Translation of a Ukrainian criminal record extract for your destination country
A Ukrainian criminal record extract is almost never accepted abroad in Ukrainian: the receiving side asks for a translation, and the country decides which kind. Poland, Germany, Czechia, Italy, Spain, France and Slovakia work with sworn translation, certified by the signature and personal seal of a translator listed in that country register, with no notary involved. Elsewhere a notarised translation is usually enough.
One more condition is mentioned less often: the spelling of your surname and given name must match your international passport, or the receiving authority reads the document as somebody else. We work remotely across Ukraine: you send a scan, we send the finished set back.
- Sworn translation by our own translators: Polish, Czech, German, Italian
- Notarised translation for countries that do not require a sworn one
- Name spelling taken from your passport, not from the table alone
- Remote across Ukraine: scan in | finished documents out
Offices in Kyiv and Kharkiv, remote work across the whole of Ukraine.
Sworn or notarised: what your country will accept
The difference is not the quality of the text but who signs it. A sworn translator is entered in the state register of the destination country, holds a register number and a personal seal, so the translation is an official document in itself, without a notary. A notarised translation works the other way round: the translator translates, and the notary certifies that the signature is genuine, without checking the content.
The practical consequence: where a country keeps a register of sworn translators, a notarised translation may be refused, and taking a sworn one to a country that does not ask for it means paying twice over. Below are the directions people come to us with most often. The receiving authority always has the final word: we do not promise on behalf of someone else institution, but we will name the most likely requirement so you do not do the work twice.
| Country | Translation accepted | Notary needed |
|---|---|---|
| Poland | Sworn (tłumacz przysięgły) | No |
| Germany | Sworn (vereidigter Übersetzer) | No |
| Czechia | Sworn (soudní překladatel) | No |
| Italy | Sworn (traduzione giurata) | No |
| Spain | Sworn (traductor jurado) | No |
| France | Sworn (traducteur assermenté) | No |
| Slovakia | Sworn (úradný preklad) | No |
| Other destinations | Notarised translation, as a rule | Yes |
Your passport decides the spelling of your name, not the table
Official transliteration of Ukrainian surnames and given names into Latin script follows Cabinet Resolution No. 55. The same letters cause most of the trouble: Х becomes Kh, Ц becomes Ts, Ч becomes Ch, Ш becomes Sh, Щ becomes Shch, while the soft sign and the apostrophe are not reproduced at all, so Демьяненко becomes Demianenko.
The table, however, is only the baseline algorithm. Your official spelling is fixed by the State Migration Service in your international passport, and it may differ: because of older rules, or because a spelling from your earlier documents was kept at your request. In the translation we use the passport spelling. A mismatch is one of the most common reasons a package comes back: if the passport says Tetiana and the translation says Tetyana, a foreign authority is entitled to treat these as two different people. That is why we ask for the passport page with the Latin spelling alongside the scan of the extract.
Paper or electronic extract: what can be legalised and translated
The extract exists in two forms, and for use abroad they are not equivalent. An apostille is placed on the paper copy only: the electronic one cannot be apostilled or consular-legalised. This is the point where people are caught out most often, holding a perfectly valid electronic document that still cannot be filed abroad.
Since 1 January 2023 the apostille on a criminal record extract is issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, unlike civil-registry certificates and notarial documents, which belong to the Ministry of Justice. This bears directly on translation: it makes sense to translate the paper copy once it already carries the apostille, so that the stamp goes into the translation together with the text.
Order of steps: apostille first, translation after
For most countries the correct sequence is: apostille on the paper extract, then translation of the document together with the apostille stamp as one package. Translating the text alone and leaving the stamp in Ukrainian can get the translation rejected as incomplete.
Italy and Spain are the separate case: they often require a double apostille, a second stamp placed on the finished translation. These are different procedures with different timelines, so tell us the destination at the start; we build the order of steps around it instead of redoing the work later.
How the remote process works
No office visit is needed. You send a scan of the extract and the passport page with the Latin spelling of your name, we check the set and tell you which translation your country and authority require. We then translate, arrange the certification, sworn or notarised, and send the finished documents by Nova Poshta within Ukraine or by courier abroad.
We work across Ukraine, with offices in Kyiv and Kharkiv. When several documents are filed as one package, we make sure the name is spelled identically in all of them: that is the detail that sends whole packages back rather than single papers.
How we work
- 1You send a scanA scan of the extract and the passport page with the Latin spelling of your name.
- 2We tell you which translation is neededFor your country and authority: sworn or notarised, and in which order relative to the apostille.
- 3We translate and certifyA sworn translator from the country register, or notarial certification of the translator signature.
- 4You receive the documentsNova Poshta within Ukraine, courier abroad. Scans are sent ahead.
FAQ
Which translation of a criminal record extract does Poland require?
A sworn one, by a tłumacz przysięgły. Such a translator is listed in the register of the Polish Ministry of Justice and holds a register number and a personal seal, so no additional notarial certification is needed.
Is a notary needed if the translation is sworn?
No. The signature and personal seal of a sworn translator make the translation an official document in itself. A notary is needed where no register of sworn translators exists.
My passport spells my surname differently from Resolution No. 55. What now?
We use the passport spelling. The official version is fixed by the State Migration Service and takes priority over machine transliteration. The translator does not change it.
Can an electronic extract be translated?
It can be translated technically, but that is not enough for filing abroad: an electronic copy cannot be apostilled. For use abroad you need the paper extract.
Is the translation done before or after the apostille?
Usually after: the apostille goes on the paper original, and the document is then translated together with the stamp. Italy and Spain often require a second apostille on the finished translation as well.
How is the volume of a sworn translation counted?
By the billing page of the destination country. In Poland, for example, a billing page is 1125 characters including spaces and a partial page counts as a full one, whereas a Ukrainian page is 1800 characters.
Updated: 2026-09-08