What Is an Apostille and How Do You Obtain One? (2026 Guide)

One point needs to be clear from the outset: an apostille says nothing about whether the content of the document is correct. It confirms only that the person who signed the document genuinely held that authority and that the seal is genuine. The accuracy of the content remains the responsibility of the institution that issued the document.

When is an apostille needed, and when is it not?

An apostille is needed only for official documents and only where the document is to be used abroad. A document to be used within Türkiye is not apostilled. Documents drawn up between private individuals can be apostilled only once notarisation has given them the character of an official document.

If the destination country is not party to the Convention, an apostille serves no purpose. In that case the legalisation chain applies: notarisation, then certification by the relevant ministry, and finally certification by the destination country’s mission in Türkiye. This route takes longer and depends on the mission’s appointment calendar. You can compare the position of individual countries in our country guide, and check the Convention’s official list of parties for definitive information.

Which authority is competent?

In Türkiye, competence for the apostille divides in two according to the type of document. Governors’ offices and authorised district governors’ offices deal with administrative documents, while the judicial justice commissions in centres that have a serious crimes court deal with judicial documents. As a rule, a document is apostilled by the competent authority of the province in which it was issued.

Document	Class	Where the apostille is obtained	What is needed beforehand
Civil registry extract	Administrative	Governor’s office / district governor’s office	Currently dated original document
Birth and marriage certificate	Administrative	Governor’s office / district governor’s office	Copy certified by the civil registry office
Diploma	Administrative	Governor’s office / district governor’s office	University or provincial national education approval may be required
Criminal record certificate	Judicial	Judicial justice commission	Wet-signed or verifiable copy
Court judgment	Judicial	Judicial justice commission	Endorsement that the judgment is final
Notarised power of attorney	Judicial	Judicial justice commission	Notarisation
Notarised translation	Judicial	Judicial justice commission	Sworn translation and notarisation
Trade registry certificate	Administrative	Governor’s office / district governor’s office	Copy certified by the registry office

The process step by step

1. Get the receiving institution’s requirement in writing. Whether an apostille is needed, where the translation is to be done and into which language it is to be translated are all set out in that requirement. Skip this step and everything that follows rests on guesswork.
2. Obtain a currently dated original of the document. Photocopies and out-of-date copies are not accepted by most institutions.
3. Check whether prior approval is needed. Some documents require an approval from their own institution before the apostille.
4. Decide the order. Will the apostille go on the original document, or will the translation be done first and the endorsement placed on the notarised translation? That depends on what the receiving institution expects.
5. Apply to the competent authority. Use the table to work out whether the document is administrative or judicial; the wrong authority is the most frequent cause of delay.
6. Complete the translation. Where the apostille endorsement is translated as well, its standard field structure is preserved.
7. Carry out the final check. The physical link between the document and the endorsement must remain intact and the pages must not be separated.

Why does the order matter so much?

There are three different scenarios and all three are valid, but which one applies depends on the destination country. In the first, the original document is apostilled and the document and endorsement are then translated together. In the second, a sworn translation is done first, it is notarised, and the apostille is placed on that notarisation. In the third, only the apostille is obtained in Türkiye and the translation is done in the destination country by a translator authorised there.

The third scenario comes up often in countries with a strict regime for sworn translators. In those countries a translation produced in Türkiye may not be accepted, however good it is. Knowing this in advance saves paying twice.

The safest way to decide is to read the receiving institution’s written requirement. The phrase “an apostilled original of the document together with an official translation” points to the first scenario, “an apostilled official translation” to the second, and “an apostilled original of the document” to the third. That single sentence of difference determines the whole process.

Approvals required before the apostille

Some documents cannot be taken straight to the apostille authority; they first need an approval from their own institution. In practice this intermediate step is one of the commonest sources of surprise, because the person holding the document assumes it is official already.

Typical examples are approval by the relevant provincial directorate or the university for certain education documents, a copy certified by the registry office for trade registry documents, and approval by the relevant directorate for medical reports. Whether these steps are needed depends on the type of document and on the institution that issued it; asking before you go to the apostille authority is the most practical course.

The same logic applies to notarised translations. For apostille purposes a notarised translation counts as a judicial document, and its endorsement comes from the judicial justice commission. The translation of an administrative document, in other words, goes to a different authority once it has been notarised; when that distinction is missed, the wait happens at the wrong counter.

How can you tell which class a document belongs to?

There is a practical rule of thumb. If the document was issued by a court, a public prosecutor’s office, an enforcement office or a notary’s office, it is judicial. If it came from a civil registry office, a university, the trade registry, a municipality, a tax office or a ministry unit, it is administrative. The rule is not without exceptions, but it classifies the great majority of cases correctly.

If you are in doubt, looking at the title of the signatory on the document will guide you. Since the endorsement confirms the authenticity of that signature, the apostille is issued through whichever authority keeps the register for it. In mixed files the documents are split into two groups along this line and two separate applications are made.

Practical decisions that shorten the timescale

• Group your documents. Bringing together in one application all the documents going to the same authority is far quicker than going separately.
• Plan the copies from the start. If you are applying to two countries, you may need two separate apostilled sets.
• Look at the geographical spread. If the documents were issued in different provinces, the apostilles are obtained in those provinces; this is the single biggest factor in the timetable.
• Leave time-sensitive documents until last. Obtain documents subject to a recency requirement at the very end; a document obtained early may be out of date by the day of the appointment.
• Position the translation at the right moment. Starting the translation before the scenario has been settled is the most frequently repeated cost mistake.

Another practical point is that the formalities can be carried out under a power of attorney. The apostille application does not always have to be made by the holder of the document in person; a third party can carry it out under a properly drawn authorisation. For applicants who are abroad this is the key to running the whole process remotely, and it frees travel plans from the translation timetable.

Checklist

• Do you have the receiving institution’s requirement in writing?
• Is the document currently dated and an original copy?
• Is the document administrative or judicial, and which authority will it go to?
• Is an institutional approval needed before the apostille?
• Will the translation be done before or afterwards?
• How many copies are needed? Each institution retains its own copy.
• Is the document itself subject to a recency requirement?
• Is the destination country party to the Convention, and have you confirmed this from the official list?

Points that come up often

Does an apostille have a period of validity? The endorsement itself has none. The document beneath it may, however; institutions generally look at the date the document was issued. Obtaining the apostille very early is therefore not always an advantage.

What about electronic documents? With documents that carry a QR code and can be verified online, practice may differ. Whether the receiving institution accepts electronic verification should be asked in advance.

Can corrections be made after the apostille? No. Any change made to the document after the endorsement has been obtained renders the apostille ineffective, and the process has to be run again from the beginning.

When you send us your list of documents through the quote form, we work out the competent authority and the right order for each one; you can see which provinces we handle work in on the provinces page.

The account below summarises typical practice; the practice of an individual institution may differ. The final requirement is determined by the institution you are applying to, so confirm it in advance.