Marriage certificate translation and notarization

A marriage certificate proves the legal bond between two people, which is why it is one of the most frequently translated personal documents: a spouse's visa and residence, family reunification, registering joint property, changing a surname in foreign documents, tax benefits and inheritance all depend on it. A seemingly simple one-page document holds several traps in translation: two different surnames, often two different citizenships, an entry about a change of surname and the order of the apostille. Our bureau in Tbilisi, on Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue, translates marriage certificates every day into every major language and notarizes them within one day.

When a marriage certificate needs a translation

• Spouse visa and residence. The immigration services of the EU countries, the United Kingdom, the USA and Canada ask for the marriage certificate with an apostille and a certified translation; the children's birth certificates and a certificate confirming the shared address are often added.
• Change of surname abroad. To change a surname after marriage in a foreign passport, at a bank, at work or on a residence card, a translation of the certificate is needed in which the old and the new surname are clearly visible.
• Registering a marriage concluded abroad in Georgia. The foreign certificate is translated into Georgian and submitted to the Public Service Hall so that the marriage is entered in the Georgian register and the certificate of marital status is issued correctly.
• Property, bank, inheritance. When buying property or opening an inheritance the notary asks for the spouse's consent and a document proving the marriage; the certificate translation is often prepared together with the passport translation.
• Citizenship and family history. In citizenship-by-descent cases the ancestors' marriage certificates are the necessary link between the birth and death certificates.

What we pay special attention to

Two surnames, two passports

The certificate states both spouses' surnames before and after the marriage. Each name and surname is rendered according to the Latin entry of the corresponding passport; if the spouse is a foreigner, their name is carried over unchanged from the foreign passport and Georgian transliteration is not applied. For the new, post-marriage surname we use the same transliteration rule as in the passport, so that the future passport and the translation match. This small detail often decides whether the immigration service accepts the whole case.

Place and authority of registration

The place of registration of the marriage (the Public Service Hall, a territorial office of the civil registry, a Soviet-era ZAGS, a consulate abroad) is translated with its official equivalent, while the record number, date and form series stay unchanged. Street and settlement names are transliterated.

Notes and stamps

Marriage certificates often carry additional entries: a stamp about the dissolution of the marriage, a note about a change of surname, an apostille or consular legalization seals. Each of them is described with its date and issuing authority; a missing stamp makes the authority suspect a concealed change to the document. If the marriage has been dissolved, the divorce certificate is usually translated together with the certificate.

Apostille and notarization

A Georgian marriage certificate is a civil status document and the apostille on it is placed by the Public Service Hall or the Public Service Development Agency. The new-format certificate is bilingual, Georgian-English, but the apostille stamp is in Georgian only, and even for English-speaking authorities a translation is often still needed. The order never changes: first the apostille on the original or on a fresh extract, then the translation together with the apostille, finally the notarization, during which the notary certifies the translator's signature and binds the translation to the original or its notarized copy. For Italy, Spain, Portugal and some German authorities a second apostille is placed on the translation as well, at the Ministry of Justice. We arrange the whole chain through one window, and the general rules are described on the personal documents page.

A foreign marriage certificate in Georgian

If you married abroad, the foreign certificate must be translated into Georgian for the marriage to be recognised in Georgia. Most often we translate Turkish, German, Italian, American (forms differ by state), British, Ukrainian, Russian and Israeli certificates, as well as the multilingual standard forms of the EU. Religious marriage documents issued in Israel, Iran and the Arab countries (a ketubah, a nikah certificate) are a separate category: for their recognition a certificate confirming civil registration is often needed as well, which we tell you in advance. The foreign apostille and additional seals are translated in full, and the Georgian spouse's name is written in Georgian as it appears in their Georgian documents.

Typical packages

• Family reunification in Germany: the marriage certificate with an apostille, a German translation, copies of both spouses' passports, the children's birth certificates where needed. One translator, one transliteration, one day.
• Spouse visa for the United Kingdom or the USA: an English certified translation with a translator's certificate, which these countries require instead of or alongside notarization.
• Registration at the Public Service Hall: the foreign certificate with an apostille, a Georgian translation with notarization, a translation of the foreign spouse's passport.
• Change of surname at a foreign bank or employer: a translation certified on the bureau's letterhead in scanned form is often enough.

Mistakes that get a marriage certificate rejected

• The new surname without the old transliteration. The translation shows only the post-marriage surname while the passport still shows the old one: the immigration service cannot establish that this is the same person. Both surnames must appear in separate fields.
• Transliterating the foreign spouse's name from Georgian. "John Smith" becomes "Jon Smiti" in the translation while his passport says John Smith. A foreign spouse's name is always taken from their passport.
• An overlooked stamp about dissolution. If the certificate carries a divorce note and the translation does not show it, the authority treats the document as containing concealed information.
• The wrong type of certification. The United Kingdom and the USA require a translator-certified translation, and some German and Italian authorities a sworn translation; a Georgian notarization is not automatically valid everywhere.
• Translation before the apostille. The apostille text does not make it into the translation and the process starts over.

To avoid these mistakes we ask three questions at the start of the order: in which country, to which authority and for what purpose you will submit the document. Based on the answers we choose the format of certification and prepare the translation correctly the first time.

Turnaround

A marriage certificate translation with notarization is ready within one working day; a document delivered in the morning is handed back the same day. If you translate several documents at once (the certificate, passports, birth certificates), we certify them in one visit. Delivery by scan, email or at the office; collection at the office, by courier or as a scan.

Frequently asked questions