The Czech Republic is the European country with which Georgia's relations run through several channels at once: a Czech company owns a significant part of Georgia's electricity distribution and hydropower, the Czech Development Agency treats Georgia as a priority partner country, Czech universities offer free study on Czech-language programmes, and the Czech labour market admits Georgian specialists through the qualified worker programme. All of this is followed by a flow of documents. We translate personal, academic, corporate and medical documents from Czech into Georgian and from Georgian into Czech, certify them notarially and attach the apostille. This page describes how the Czech system of court translators is organised, what the Czech embassy and authorities require, and where typical errors appear.
The Czech court translator: what the "round stamp" means
In the Czech Republic the system of official translation is based not on the notary but on the court translator. The law on court interpreters and translators in force since 2021 (No. 354/2019 Sb.) establishes two separate professions: the court translator (soudní překladatel) for written translation and the court interpreter (soudní tlumočník) for oral work. Both are listed in the register of the Ministry of Justice, pass an examination and execute the translation with a special clause (překladatelská doložka) and a round stamp; such a translation is called in Czech "úředně ověřený překlad" or colloquially "překlad s kulatým razítkem". Czech authorities, courts and some universities require precisely this form.
This means that a Czech translation certified by a Georgian notary is not automatically accepted by a Czech state authority: the Czech migration service, the matrika (civil status office) and the court often require the court translator's stamp. There are very few court translators registered in the Georgian-Czech pair in the Czech Republic, so in practice two routes work: either our notarised translation, which the Czech embassy in Tbilisi accepts for visa applications, or the apostilled original, which is translated in the Czech Republic by a court translator, often via English or Russian. When taking the order we find out who the recipient is, and we know both routes.
The apostille between Georgia and the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic has been a member of the Hague Convention since 1999, Georgia since 2007, so documents move between the two countries with an apostille, without consular legalisation. In Georgia the apostille is issued by the Public Service Hall, in the Czech Republic by two bodies depending on the type of document: the Ministry of Justice for court and notarial documents, and the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for administrative documents (matrika extract, diploma, criminal record certificate). A document brought from the Czech Republic must have its apostille attached in the Czech Republic itself; "fixing" this in Georgia is impossible. Practical advice: have the apostille put on the document before leaving the Czech Republic, and the translation and notarisation in Georgia will be done on the already apostilled original.
The Czech embassy in Tbilisi and visa practice
The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Tbilisi accepts applications for long-term visas and residence: student visa, employee card (zaměstnanecká karta), blue card, family reunification, business visa. In the application package Georgian papers go with an apostille and a Czech translation: criminal record certificate, birth and marriage certificates, diploma, bank statement, proof of accommodation. The embassy, in our experience, accepts a Czech translation certified by a Georgian notary at the visa stage, while after arrival in the Czech Republic the migration service may require a court translator's version for some documents, which we tell you in advance. Under the qualified worker programme, which includes Georgia, the employer prepares the application on the Czech side and the candidate prepares the document package with us, and the deadlines of both sides must be aligned.
Which documents are translated most often
- Criminal record certificate (the equivalent of výpis z Rejstříku trestů) for the employee card and residence
- Diploma, transcript and school certificate for nostrification and university enrolment
- Birth, marriage and divorce certificates (rodný list, oddací list) for family reunification and the matrika
- Employment contract and employer documents for the qualified worker programme
- Extract from the register of entrepreneurs and charter for founding a company (s.r.o.) in the Czech Republic or registering a Czech company in Georgia
- Medical history and discharge summary for treatment in Czech clinics and spas
- Qualification documents of doctors and nurses for recognition by the Ministry of Health
- Czech technical documentation for energy and industrial projects in Georgia
Nostrification: recognition of a diploma in the Czech Republic
Recognition of foreign education in the Czech Republic is called nostrification (nostrifikace) and runs on two levels. A school certificate is recognised by the regional authority (krajský úřad), which, if the curriculum differs from the Czech one, sets a nostrification exam; a university diploma is recognised by the Czech public university that has a similar programme or, in specific fields, by the relevant ministry. Both procedures require the apostilled original of the diploma and transcript and a Czech translation, and at university level often also a translation of the syllabi, with hour loads. Here the names of subjects must correspond to the terminology of Czech higher education, otherwise the university cannot establish equivalence and the process drags on for months. The favourite destinations of Georgian students are Charles University in Prague, the Czech Technical University, Masaryk University in Brno and Palacký University in Olomouc, where study on Czech-language programmes is free and on English-language ones paid.
