Apostilled Translation

An apostilled translation combines two pieces of work: translating the document into the target language, and closing the chain with the apostille certificate. The order in which those two are carried out is the most critical point in the process – and the one where mistakes are made most often.

Translation first, or apostille first?

There is no single right answer; it depends on where the document is going. Two basic scenarios exist. In the first, the apostille is obtained on the original document and the apostilled document is then translated as a whole; this is the route where the destination country wants to see both the document and the certificate in its own language. In the second, a notarised translation is produced first and the apostille is applied to that certification; this applies where the destination country wants to see a translation produced in Türkiye and certified there.

Some countries, however, require the translation to be made on their own territory by a translator they have authorised. In that case only the original document is apostilled in Türkiye and the translation is done in the destination country. This is more likely in countries with their own sworn translator regimes, such as Germany, France and Spain. We have gathered the differences country by country in our country guide.

Which authority issues the apostille?

In Türkiye the power to issue apostilles is not held by a single body; different authorities are competent depending on the type of document. Governor’s offices and district governor’s offices handle administrative documents, while judicial documents go to the judicial justice commission in centres with a serious crime court. Going to the wrong authority means a delay that can run into days.

Document type	Class	Competent authority
Civil registry extract, birth and marriage certificates	Administrative	Governor’s / district governor’s office
Diploma and academic transcript	Administrative	Governor’s / district governor’s office
Court judgment, criminal record certificate	Judicial	Judicial justice commission
Notarised power of attorney or translation	Judicial	Judicial justice commission
Trade registry documents	Administrative	Governor’s / district governor’s office

As a rule the apostille is obtained from the competent authority in the province where the document was issued. Where a file contains documents issued in different cities, the apostille procedures run in more than one province. You can see the cities we handle work in on our provinces page.

Countries outside the apostille system

If the destination country is not a party to the convention, an apostille is of no use; a chain of legalisation is run instead. That chain typically consists of notarisation, then certification by the relevant ministry, and finally certification by the destination country’s mission in Türkiye. It takes longer and depends on the mission’s own appointment calendar.

Membership is not fixed: a number of countries have joined the convention in recent years, and in some the practice is still in transition. Before starting, therefore, the current position of the destination country should be confirmed against the convention’s official list of parties. We give that same warning alongside the guidance on our country pages.

Quality: the certificate itself is also a translation

An apostille certificate consists of standard numbered fields whose headings are laid down in the text of the convention. When the certificate is translated, that standard structure has to be preserved, the field numbers left in place, and the name of the issuing authority carried across in its official form. A free rendering can lead to the certificate not being recognised at the receiving institution.

The second checkpoint is the physical link between document and certificate. The pages of an apostilled document must not be separated, and nothing further should be done to them. Where a translation is to be attached afterwards, it must be clearly visible which copy it belongs to.

What an apostille does not confirm

Most mistaken expectations about apostilles come from overstating what the certificate covers. An apostille does not say that the content of the document is correct. Nor does a diploma carrying one mean it will be treated as valid in the destination country; recognition and equivalence are an entirely separate process, handled by a different authority.

Equally, an apostille gives no assurance as to the accuracy of a translation. An apostille applied to a notarised translation confirms only the notary’s authority. Responsibility for the quality of the translation still lies with the translator. Knowing that these three layers – content, translation and authority – carry separate responsibility makes it possible to see in advance where a file may snag.

The third mistaken expectation concerns speed. An apostille shortens the chain of legalisation but does not reset the process; obtaining the document, translating it and, where needed, having it certified beforehand all still take their own time. The slowest link in the chain is usually not the apostille but getting the document out of the issuing institution.

Foreign documents for use in Türkiye

The process runs in the other direction too. Before a document issued abroad can be used in Türkiye, it is expected to have been apostilled in its own country. A Turkish notary or governor’s office does not certify the authority of a foreign official, so the first link in the chain is always formed in the country where the document was issued.

Once the apostilled foreign document reaches Türkiye, both the document and the certificate are translated into Turkish and, where required, the translation is notarised. A common mistake is translating only the document and leaving the apostille certificate untranslated; the file may then be treated as incomplete.

If the country of origin is not a party to the convention, a chain of legalisation is run for the document coming into Türkiye as well: certification by the competent authority in its own country, then certification by the Turkish mission there. Because this route takes longer, it should be started before any travel is planned.

The second frequent difficulty with foreign documents is that there may be no Turkish counterpart. Another country’s particular form of record may carry a document name with no exact equivalent in Turkish. The right approach here is to render the name descriptively and keep the source-language name in the translation as well; matching it to a local document name would assert an equivalence that does not exist.

What determines the price?

The official fee paid for the apostille certificate itself and the charge for the translation service should be thought of separately. On the translation side, cost is driven by page count, language pair and the technical density of the document. On the procedural side, what drives the workload is not the number of documents but how many different authorities the file has to pass through.

A single diploma may need one visit to one governor’s office, while a file of five documents issued in three cities calls for far more coordination. For apostille work, therefore, a quote cannot be given without seeing the list of documents. We set out item by item what is included in the price on our pricing page.

Situations that come up often

• Corrections after the apostille. The smallest change made to a document once the certificate has been issued renders the apostille inoperative; the process begins again.
• Electronically signed documents. For some documents issued electronically the apostille process works differently. If the document carries a QR verification address, ask in advance whether the receiving institution accepts it.
• Multilingual standard documents. Some civil status documents can be issued in multilingual form, in which case a separate translation may not be required; the apostille requirement, however, does not disappear.
• Time limits. The apostille itself has no expiry date, but the document beneath it may. Institutions usually look at the date of the document, not the date of the certificate.

Send us your list of documents through the quote form and we will work out in advance which authority is competent for each one and in what order the steps should run.

The account below summarises typical practice; institutional practice can vary. It is worth consulting the institution’s own published guidance before deciding.