Your Georgian marriage certificate is filled in Georgian, and an office abroad that cannot read the script will want a translation beside it. You have 3 ways to get one: the state agency that apostilles the certificate, a translator whose signature a Tbilisi notary certifies, or a translator at home. Here is what each costs, which one can carry an apostille, and how to keep both names spelled exactly as your passports have them.
Quick summary
- A Georgian marriage certificate is filled in Georgian, and Georgia issues no multilingual version, so using it abroad usually means adding a translation.
- The Public Service Development Agency translates it into English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Russian or Turkish for GEL 30 a page.
- The agency can apostille its own translation, while a notary's certification of a translation cannot be apostilled or legalized.
- A translator in Tbilisi covers other languages, and the notary adds GEL 6 per signature on a one-page document plus GEL 5 to register the act.
- For US immigration, any complete English translation works if the translator certifies it as accurate and certifies being competent to translate it.
- Check both names in the translation against your passports before you pay, because they pass through Georgian letters on the way.
On this page
Is a Georgian Marriage Certificate Issued in English?
No. The certificate is filled in Georgian, the state language, and Georgia's civil registration law allows a foreign-language certificate only in cases set by an order of the Justice Minister. Your names go into it in Georgian letters, like every other entry.
That makes the certificate complete in Georgia and opaque almost everywhere else. An apostille tells an office abroad that the certificate is genuine; only a translation tells it who married whom, where and when.
Is There a Multilingual Georgian Marriage Certificate?
No. Some European registries issue multilingual extracts under the CIEC conventions, but Georgia is not a party to Convention 16 of 1976 on multilingual extracts or Convention 34 of 2014 on multilingual and coded certificates. Its civil registry lists no multilingual format among its services either.
What Georgia offers instead is a translation from the agency that apostilles the certificate, and the agency can put the same stamp on the translation. Put together, the apostilled certificate and its translation do the job a multilingual extract does elsewhere.
3 Ways to Translate a Georgian Marriage Certificate
The right route depends on the office that will read the translation, not on where you married. Start from what that office accepts, then pick the cheapest route that meets it.
| Route | Languages | Fee | Can the translation carry an apostille? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency translation at a Public Service Hall | English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Russian, Turkish | GEL 30 per page | Yes, the agency apostilles or legalizes its own translation |
| Translator in Tbilisi, with the signature certified by a notary | Any language a qualified translator works in | The translator's own fee, plus GEL 11 at the notary for a one-page document | No |
| Translator in the country where you will use the certificate | That country's language | Set by the translator | Not usually needed, since the office reads its own translators' work |
Of the 2 routes in Georgia, only the agency's can end with an apostille on the translation itself. The notarized route covers the languages the agency does not, but its certification cannot be apostilled, and a translator at home is the route some countries insist on.
From our Tbilisi team
For a country that takes an apostille, we use the agency translation. The certificate, its translation and their stamps then come from the same counter in Tbilisi, and nothing depends on an office abroad accepting a private translator's paperwork.
Agency Translation at the Public Service Hall
The Public Service Development Agency (opens in a new tab) translates the documents it apostilles or legalizes, and it can then apostille or legalize the translation too. You order it at any Public Service Hall, in the same application as the certificate's apostille.
It covers 8 languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Russian and Turkish. The fee is GEL 30 for each page, and a part page counts as a full one. Georgian rules allow an apostille on a translation made by an administrative body, which is why this translation can travel with a stamp of its own.
Leaving Georgia first does not close this route. If you apply to the agency from abroad by video call, the translation is still GEL 30 a page, and at a Georgian consulate it is USD 10 a page, next to the consulate's USD 10 apostille, ready within 8 working days.
