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If you are holding a birth or marriage certificate of the Soviet type, no apostille will be placed on it. This does not depend on the condition of the form. Below we explain why this happens and what to do so that the document is accepted abroad after all.
Why it is refused
The rule is set out in clause 4 of the Rules on the issuance of the apostille (order of 17.03.2023 No. 125/209/293/139/999/5). The meaning is this: if a document was issued by an institution of a former union republic within the USSR, its original is not accepted for apostille.
It is important to understand what is being looked at. Not the date and not the appearance of the form, but which authority issued the document. The Ukrainian SSR was part of the USSR, so any certificate issued by a registry office of the Ukrainian SSR falls under this rule.
There is one exception, and it is written into the same provision: documents on education and academic degrees issued by the Ukrainian SSR. Put simply, a Soviet diploma can be apostilled, and a Soviet birth certificate cannot.
Source: Rules on affixing the apostille – order of 17.03.2023 No. 125/209/293/139/999/5 · as of 2026
Why a notarized copy does not help
The same Rules allow an apostille to be placed on a certified copy. Many people count on this option, but with civil registry certificates it does not work. Their copy is apostilled in one case only: if the original has already been apostilled or legalized. And the original of a Soviet certificate cannot be apostilled. The circle closes.
There are other grounds for refusal, and they do not depend on the year of issue:
- the form is laminated
- there are corrections or illegible text
- there are unrelated notes on it, for example about the blood type
The lamination should not be removed on your own: the film comes away together with the security layer, and the document can no longer be restored.
What to do
There is one solution: to obtain a current document from the Ukrainian civil registry in place of the Soviet one and to apostille that document instead.
- Ask the receiving party what exactly they need: a reissued certificate or a register extract. These are different documents, and the mistake will only come to light abroad.
- Order the document. You can entrust this to a representative under a notarized power of attorney. Through the consulate it takes the longest, from 3 to 6 months.
- Check the result in the electronic register. Since 2 March 2026 it shows both the apostille itself and a scan of the document.
- Have the translation made for the country of destination. Depending on the purpose of filing and the receiving authority, the translation is made with notarial certification, by a sworn translator, or with a translator's affidavit (for the United Kingdom, the USA, Australia, Canada).
The old certificate stays with you, nobody takes it away and nobody cancels it. It is simply its current version that travels abroad.
You order the reissued certificate yourself – at a civil registry office, an administrative service center or through the Diia portal. Once you have the document, Etalon places the apostille on the certificate and prepares the translation for the country of filing.
The apostille depends not on the condition of the form but on which authority issued the document. A certificate from a registry office of the Ukrainian SSR falls outside the apostille, and a notarized copy does not rescue it – only a current document from the Ukrainian civil registry works, and that one is apostilled in the ordinary way.