The Czech language: -ová, seven cases and ř
One peculiarity of Czech documents directly concerns Georgian women: by Czech tradition the suffix -ová is added to a woman's surname, and in a Czech document a Georgian woman's surname may appear as "Beridzeová". Since 2022 Czech law allows a woman to register her surname without the suffix, but in older documents and in some offices the suffixed form is still found. When translating from Czech into Georgian we remove -ová and write the surname in the passport form, noting the Czech form in a remark; when translating from Georgian into Czech the surname is written in the Latin form of the passport, without the suffix, unless the client asks otherwise.
Czech has seven cases and declines foreign names too, so the same Georgian surname appears in a Czech text in several forms (Beridze, Beridzeho, Beridzem), which in the Georgian translation is reduced to one, the passport form. Diacritical marks (háček, čárka) and ř, which has no exact equivalent in Georgian, are conveyed in transcription by the established rule, identically in all documents of one client.
Czech business in Georgia and Georgian business in the Czech Republic
The presence of Czech companies in Georgia is most visible in energy: the Czech group that owns the electricity distribution network and hydropower plants, suppliers of Czech machinery, construction and consulting companies, projects of the Czech Development Agency and Czech NGOs in healthcare, agriculture and the social sphere. In this environment a bilingual contract, technical specification and tender documentation are regular work. In the opposite direction Georgian entrepreneurs found an s.r.o. in the Czech Republic, export wine and food products and sign contracts with Czech distributors; for this the extract from the register of entrepreneurs, the charter and the power of attorney go with an apostille and a Czech translation, while the Czech commercial register (obchodní rejstřík), kept by the regional courts, is translated with its own terminology.
The Czech medical direction: spas, clinics, recognition
The Czech medical system is interesting for Georgian patients for two reasons: spa treatment in Karlovy Vary and Mariánské Lázně, where Georgian patients are treated for diseases of the digestive and musculoskeletal systems, and the specialised centres of Prague (cardiology, transplantology, oncology). For planning treatment the Georgian medical history is translated into Czech, and after treatment the Czech discharge report (propouštěcí zpráva) and doctor's report (lékařská zpráva) into Georgian. A separate flow is the documents of Georgian doctors and nurses who plan to work in the Czech Republic: recognition of a non-EU diploma is carried out by the Ministry of Health, which requires the approbation exam (aprobační zkouška), for which the diploma, transcript, specialisation certificate and work experience certificate are prepared with an apostille and a Czech translation.
Czech technical and energy documentation
The Czech engineering tradition is represented in Georgia in the form of hydropower, transmission networks, industrial equipment and transport machinery, and the documentation of this field (technical specification, operating instructions, safety rules, tender conditions, certificates of conformity) is translated from Czech into Georgian for engineers, operators and the regulator. This text relies on Czech technical standards (ČSN) and European norms, and in the translation the standard numbers stay unchanged, while the terminology follows the form accepted in Georgian technical practice. For regular clients we build a term base that ensures consistency for the whole duration of the project.
Czech business style and official etiquette
Czech official language is formal but not florid: forms of address (Vážený pane, Vážená paní), the indication of titles and academic degrees before the name (Ing., Mgr., MUDr.), which matters in Czech business culture, and exact, dry wording. A Georgian original that contains no titles acquires them in the Czech translation as the genre requires, while Czech titles go into the Georgian translation with an explanation, because "Ing." and "Mgr." mean nothing to a Georgian reader. This detail is part of the first impression in correspondence with a Czech partner.
Czech tourism and localisation
Czech tourists are regular guests in the Georgian mountains, Kakheti and Tbilisi, and Georgian tour companies, hotels and wine cellars ask for Czech-language material ever more often. Localisation is work different from document translation: the text must sound natural in Czech, Georgian realia (supra, qvevri, Svan towers) must be carried over with an explanation, and the details that matter to a Czech reader (the difficulty of mountain routes, transport, prices in crowns) must be given exactly. Marketing text is checked by a native-speaking copywriter, because a text that is exact but "sounds like a translation" does not work for advertising purposes.
