How to obtain an Apostille on your Romanian documents

Obtaining an Apostille on your Romanian public document

The easiest way to obtain an Apostille on your Romanian public document is to Contact Us!

If you would rather do it yourself, then you need to go through the following steps.

01

Identify if you need an Apostille

An apostille is only needed if you would like to use your document in a country which is a party to the 1961 Apostille Convention. Check this page to see if your country is listed. If it is not, you need a Legalization.

You do not need either an Apostille or a Legalization if:

Romania and the receiving country have signed a treaty abolishing the need for legalization (check the list here); or
The document is a multilingual civil status extract, according to the 1976 Vienna Convention on the issue of multilingual extracts from civil status records (the State Parties are: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Poland, Montenegro, Moldova, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria and Cape Verde); or
The document was issued by a diplomatic or consular mission of a country party to the 1968 European Convention on the Abolition of Legalisation of Documents executed by Diplomatic Agents or Consular Officers (check the list of state parties here); or
It is an EU-instituted document (for example the P1 portable document for pensions); or
The document is to be used at an international organization where Romania is a member.

How to find out? Just Contact Us with the kind of document you need and the country you will be using it, and we will give you the right answer.

Important: if you need to obtain Romanian citizenship by application, all foreign, non-EU documents, require the Apostille, in spite of the above.

02

Identify the kind of document you have

In Romania, the Apostille is applied by different institutions, based on the kind of document that you have. There are three main kind of documents:

Type A - Judicial documents:

Court decisions of any kind
Documents issued by a bailiff ('executor judecatoresc')
Documents issued by the Commercial Registry Office ('Oficiul Registrului Comertului')

These documents are apostilled by the tribunals (there are 42 of them). Check out Step 3.

Type B - Notary documents:

Authentic instruments
Documents with a date certified by the notary ('cu data certa')
Documents whose signature has been legalized by the notary
Legalized translations

These documents are apostilled by the Chambers of Public Notaries (there are 15 of them). Check out Step 4.

Type C - Administrative documents:

Civil status records
Name records
Family records
Criminal records
Fiscal, tax records
Educational records
Professional records
Religious records
Extracts and certificates from other public records
Many others, basically any public document which does not fall into one of the other categories, and is not exempted or forbidden.

These documents are apostilled by the Offices of the Prefect (there are 42 of them). Check out Step 5.

Note! The following documents cannot be apostilled in any way:

Passports;
Private documents;
Identity cards and other identity documents;
Documents issued by Embassies and Consular offices;
Honorary diplomas and certificates.

03

Getting the Apostille from the Tribunal

To get the apostille from the Tribunal, go through the following steps:

Identify the competent tribunal. To do so, check out this page, or this Romanian judicial atlas. Confused? Contact Us! Note: The Bucharest Tribunal is competent for Commercial Registry documents.
Identify the hours of opening using the Romanian Judicial Atlas useful information pages for each tribunal (there are 42 tribunals).
Go to the tribunal with the following documents: 1) the original document to be apostilled; 2) your identification document (passport).
Find the correct account where you need to pay the tax for the apostille. These accounts vary between tribunals and are usually shown either on the useful information page, or if unlucky, on the door of the Apostille office. You will need to note down on a paper the following information: Beneficiary, CUI, account number, where it is open. Then go to a Post Office or Local Tax Office and pay the specified tax in the right account.
Go back to the tribunal and fill in the request which will be given to you. Note! You need to be the person to whom the document refers. To apostille a document which does not concern you, you need a special power of attorney.

The apostille is issued on the spot.

04

Getting the Apostille from the Chamber of Notaries

To get the apostille from the Chamber of Notaries, go through the following steps:

Identify the competent Chamber. To do so, check out this page. Confused? Contact Us!
Identify the hours of opening using the information pages for each Chamber (there are 15 Chambers).
Go to the Chamber with the following documents: 1) the original document to be apostilled; 2) your identification document (passport).
You can pay the tax on the spot, in lei (cash), at the Chamber receiver.
Fill in the request which will be given to you. Note! You need to be the person to whom the document refers. To apostille a document which does not concern you, you need a special power of attorney.

The apostille is issued within the same day.

05

Getting the Apostille from the Prefect's Offices

To get the apostille from the Prefect's Office, go through the following steps:

Identify the competent office. To do so, check out this page with their links. Confused? Contact Us!
Identify the hours of opening using the information pages for each office (there are 42 offices).
Go to the office with the following documents: 1) the original document to be apostilled; 2) your identification document (passport).
Fill in the request which will be given to you. Note! You need to be the person to whom the document refers. To apostille a document which does not concern you, you need a special power of attorney.

The apostille is issued on the spot and is free.

Note! Some documents in this category need to be certified by a competent ministry before being apostilled.

Note

How to get the Ministry certification?

Some documents in the last category need an additional certification ('Vizare'), applied by the competent ministry, before they can be apostilled. Here are the most important types and where to obtain this visa. Note that our services include this visa.

Educational documents for primary school and high school - the Bucharest School Inspectorate (check this document)
Educational documents for university, Master's or PhD studies - the Ministry of Education (check this page, search for 'Vizare')
Medical documents - the Public Health Directorate of Bucharest (check this document)
Religious documents - the State Secretariat for Rites (see this page)
Employment attestations (for pension purposes) - the National Pension House (check this page)