Agency fees for translating a Georgian marriage certificate
- Translation at a Public Service Hall
- GEL 30 per page
- Translation when you apply from abroad by video call
- GEL 30 per page
- Translation through a Georgian consulate
- USD 10 per page
- Apostille or legalization in Georgia, per document
- GEL 30 to 150
- Apostille through a Georgian consulate, per document
- USD 10
- Certificate apostilled on the 8th working day, with a one-page translation
- GEL 60
A part page is charged as a full page. The apostille price depends on speed: GEL 30 on the 8th working day, GEL 60 on the 4th, GEL 120 on the 2nd and GEL 150 on the same day.
Notarized Translation by a Translator in Tbilisi
Georgia has no sworn translators. A notarized translation is made by a translator who holds a qualification in the language and signs a statement on the translation, and a notary certifies that signature. The notary vouches for the accuracy of the text only when they know both languages themselves.
The notary's side is priced by law: GEL 6 per signature on a one-page document, or GEL 4 per signature on a document of 2 to 10 pages, plus GEL 5 to register each notarial act, all before VAT. The translator's own fee is agreed with the translator and comes on top.
This route is for a language the agency does not cover, such as Dutch, Polish, Portuguese or Arabic, and for an office that accepts a translation with no stamp of its own.
A notarized translation cannot be apostilled
The agency's rules list a notary's certification of a translation among the documents it will not apostille or legalize. If the office at home wants a stamp on the translation, a notarized one from Tbilisi is not enough, and the fix is an agency translation ordered from abroad or a new translation at home. Ask the office which kind it takes before you pay for either.
What Counts as a Certified Translation Abroad
The phrase means different things in different countries. For US immigration filings, federal regulation 8 CFR 103.2 requires a full English translation that the translator certifies as complete and accurate, together with the translator's certification of competence to translate from Georgian into English. The rule does not say where the translator works, so a translation made in Tbilisi qualifies when it carries that signed statement.
Other countries set their own test. Some accept any complete translation, some accept only a sworn or court-certified translator of their own, and some want the translation itself apostilled. The office that will read the certificate decides, so ask it before you order anything.
Questions for the office at home
- Which language it wants the certificate translated into
- Whether it accepts a translation made in Georgia, or only one by its own sworn or certified translator
- Whether the translation needs an apostille or legalization of its own
- Whether it wants the original certificate or accepts a certified copy
- Whether the translator has to sign a statement of accuracy and competence, and in what wording
Apostille and Translation: Which Comes First
The apostille or legalization goes on the Georgian certificate, because it certifies the signature and seal of the office that issued it. The translation follows the stamped certificate, and when the agency makes it, you order both in the same application.
- Collect a paper copy of the certificate. Marriage certificates have been electronic since 1 June 2021, and the paper copy is issued on request.
- Apostille or legalize the certificate. Any Public Service Hall takes the application, for GEL 30 on the 8th working day up to GEL 150 on the same day.
- Order the agency translation at the same counter. Name the language, and say whether the translation needs its own apostille.
- Check the translation before you leave. Read every name and date against your passports and the Georgian original.
- Keep the set together. The certificate, its stamp and the translation go to the office at home as one set.
For a country outside the Apostille Convention, such as the UAE, Qatar or Kuwait, legalizing the certificate takes the place of the apostille, and the agency can legalize its translation in the same way. The destination's embassy sets its own rules for the stage after that, so ask it whether it attests the translation as well as the certificate.
From our Tbilisi team
We order the translation in the language of the office that will read the certificate first. If a second country needs another language, that is a second agency translation at GEL 30 a page from the same counter, and we order both before you fly rather than after.
Checking Names in the Translation
Your names went into the certificate in Georgian letters, and the translator brings them back out in Latin ones. Georgian spells by sound, so a Catherine can come back as Ketrin unless the translator knows how your passport writes it.
A translation that spells a name differently from your passport creates a name mismatch between documents, and every office at home will ask which spelling is right. Hand the translator both passports with the certificate, and read each name letter by letter before you pay.
If one of you took the other's surname at registration, the translated certificate is what the passport office reads before it puts the new surname in your passport. That surname has to appear in the translation exactly as you want it printed.