Authentication of foreign documents

In order for a foreign public document to be accepted by Greek public bodies, it must first be validated. Validation is prior to an official translation by an official translation service (see below).  More specifically

A) if the foreign public document has been issued by an authority of a country which is a party to the Hague Convention of 1961, it must bear the apostille stamp.

For the list of countries that are parties to the Hague Convention of 1961, see https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/?cid=41

For the list of institutions in each country, including our country, responsible for the affixing of the Apostille stamp, see https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/authorities1/?cid=41

Once validated, the document must be officially translated into Greek by an official translation service (see below). After these steps, the document is ready to be accepted in any Greek public authority.

B)

If the foreign public document originates from the authorities of countries which have acceded to the Hague Convention but whose accession Greece has objected to and until such objection has been lifted, i.e. Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Peru and Tunisia, please contact the service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: CITIZENS AND GREEKS ABROAD SERVICE AND INFORMATION CENTER.

The contact details of the Department are (service hours 9:00 am – 13:00):
1) Phone numbers: 210 – 3682040 to 43
2) e-mail: cio@mfa.gr
3) Physical Address: 3 Akadimias str., Postal Code:105 54, Athens GREECE

C)

If the foreign public document has been issued by the authorities of a country that is not a party to the Hague Convention, please contact the service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: CITIZENS AND GREEKS ABROAD SERVICE AND INFORMATION CENTER.

The contact details of the Department are (service hours 9:00 am – 13:00):
1) Phone numbers: 210 – 3682040 to 43
2) e-mail: cio@mfa.gr
3) Physical Address: 3 Akadimias str., Postal Code:105 54, Athens GREECE

If your country is not included in the list of the following link then is a non- Hague party: HAGUE CONVENTION COYNTRY MEMBERS

SERVICES AND BODIES CARRYING OUT OFFICIAL TRANSLATIONS INTO GREEK LANGUAGE

  1. Paid Consular Authorities of Greece (Consular authorities are divided into paid consular authorities, which are headed by officials of the Diplomatic Branch, and unpaid consular authorities, which are headed by honorary officials )
  2. Τranslators cerified by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, search here: https://metafraseis.services.gov.gr/
  3. Greek lawyers that certify their proficiency of translation from the original language to Greek language.

Νo other source of translation is acceptable.