Civil status documents
Apostille on a birth or marriage certificate
Apostilles on civil status certificates through the Ministry of Justice — for visas, family reunification, citizenship and children's schooling.
How we work
Birth, marriage and divorce certificates are apostilled by the Ministry of Justice, the quickest of the three procedures. The obstacle here is not the timescale but the form of the document: an apostille goes only on a certificate in the current form, issued after 1991. If what you hold is an old Soviet-era certificate, a repeat one is obtained from the civil registry first, and the apostille goes on that. This is a normal working step rather than a problem, but it has to be built into the schedule.
Kyiv office and remote orders
Order at our office at 40/2 Volodymyrska Street, office 5, Kyiv, or remotely from Ukraine and other countries. Finished documents can be collected, delivered digitally or sent worldwide through postal operators.
What you can order
- Birth certificate
- Marriage certificate
- Divorce certificate
- Change of name certificate
- Death certificate
- Extract from the State Register of Civil Status Acts
- Certificate of marital status
- Repeat certificates in the current form
What you receive
- A check on whether the certificate is fit for an apostille
- A repeat certificate obtained if the old one is not
- Translation and certification in the same order
- Names as in the international passport, consistent across the file
- The destination country's order of steps taken into account
- Remote handling
Frequently asked questions
Can a Soviet-era certificate be apostilled?
No. Apostilles go only on documents issued by Ukrainian authorities after 1991. For an old certificate a repeat one in the current form is obtained — we can do that together with the apostille and translation, as a single order.
Is an apostille needed on a certificate for family reunification?
Almost always, if the destination country is a party to the Hague Convention. For other countries consular legalisation applies. Tell us the country and we will confirm the route.
How should a child's name be spelled?
As in the child's international passport; if there is none yet, consistently with the parents' documents. A single differing letter between certificate and passport is a common reason for a file to be returned.
How long does it take?
The Ministry of Justice apostille is the quickest of the three, but the exact timescale depends on the authority's workload and on whether a repeat certificate is needed.