Schmidt & Schmidt offers legalization by apostille of the public documents from Transnistria.
The legalization of public documents issued in Transnistria is quite complicated: the procedure varies depending on the type of document as well as its state of destination.
Transnistria, or Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) is an unrecognized state; therefore, it conducts diplomatic relations only with other unrecognized or partially recognized states.
The PMR is not in itself a party to the Hague Convention of October 5, 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. However, according to the legislation of the Republic of Moldova, which acceded to the Hague Convention in 2006, Transnistria can be treated as part of Moldova so that some of the documents issued there could be apostillized by the authorized bodies of Moldova. For that, Transnistrian documents have to be re-registered in Moldova, after which they can be certified by apostille.
The apostillization of public documents from Transnistria includes the authentication of the origin of the document (replaced new document) and the authority of the officials who have affixed the signature, seal or stamp on the document. After such verification, a special stamp - the apostille - is affixed to the public document or its certified copy. The apostille is usually placed on the back of the underlying public document or on a separate attached page.
The 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 should not contain alien markings or labels.
Responsible for issuing the apostille are the following institutions in Moldova:
- The Ministry of Justice for documents of civil status, notarial certificates, judicial documents and documents issued by education institutions
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs for all other documents
Certificates of birth and marriage issued after 1992 can be legalized in Moldova; for the apostillization of documents issued before 1992 the procurement of a new document is required.
Secondary school graduation certificates (if an additional document - the certificate of study - is provided) may be apostilled. Since 2017, diplomas of higher education issued in the PMR have been apostilled in Moldova.
The following documents can be authenticated by apostille:
- Certificates of civil status (certificates of birth, death, marriage and divorce)
- Education documents (school reports, certificates, diplomas)
- Trade register excerpts
- Court decisions
- Notarially certified copies of documents
- Notarially certified translations
- Further notarial documents (authorizations, last will, declarations)
- Commercial documents legalized by a state registration body (articles of incorporation, registration certificates, tax registrations etc.)
Customs, diplomatic, consular, commercial documents, passports and other identification cards are not subject to apostillization.
The validity period of the apostille is not limited, but restrictions can be imposed on the validity period of underlying public documents.
Requirements for the documents:
The 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 should not contain alien markings or labels.
Additional services
In addition to the legalization of your public documents, we can provide you with high-quality translations.
Should you require company information for use in court, it needs to be legalized as well. We are therefore offering extracts from the commercial register of Moldova including apostillization and translation.
On average, processing the documents takes up to 14 days.
