Apostille of Ukrainian documents — online, nationwide

What an apostille is

An apostille is a standardised stamp introduced by the 1961 Hague Convention, which Ukraine joined on 22 December 2003. It certifies that the document was signed by an authorised person and that the seal and capacity are genuine.

For convention member countries the apostille is enough — consular legalisation is not required. The stamp itself never expires, although the underlying document may have its own validity period (for example, a police-clearance certificate). An apostille is not the same as nostrification: the apostille certifies that a document is genuine, while nostrification (recognition) of a diploma happens abroad and is a separate step.

Who issues the apostille: four authorities

Ukraine does not have "three ministries" for this — the apostille is issued by exactly four authorities, each for its own document type.

MES — educational documents: diploma and transcript, school certificate, academic references. Note that a diploma and its transcript are two documents, so the state fee is charged twice.

Ministry of Justice — civil-registry documents (birth, marriage, divorce, death), notarial copies and translations, court rulings, archival certificates, powers of attorney and corporate documents.

Ministry of Internal Affairs — police-clearance certificates (vytiah); since 2023 the apostille on these is issued by the Internal Affairs ministry, not the MFA.

MFA — medical documents and everything else not covered by the first three. Important: the apostille on medical documents is issued by the MFA, not by the Ministry of Health, which does not issue apostilles at all.

Apostille, consular legalisation or nothing

Depending on the destination country, one of three regimes applies. Apostille — for Hague Convention countries (over 120 states, including the EU, the USA and the UK). Canada has been a member since 11 January 2024, so it needs an apostille rather than legalisation (usually with an additional certified translation into English or French).

Consular legalisation — for non-convention countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Vietnam and others): a multi-step procedure through the consulate.

Nothing beyond translation and notarisation is required for countries with a legal-assistance treaty: Poland, Czechia, Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, the Baltic states, Georgia, Kazakhstan and others. We will check your country for free and advise the correct route.

How the remote process works

All four authorities are located in Kyiv, so we run the process so that you can stay home. You send scans for a free assessment of timing and price; after payment you ship the original by Nova Poshta; we submit the document to the right ministry under a notarised power of attorney and return the finished apostille by Nova Poshta.

An electronic police-clearance extract cannot be apostilled — the apostille requires a paper extract with a seal and signature. A laminated or Soviet-era civil-registry certificate cannot be apostilled either — a new duplicate certificate is needed first, which we can obtain for you.

How we work

1. 1Scan & quoteSend scans of your documents via messenger or email — we name the timing, the authority and an indicative price for free.
2. 2PaymentYou confirm the order and pay online; the state fee and the service cost are fixed before we start.
3. 3Original by Nova PoshtaYou ship the original by Nova Poshta — we submit it to the right ministry in Kyiv under a notarised power of attorney.
4. 4Finished document backWe return the finished apostille by Nova Poshta to your city or forward it abroad. No trip to Kyiv required.

Prices

• Apostille on a document (turnkey) + authority state feefrom UAH 950
• Justice: civil-registry, notarial, court, archival fee individuals / UAH 1,160 legal · up to 3 business daysUAH 670
• MES: diploma, school certificate, education fee individuals / UAH 1,160 legal · diploma + transcript = ×2UAH 670
• Internal Affairs: police-clearance certificate fee individuals / UAH 85 legal · extract up to 10 business daysUAH 51
• MFA: medical and other documents ×2 for urgency · request ≥20 business daysMFA tariff
• Translation + notarisation per document, if requiredfrom UAH 250

State fees shown are the authorities' fees (individuals, 2026); the bureau service is separate and fixed before we start. Urgent processing is possible. We give the final amount after a free document review.

FAQ