Who translates and how quality is checked
Qualified Czech translators in Georgia are graduates of Czech universities, Georgians who worked in the Czech Republic for years and Czech-speaking specialists living in Georgia. Only a translator registered with the notary in the Czech-Georgian pair works on a translation to be notarised; a translation from Georgian into Czech is checked by a native-speaking editor, from Czech into Georgian by a Georgian language editor, while the transliteration of names, the -ová question, case forms, dates and seals are checked separately at the format control stage. On the Czech side, when needed, we cooperate with a court translator, which gives the client the form required by a Czech authority under our own coordination.
Georgians living in the Czech Republic: civil status records in two countries
The number of Georgians living in the Czech Republic is growing thanks to employee cards and study programmes, and every official event of their life must be reflected in two countries: a marriage registered at the Czech matrika at the Public Service Hall of Georgia, a child born in the Czech Republic in the Georgian citizenship register, a Czech court's divorce in Georgian civil status records. Each such document comes from Czech into Georgian with an apostille and notarisation, while the Georgian embassy in Prague carries out part of the procedure on site. In the opposite direction, for registering a Georgian's marriage at the Czech matrika, the certificate of capacity to marry, the birth certificate and, when needed, the divorce paper go from Georgian into Czech with an apostille, and the matrika is precisely the authority that most often requires the court translator's stamp. We prepare these packages so that one person's name is written identically in the documents of both countries, in the passport form, without -ová and case forms.
Czech electronic administration and the form of documents
The Czech Republic is among the leading countries of Europe in electronic administration: the data box (datová schránka) is the official communication channel of companies and citizens, the Czech POINT service issues extracts from registers within minutes, and the court translator has the right to certify electronically. For a Georgian client this means two things: a Czech document often arrives electronically, with a qualified signature and a verification code, and in the translation this code stays unchanged with a note that the original can be verified electronically; and when submitting a Georgian document to a Czech authority, the electronic form is sometimes preferable to paper. At the same time, the authority of one country, as a rule, cannot verify the electronic certification of the other, so a notarised translation between the two countries remains for now a paper document, and we clarify this question with the receiving authority in advance.
What we cannot do and where we advise another route
We cannot put an apostille on a document issued in the Czech Republic, because only the Czech ministries can do that. We cannot "issue" a Czech court translator's round stamp from Georgia, though we cooperate with a partner in the Czech Republic. We cannot promise that Georgian notarisation will be accepted by every Czech authority, because this depends on the practice of the specific authority. And we cannot translate a Slovak document with a Czech translator: the two languages are mutually intelligible, but at document level they differ and require separate registration. In every such case we tell you exactly which route works.
Deadlines, format and confidentiality
A Czech translation of a standard personal document with notarisation is ready within one working day, in express mode within 1-2 hours. The apostille is added within the Public Service Hall deadlines, which we name when confirming the order. For a voluminous contract and technical documentation the deadline is calculated individually. The whole process is online: you upload the document on the website and receive the translation electronically or by courier in any city in Georgia. Commercial and medical documents are processed under a confidentiality agreement.
Frequently asked questions
Will a Czech authority accept a translation notarised in Georgia?
The Czech embassy in Tbilisi, in our experience, accepts it for visa applications. The Czech migration service, the matrika and the court often require a translation with the court translator's round stamp. We clarify this when taking the order and, when needed, cooperate with a partner in the Czech Republic.
Can an apostille be attached in Georgia to a diploma brought from the Czech Republic?
No. The apostille is put only by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs (on administrative documents) or the Ministry of Justice (on court and notarial documents). In Georgia only the translation and notarisation are done.
Will my surname be written with -ová in the Czech translation?
No, unless you ask for it yourself. The surname is written in the Latin form of the passport. When translating from Czech into Georgian we remove -ová and write the surname in the passport form, noting the Czech form in a remark.
What must be translated for nostrification?
The diploma and transcript with an apostille, and at university level often the syllabi too, with hour loads. The names of subjects are translated in the terminology of Czech higher education.
Can the same translator do Czech and Slovak?
Orally they are mutually intelligible, but at document level they are two different languages, with different terminology and systems of authorities. The two languages are served by separate translators.
How long does an employee card package take?
A standard package (criminal record certificate, diploma, marriage certificate) in 1-2 working days, the apostille additionally within the Public Service Hall deadlines. In the case of the qualified worker programme we advise aligning with the employer's deadlines.