English (UK) 
Български You can calculate and pay for legalization in our online calculator HERE.
What is document legalization?
Legalization is a process which is needed to certify that a document has legal force and is issued by a competent authority.
Bulgaria is a signatory to the 1961 Hague Convention. The member states sign an agreement stating that the legalization of documents submitted between these countries requires Apostille certification. See a list of member states here.
With some countries, Bulgaria has signed Legal Assistance Treaties. According to these agreements, it is not necessary to have an Apostille, but only for the documents to have the necessary signatures and stamps from the issuing institution. See a list of countries with which Bulgaria has signed a bilateral legal assistance agreement here.
Documents issued by countries not included in the above two categories are certified by diplomatic agencies or consulates after being certified by the relevant institution in the issuing country.
Important: For many of the documents, legalization (affixing an Apostille) alone is not enough. The process needs to be complemented by translation and translation certification. Read more about the combined service Translation and Legalization here.
What is Apostille?
The apostille is a ten-point stamp certifying the authenticity of the signatures and seals on a document. It is placed on the document or on its continuation (it can be attached with peripheral attach stamps in addition to the document).
The Apostille must conform to the model attached to the Hague Convention in order for the document to be officially recognized and legal. Apostille is issued worldwide by ministries, courts, municipalities and other institutions.
In Bulgaria, depending on the type of document, an Apostille of Bulgarian documents is placed by:
- Consular Relations Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Ministry of Justice
- National Center for Information and Documentation (NACID)
- The regional municipal administrations in the Republic of Bulgaria
When is legalization of documents necessary?
Legalization is necessary when a document issued by one country will be presented to institutions in another country.
For example, when applying to study abroad, the university almost always requires diploma legalization. With the placement of the Apostille, the university is sure that the presented diploma is authentic and has legal force.
Which documents need to be legalized most often?
These are the most often legalised documents:
- Birth Certificate
- Family Status Certificate
- Diploma
- Notarized Declaration
- Divorce Decree
- Civil Marriage Certificate
- Criminal Record Certificate
- Power of Attorney
How can we help you?
We at translation and legalization agency Arte.Doc can assist you with always free up-to-date information related to all legal provisions regarding the legalization of your documents.
This will save you time and effort in touring the various institutions. In addition, we can certify your documents and legalize them.
You can submit your legalization documents in any of our offices, as well as online through the Online Ordering Platform on our website.
Regardless of where you are in Bulgaria, if you need an Apostille, it is placed only by the relevant institutions located in Sofia (NACID, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs). If you are not in Sofia, you can send us your documents by courier, and we will make sure they are certified in the term you need.
What is the deadline for legalization of documents?
Different certifying institutions provide different possible deadlines for the legalization of documents.
NACID, which certifies diplomas of secondary and higher education, for example, provides options for slow, fast, and express service. While the Ministry of Justice has only a standard deadline.
Our deadlines are in line with the deadlines of the institutions. Our representative will inform you about the possible options when submitting your legalization order.
How much does the document legalization service cost?
When legalizing a document, state fees are paid, which differ according to the certifying institution and the desired term for implementation. All prices for different types of documents can be found in our Legalization Price List.
If you need quality written translation and legalisation of your documents, contact us for free consultation at: +359 893 457 698 or by email at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
FAQ
- How can you contact us?
You can contact our legalisation expert by phone: 0894 773 803, as well as by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
- How to receive a quote?
You can request an offer through our inquiry form here and you will receive information about your specific case and price offer in a short time.
- Where can you find us?
We have two offices in Sofia, and our Zhendov’s office is located next to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We also have partner offices in the country that can assist you in sending the legalization documents to Sofia. You can see the addresses and working hours of the offices in Contacts.
- What services do we offer?
We offer translation and legalization services:
- translation
- interpretation
- specialized translation
- legalization of documents
- combined service for translation and legalization of documents, as well as many others.
- translation
- In what timeframe can the legalisation be performed?
The timeframes that we provide for document legalisation are tightly connected to the timeframes available at the administrations, institutions, notary publics, etc. When submitting an inquiry, our experts will inform you not only for the rates but also for all possible timeframes for execution.
- What is the procedure for sending and receiving documents?
When submitting an online order for legalisation, you must send us or bring the original documents to the office, because we need the originals to be able to perform the legalisation.
- Which courier companies do we work with?
We work with established courier companies to ensure the security of our customers’ documents. We can send you ready legalized documents via ECONT, Speedy, DHL, UPS and others
