Services provided in the Republic of Moldova (Moldavia)

 To make a document issued in Moldova valid abroad, it must be legalized to conform to the requirements for submitting documents on the territory of the destination country. We will tackle this issue later.

Apostille on the Moldovan birth certificate in Russia

Since Russia is the legal successor of the USSR, documents issued on the territory of Soviet Moldova before 1991 can be apostilled on the Russian Federation territory, but it must be a notarized copy of the document. However, some institutions of the host country are reluctant to accept such a document further. In this case, a document has to be apostilled in Moldova.

The Republic of Moldova is on the list of countries that have concluded the Hague Convention since 2007.

Moldavan Apostille on a birth certificate and other documents from the registry office

The following documents can be apostilled:

• Birth certificates
• Marriage certificates
• Divorce certificates
• Certificates of name/surname change (reference)
• Death certificates
• Certificates of adoption
• Certificates of paternity establishment

Remember that the document must be issued in good condition with watermarks on it. During 1991-1998, the registry office was issuing certificates on cardboard forms. In this case, you need to get a duplicate on a new form and apostille it.

As in many European countries, the apostille in Moldova has an electronic form without a "wet" signature and seal. You can check whether the apostille is authentic on the official website https://apostila.gov.md/  

Moldovan certificate of international standard

In 2008, the Republic of Moldova joined the list of countries that signed Convention No. 16 of the International civil Status Commission (ICSC) or The Vienna Convention on the issuance of multilingual archival extracts from civil status acts dated 8 September 1976 (not to be confused with Vienna Convention on international driving permits).

An international certificate (an international archive extract of civil status acts) is issued on a form established by the Convention, which contains invariable phrases in 12 languages with no translation, additional legalization, and apostille requirements. Yet, it has equitable legal force in 19 countries that are members of the ICGS Convention:

Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Lithuania, Poland, Montenegro.

Therefore, if you need to provide a Moldovan certificate in one of the above countries, it is relevant to get a certificate in this format. It is worth mentioning that this format only applies to 3 acts of the civil status republic of Moldavia:

• Birth certificates
• Marriage certificates
• Death certificates.

Certificate of no impediment to marriage

This is an international certificate of legal capacity to marry based on the Munich Convention of 05.09.1980. This document is a substitute for the civil status certificate, which indicates the current marital status and claims whether a citizen of Moldovia has no impediment to marriage abroad. As well as international certificates it does not require translation, legalization, and apostille for the following countries of the Munich Convention:

Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, and Turkey.

For all other countries that require an apostille on such a document, a certificate of civil status is issued and subsequently apostilled.

Legalization of Moldovan documents for countries outside the Hague Convention

Full consular legalization in Moldova consists of the following stages:

1. Make a notarized copy of the document, if issued by a non-governmental organization of the Republic of Moldova
2. Confirm the document in advance by putting a mark on the original document in the authorized body: Ministry of Justice, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Youth, or Ministry of Information Technology and Development

3. Translate the document into the language of the destination country;

4. Notarize the translation;
5. Legalize in the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova;
6. Legalize in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova;
7. Legalize at the Consular Department of the destination country;

Please, keep in mind that the legalization marks are placed on the original document, and if it is a state-issued document, the translation has to be stitched directly with the original document.

Certificate of no criminal record in Moldova

The certificate of no criminal record is issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova and can be obtained by a notarized power of attorney. The document term is 3 months.