A birth or marriage certificate, a diploma, a police certificate or a power of attorney issued in one country does not work in another as it stands. The receiving authority has never seen the signature, cannot verify the issuing office, and cannot read it — two problems, solved by two procedures people routinely confuse.
The first is authentication, and the country that issued the paper decides which of three answers applies: an apostille, full consular legalisation, or an exemption. The second is translation, and Lithuania's answer is unusual. There is no register of sworn translators here: a translator translates and signs, and a notary certifies that the signature is the translator's — a smaller claim than most people think they are buying.
Table of Contents
Three Routes, and Which One Is Yours
Start with the state that issued the document; nothing else decides the route.
The Apostille Convention of 1961 is why most people never meet legalisation: it replaces a chain of confirmations with a single certificate issued where the document was made, and 130 states are party to it. A receiving state may not demand further legalisation on top of one.
| Where the document was issued | What it needs | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| An EU member state, for a document EU law covers | ✓ Nothing | Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 removes the formality; a standard form can remove the translation too |
| A state Lithuania has a legal assistance treaty with | ✓ Nothing | Exempt by treaty; a translation is still needed |
| A foreign embassy or consulate inside Lithuania | ✓ Nothing | Exempt |
| Any other state inside the Apostille Convention | An apostille | The authority that state designates — ministry, court or notariate |
| A state outside the Convention with no treaty | Full legalisation | That state's authorities, then a Lithuanian diplomatic post |
| Lithuania, for use in a Convention state | An apostille at €15 before VAT | Any Lithuanian notary |
| Lithuania, for use outside the Convention | Legalisation at €20 per document | The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then the destination's mission |
The order matters as much as the route: authentication first, in the country of origin, translation second. An apostille attaches to the document, so translating before it arrives buys a translation of an incomplete document — and a second one afterwards.
The Documents That Need Nothing
Three instruments strip the requirement away entirely, and between them cover most of what a person moving here carries.
Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 has applied since 2,019 and is the widest. Public documents from one member state, and their certified copies, are exempt from legalisation and the apostille in another. It reaches birth, life, death, name, marriage and capacity to marry, marital status, divorce, registered partnership, domicile and residence, and absence of a criminal record. It does not reach diplomas, company documents or anything from outside the Union.
The regulation's second device is the multilingual standard form. It exists for 11 subject matters, is issued and signed by an authority of the state that issued the underlying document, and has no legal value of its own — it is a translation aid that removes the receiving authority's ground for demanding a translation. Asking the issuing registry for one is the cheapest single step on this page.
Where a certified translation is still needed, it need not be made in Lithuania. A certified translation made by a person qualified under the law of any member state must be accepted in all of them, so a sworn translation from Warsaw, Berlin or Tallinn is good in Vilnius — and a Lithuanian notarised translation is good the other way. Having it redone on arrival is a common and avoidable expense.
The bilateral legal assistance treaties are the second instrument. Lithuania has treaties on legal assistance and legal relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United States and Uzbekistan, plus a trilateral treaty with Latvia and Estonia. Documents drawn up by a treaty state's authorities are exempt from legalisation. Check the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' published list rather than the treaty text: the treaties differ in what they cover.
The Vienna Convention of 8 September 1976 is the narrowest, and the one that most often solves a wedding. It provides a multilingual form for extracts of civil status records — birth, marriage, death — and an extract on that form is accepted in another party state without legalisation, apostille or translation. Lithuanian civil registries issue them, as do those of the other parties, which include Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland and Slovenia.
Getting an Apostille on a Lithuanian Document
This is the half people most often get wrong, because it moved. From 18 January 2016 an apostille on a Lithuanian document comes from a notary — any notary, in any town — and not, as before, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which kept legalisation and the consular route for people abroad and nothing else.
The fee is €15 before VAT, at point 34.7 of the notarial fee list — Government resolution No. 498 of 28 June 2023. With 21% added that is €18.15 at the counter, the same at every office, so compare only location and the first free appointment. See the notaries page.
Two variants cost more. From outside Lithuania, an embassy or consulate takes the document and forwards it to the Ministry at a consular fee of €20 per document; that route runs on post, so the Ministry's estimate is up to 2 months, or 4 where the civil registry extract has to be issued first. And obtaining the document is a separate clock: a criminal record certificate is €8.17 electronically within 10 working days, or €12.26 for the 1-working-day service.
An apostille goes on an original or on a notarial certification, not on your photocopy
What the notary apostillises is a document bearing an official signature and seal — a registry extract, a court order, a diploma from the issuing institution — or a notarial act performed on it, such as certification of a copy or of a translator's signature. A printout or scan has no signature to authenticate. So the notary is often doing two acts rather than one, at two fees.
Full Consular Legalisation
Where the destination state is outside the Convention and has no treaty with Lithuania, the apostille is unavailable. Legalisation is a chain rather than a certificate: each authority confirms the signature of the one before it, until it reaches an authority the destination recognises.
Certified inside Lithuania
By the issuing body, or by a notary where a copy or signature must be certified first.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs legalises it
Its consular department confirms the Lithuanian signature and seal at €20 per document, no later than 5 working days after submission.
The destination state's mission legalises it
An embassy or consulate of the receiving country, accredited to Lithuania, confirms the Ministry's signature. Its fee and timetable are its own.
Then, and only then, the translation
The receiving state wants the assembled document translated, so this comes after every stamp is on.
A foreign document runs the chain in reverse: its own state's authorities first, then a Lithuanian diplomatic post there. Two exemptions cut across it — a document issued by a foreign mission inside Lithuania needs nothing, and neither does one issued by a Lithuanian mission abroad.
