Schmidt & Schmidt offers services for apostille and legalization of official documents issued in Kyrgyzstan.

An apostille is a simplified form of document legalization, which applies to the states that have ratified the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. Kyrgyzstan has been a member state of the Convention since 2010.

In Kyrgyzstan, the apostille is a rectangular stamp with a side length of at least 9 centimeters, issued in English. It contains the mandatory heading “Apostille” and a reference to the Hague Convention of 1961 in French (“Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961”). The content of the stamp is prescribed by the Hague Convention. The fields are filled in Kyrgyz.

The apostille certifies the authenticity of the signature, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted, and, where applicable, the authenticity of the seal or stamp affixed to the document.

Responsible for issuing the apostille are the following institutions:

• Ministry of Justice
• Ministry of Domestic Affairs
• State Committee for National Security
• National security service
• State Service for Financial Police
• Judicial Department

The process of apostille certification in the Kyrgyz Republic provides that the competent authority verifies and confirms the authenticity of the signature on an official document, the capacity in which the person signing the document has acted, and the authenticity of the seal or stamp affixed to the document (if any). After that, a certificate bearing the “Apostille” mark is attached to the document. As a rule, the apostille is placed on the reverse side of the original document or on a separate sheet attached to it.

With us, you can order an apostille for extracts from the State Register of Legal Entities of Kyrgyzstan or for other documents.

The following documents can be authenticated by an apostille:

• Certificates of civil status (certificates of birth, death, marriage and divorce)
• Education documents (school reports, certificates, diplomas)
• Extracts from the commercial register
• Judicial decisions
• Notarially certified copies of documents
• Notarially certified translations
• Further notarial documents (authorizations, last will, declarations)
• Commercial documents legalized by a state organ of registration (articles of incorporation, registration certificates, tax registrations etc.)

Requirements for the documents

An apostille can be exclusively issued for the original document. Therefore, the latter must be presented in good condition, with all stamps and signatures clear and readable. Furthermore, it must not contain alien markings or labels.

Exemption from apostille and consular legalization

According to Article 13 of the Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family, and Criminal Matters, which is in force in the countries that have signed it, documents issued in member states do not require legalization.

The member states of the Convention include: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine.

Kyrgyzstan has been a member of this Convention since 1996. For these states, legalization of documents issued in Kyrgyzstan by means of an apostille is not required. To use documents issued in Kyrgyzstan in the territories of the above-mentioned countries, it is necessary to provide a notarized translation.

The apostille does not apply

It is important to note that the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 does not apply o relations between Kyrgyzstan and the following countries: Austria and Greece.

Consular legalization in Kyrgyzstan

If a document is to be used in a country that does not recognize the Hague Convention, or in other countries (including Greece or Austria), the document must undergo consular legalization. A full list of countries that accept and use apostilles can be found here.

Consular legalization is a more time-consuming and costly procedure compared to apostille certification. The process for legalizing documents issued in Kyrgyzstan is as follows:

• Notarize a copy of the document at a notary office.
• Confirm the authenticity of the notary’s signature and seal at the Ministry of Justice.
• Certify the document at the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan.
• Translate the document into the relevant language.
• Legalize the document at the consular section of the embassy (consulate) of the relevant country in Kyrgyzstan.

It is important to remember that the document will only have legal effect in the country whose consular stamp it bears and cannot be used in other countries.

Unlike apostille certification, consular legalization can be applied not only to official and notarial documents but also to commercial documents, provided they are certified by the Chamber of Commerce.

The validity of consular legalization is generally unlimited, although restrictions may apply to the validity of the underlying documents themselves.

Procurement of documents in Kyrgyzstan

It often happens that civil status documents are lost, damaged, or that up-to-date copies are required. In such cases, it is necessary to procure duplicates of the documents. People who have left Kyrgyzstan often face difficulties with this procedure. Our service allows you to procure documents in Kyrgyzstan remotely, and we can arrange courier delivery of the documents to anywhere in the world.

Notarized translation of documents from Kyrgyzstan

Copies and duplicates of civil status documents can be translated into any language by a certified translator in Kyrgyzstan, or the translation can be done in the destination country. We provide notarized translation services for civil status documents, with subsequent certification. The cost of the service is calculated based on the volume of the specific document.