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, it will be validated only by the competent Greek consular authority. The competent consulates are 1) Kyrgyzstan – Embassy in Astana (Kazakhstan), 2) Mongolia – Consulate. 3) Uzbekistan – Consulate General in Moscow, 4) Peru – Consul General in Moscow, 4) Peru – Cons. Embassy Office in Lima and 5) Tunisia – Consul General Office in Tunis. Embassy Office in Tunis.

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.

C) If the foreign public document has been issued by the authorities of a country that is not a party to the Hague Convention, it must be validated by the competent Greek consular authority in the country of origin, provided that it has previously been validated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country of origin of the document.

Once validation is complete, 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.

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. The Translation Service of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  3. Sworn translators of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  4. Lawyers
  5. Graduate translators of the Ionian University