What is Apostille?

According to the Hague Convention signed on 5 October 1961, the international legalization system used to validate a document from official institutions in other countries is called as the Apostille. It is necessary that an official document from a country be valid in other countries which are party to the Apostille Convention.

Where is Apostille Legalization Done in Turkey?

In Turkey, apostille certification approval is done in governorships and district governorships. In addition, the Office of the Ministry of Justice, the Heavy Penal Courts and the Justice Commission can make apostille approval for the documents within the Ministry of Justice.

How is Apostille Legalization Made in Turkey?

Apostille Legalization in Turkey can be made to the documents issued by the institutions in Turkey or the foreign country documents which have already been apostilled. Some procedures must be done in order to make apostille approval:

1. First of all, a certificate of apostille legalization must be translated into the official language of the country of use by a certified translation office.
2. Notarization must be made in a notary where a translation of this document is translated by a certified translation office.
3. After the notarization, the provincial or district governor’s office in the province where the approval is made, the process is completed by making Apostille Approval.
4. For countries that are party to the Apostil Agreement, no further approval is required at the embassies or consulates after this procedure.

Apostille Legalization Approval for Foreign Country Documents

Apostille certification can only be made to any document coming from abroad by the relevant institutions in Turkey if the relevant document has already apostilled or it has been legalized by the Turkish Embassy or Consulate of the issuing country. Oterwise, each country has the right to make apostille approvals in a document issued in its own borders. So, a document issued in a foreign country needs to be apostilled in that country and must be brought to Turkey as apostilled. However, the embassies and consulates of some countries in Turkey may apostille the documents of their country. You can contact the embassy and consulate to ask about this ooportunity. Otherwise, your documents must be sent to the country where your document is issued and it must be apostilled there.

Apostille Legalization Prices in Turkey

Institutions in Turkey receive only 5 TRY for apostilization transactions. However, the related document must be paid for the translation and notarization procedures. For example, there is a translation fee between 60 TRY and 150 TRY according to the language to be translated for a diploma. After the translation, the notarization price for a diploma is around 150 TRY. You can learn more about the notary certified translation prices here. In addition, some translation offices carry out apostille legalization on your behalf. A service fee of around 150 TRY is required for this transaction.

Apostille Validity Period

The documents approved under the Apostille Convention do not have a validity period. The validity period of apostille legalization is determined individually by the party countries. You can obtain information about the validity period, if any, in consultation with the country of use of the document.

Documents with Apostille Certification

All kinds of documents received from official institutions can be apostilled, and here are among mostly requested documents such as: diploma, student certificate, marriage certificate, court decision, criminal record, birth certificate, virginity certificate, power of attorney, consent and activity certificate, chamber registration, tax certificate, company documents, etc. 

Approval Procedures for Countries That Are Not Party of the Apostille Convention

The documents to be used in countries which are not parties to the Hague Agreement of October 5, 1961 have a different legalization procedure. In addition to the abovementioned procedures, a document is approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy or Consulate of the country concerned.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Consulate Certification Legalization  in Turkey

The legalization approval procedures for the documents to be used in the countries that are not party to the apostille convention such as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi), Algeria, Palestine, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Sudan are as follows:

1. First of all, a certificate of apostille legalization must be translated into the official language of the country of use by a certified translation office.
2. Notarization must be made in a notary where a translation of this document is translated by a certified translation office.
3. After the notarization, the provincial or district governor’s office in the province where the approval is made, the process is completed by making Apostille Approval.
4. After the approval of the Apostille, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs legalizes the relevant document. The fee for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is around 60 TRY per document.
5. Finally, the relevant document shall be submitted to the embassy or consulate which shall make the legalization approval. The approval process of the embassy or consulate lasts for a few days.
6. In addition, each country has a different fee charged per document for legalization approval. In some countries these fees vary according to the document. The approval of documents such as diplomas is cheaper and the approval of company documents is more expensive. Fees for embassy / consulate legalization approval procedures of some countries are as follows:

Afghanistan	125 USD (company docs)
United Arab Emirates	159 BAE Dirhem
Algeria	5 USD – 50 USD
Palestine	10 USD – 20 USD
Morocco	Diploma is free – company docs 25 USD – 50 USD
Iranian	15 USD – 60 USD
Qatar	27 USD – 50 USD
Kuwait	30 USD
Lebanon	15 USD – 30 USD
Egypt	30 USD
Nigeria	50 TL – 150 TL
Pakistan	125 TL
Saudi Arabia	100 TL
Jordan	60 TL

Countries Party to the Apostille Convention

Last update: 12-IX-2018
Number of Contracting Parties to this Convention: 117
The expression “Contracting Party” covers both cases in which the Convention has, and cases in which the Convention has not yet, entered into force for that Party following the deposit of its instrument of ratification, accession, acceptance or approval (see column EIF in the chart).

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Contracting Parties to this Convention that are also Members of the HCCH (i.e., the Organisation) are in bold; Contracting Parties that are not Members of the HCCH are in italics.

Albania	Brazil	El Salvador	Israel	Mauritius	Poland	South Africa
Andorra	Brunei Darussalam	Estonia	Italy	Mexico	Portugal	Spain
Antigua and Barbuda	Bulgaria	Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)	Japan	Monaco	Republic of Moldova	Suriname
Argentina	Burundi	Fiji	Kazakhstan	Mongolia	Republic of North Macedonia	Sweden
Armenia	Cabo Verde	Finland	Korea, Republic of	Montenegro	Romania	Switzerland
Australia	Chile	France	Kosovo	Morocco	Russian Federation	Tajikistan
Austria	China, People’s Republic of	Georgia	Kyrgyzstan	Namibia	Saint Kitts and Nevis	Tonga
Azerbaijan	Colombia	Germany	Latvia	Netherlands	Saint Lucia	Trinidad and Tobago
Bahamas	Cook Islands	Greece	Lesotho	New Zealand	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Tunisia
	Costa Rica	Grenada	Liberia	Nicaragua	Samoa	Turkey
Barbados	Croatia	Guatemala	Liechtenstein	Niue	San Marino	Ukraine
Belarus	Cyprus	Guyana	Lithuania	Norway	Sao Tome and Principe	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Belgium	Czech Republic	Honduras	Luxembourg	Oman	Serbia	United States of America
Belize	Denmark	Hungary	Malawi	Panama	Seychelles	Uruguay
Bolivia	Dominica	Iceland	Malta	Paraguay	Slovakia	Uzbekistan
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Dominican Republic	India	Marshall Islands	Peru	Slovenia	Vanuatu
Botswana	Ecuador	Ireland		Philippines		Venezuela

Please contact us for all kinds of apostille legalization and document certification procedures in Turkey.