, because some consulates accept only a "wet" seal and you need to know that in advance.

Certification and apostille

For most consulates a certified translation is enough: for English-speaking countries a translator-certified translation on the bureau's letterhead, for other languages notarization, during which the notary certifies the translator's signature and binds the translation to a copy of the certificate. An apostille is not needed for a visa. In residence, employment abroad or pension record recognition cases the certificate or the employment contract sometimes needs an apostille as well; since it is a private document, a notarized copy of it is prepared first, the Ministry of Justice places the apostille on that, and only then is the copy translated together with the apostille. The Revenue Service certificate, on the other hand, is a state document and receives the apostille at the Public Service Hall. The scheme is described on the personal documents page.

Typical cases

• Schengen tourist visa. The employer's certificate with leave confirmation, the salary certificate and a 3-6 month bank statement as one package, with one transliteration, in the consulate's language.
• Residence with a family member. The hosting spouse's certificate of income together with the marriage certificate and the certificate of address.
• Employment abroad. Certificates from previous employers, employment contracts and references to confirm work experience, often together with the criminal record certificate.
• Mortgage or rental abroad. The salary certificate and the Revenue Service extract in the language of the bank or landlord, often in scanned form.
• Pension record. Soviet-era and 1990s work books and archive certificates for a foreign pension fund, with the handwritten entries deciphered.

Mistakes that lead to a visa refusal

• A certificate without the salary. The consulate cannot assess the income and treats the document as incomplete.
• The salary in the certificate and in the bank statement do not match. We check both documents together and warn you about a discrepancy in advance.
• An expired certificate. Consulates usually do not accept a certificate older than one month.
• A word-for-word translation of the job title. An incomprehensible position raises doubts about whether the employment is real.
• Text "improved" in the translation. The translation must correspond to the original exactly; an added sentence invalidates the certificate.

Turnaround

A one-page certificate translation with notarization is ready within one working day; a certificate delivered in the morning the same day. A scanned version with the bureau's certification is sent within a few hours. We prepare the visa package (the certificate, the salary certificate, the bank statement, the children's birth certificates) in one visit. Delivery by scan, email or at the office; collection at the office, by courier or as a PDF.

Frequently asked questions