Translation and legalization of documents is necessary when a document will be used before a foreign country.
According to the requirements for translation and legalization of the state before which the document will be used, apostille certification or the placing of specific additional certifications is required.
We will look more specifically at the requirements for translation and legalization depending on the country that issued the document or in which it will be used, with Bulgaria in all cases being one of the countries involved in the relevant scenario.
Translation and legalization in the presence of bilateral relations
In cases where the two countries, the issuing country and the country where the document will be used, have signed bilateral treaties on legal assistance in civil matters providing for exemption from legalization of the document, only a written translation and certification of the translation itself are necessary. Bulgaria has such bilateral relations with Austria, Belarus, Macedonia, and other countries.
Here, however, the requirements remain that the document must be issued for use abroad, e. g.:
- A birth certificate must be issued as a “duplicate” with a rectangular stamp certifying the signatures and stamps affixed;
- A criminal record certificate issued as an “original” with the court stamp and the signatures of the judge and clerk.
Translation and legalization for countries that are parties to the Hague Convention
The Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents applies to documents issued by one of the contracting states and intended for use before another contracting state. Member states of the Hague Convention include Bulgaria, England, America, Germany, Turkey, and others.
Within the meaning of the convention, legalization of documents is necessary only with regard to the formal procedures by which the authenticity of the signatures and stamps on the document is certified, i. e. the above-described requirements for issuing the document for use abroad apply again.
When both parties are member states of the convention, translation and legalization of the document are carried out, and this legalization (after the formal procedures of authentication) consists of apostille certification of the document.
Translation and legalization in the absence of agreements
For translation and legalization of documents issued by a country that is not a party to the Hague Convention and has no bilateral relations with Bulgaria, the documents must have certification from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the specific issuing state, as well as certification from a diplomatic or consular mission of the Republic of Bulgaria in the respective country. The document prepared in this way is translated into Bulgarian and the translation is certified.
The reverse case is equivalent, i. e. when it is necessary to translate and legalize a document issued by a Bulgarian institution and it is to be used before a country with which there is no current bilateral agreement and which is not a party to the Hague Convention, the legalization of the document consists of certification by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria and certification by a diplomatic or consular mission of the respective foreign country before which the document is to be used.
In all cases, it is necessary to make a written translation into the official language of the country in which the document will be used, and this translation must be made by a sworn translator.
In Bulgaria, translations from Bulgarian into a foreign language are certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and those from a foreign language into Bulgarian are notarized by the translator who performed the translation.