What a Notarised Translation Certifies
The rule the Chamber of Notaries states is short: a document put before a notary must be drawn up in the state language, and where it is in another language a translation must be attached, signed by the translator. That is the whole requirement. There is no register of court-appointed translators here, no state examination conferring the right to translate officially, and no protected title — anybody can translate, provided a named person signs and stands behind it.
The notary certifies the signature, not the accuracy
A "notarised translation" in Lithuania is one whose translator's signature has been certified by a notary — point 34.10 of the fee list, €10 before VAT. The notary establishes that the signer is who they say they are, and does not read the translation or compare it with the original. Choosing the translator is the client's decision and the client's risk.
That is not what a reader arriving from Estonia, Poland or Germany expects: there a vandetõlk or tłumacz przysięgły certifies with their own stamp and no notary is involved. In Lithuania the roles are split.
For a foreign document the two procedures stack: an apostille abroad authenticates the official's signature, and a Lithuanian notary then certifies the translator's signature on the translation — which can itself be apostillised where the bundle is going abroad again.
What a Translation Costs, and Finding a Translator
Translation is bought on the open market and priced by the standard page — a unit of characters, not a sheet: 1,550 of them. A birth certificate is well under one page; a diploma with its supplement is several.
| Item | What it is | Published price |
|---|---|---|
| A standard page, English or Russian | 1,550 characters, into or out of Lithuanian | €9–€10 |
| The agency's own stamp | The bureau certifies its own translation — not a notarial act | €3 |
| Notarial certification, arranged by the agency | The notary's fee plus the agency's handling | €10–€20 |
| A short certificate, translated and notarised | Birth, marriage, a police certificate | €30–€35 |
| A school diploma with its supplement | Several standard pages of subject-by-subject marks | about €55 |
| The notary's own fee for the certification | Point 34.10, the same at every office in the country | €10 before 21% VAT |
Two of those lines are sold as though they were the same thing. An agency stamp is not a notarial certification. It costs €3 rather than €10 and upwards, and for an employer, a bank's file or a school it is sufficient. Where a notary, a court, the Migration Department or a registry is the reader, it is not.
What to ask an agency
- Whether the quote includes notarial certification or only the stamp
- How the standard page count works out for your document
- Whether they take it to the notary, or you do
- Whether they can also arrange the apostille on the certification
Agencies in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda quote a single all-in price with the notary next door; a translator found directly still needs one, so the saving is smaller than it looks.
The Order of Operations, Document by Document
The sequence is always the same — obtain, authenticate, translate, certify — and the only question is which steps drop out.
A birth certificate. From an EU state, ask the issuing registry for a multilingual standard form and you are done. From a Vienna Convention state, ask for the multilingual extract instead. From anywhere else: apostille or legalisation in the issuing country, then a translation here with the signature certified.
A marriage certificate. Identical treatment, same two forms. Going into the Lithuanian register, see the marriage page.
A certificate of no impediment to marriage. Covered by the regulation's capacity-to-marry limb, so the standard form works. It carries its own expiry date, so order it last.
A police or criminal record certificate. Absence of a criminal record is one of the 11 standard-form subjects, so an EU one needs neither apostille nor translation. A Lithuanian one for use abroad is €8.17 electronically within 10 working days, with the same form available.
A diploma or degree certificate. Outside the regulation entirely — education is not one of its subjects — so most countries need an apostille or legalisation. For recognition, English, Russian, Polish, Belarusian and Ukrainian documents need no translation; see studying in Lithuania.
A power of attorney made abroad. Not covered by the regulation: apostille or full legalisation plus a translation before a Lithuanian notary can work from it. Have the wording checked before signing — a power drafted for one legal system often cannot carry out an act in another.
A company extract or corporate resolution. Outside the regulation: apostille or legalisation in the state of registration, then translation. Where a foreign parent is founding a subsidiary this is the item on the critical path — see company formation cost.
One rule to take from this: ask the issuing authority for the multilingual standard form when you order the document. It costs nothing, and where it applies it deletes both the apostille and the translation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who issues an apostille in Lithuania?
Any notary, anywhere in the country — the function moved from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 18 January 2016. The fee is €15 before VAT, point 34.7 of the fee list in Government resolution No. 498, the same at every office. The Ministry still handles consular legalisation and serves people abroad at €20 per document.
What does an apostille actually certify?
That the signature is genuine, the capacity in which the signatory acted and, where relevant, the identity of the seal. Nothing about whether the contents are true. A party to the 1961 Hague Convention must accept it without further legalisation, and must accept an electronic apostille on the same terms.
Do I need an apostille on a document from another EU country?
Usually not. Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 has applied since 2019 and exempts public documents from other member states, and their certified copies, from legalisation and the apostille. Diplomas and company documents are outside it and still need one.
What is a multilingual standard form and how do I get one?
A form issued and signed by an authority of the state that issued your document, attached as a translation aid. It exists for 11 subject matters and removes the receiving authority's ground for demanding a translation. Ask the issuing registry when you order the certificate — only that authority can produce one.
What exactly is a notarised translation in Lithuania?
A translation signed by the translator, on which a notary certifies that the signature is that person's — point 34.10 of the fee list, €10 before VAT. The notary does not read it or compare it against the original.
Does Lithuania have sworn translators?
No — no register, no state examination and no protected title, which is the substantive difference from Estonia, Poland and Germany. The translator supplies the text and signature; the notary supplies the identity check.
What does a translation cost?
By the standard page of 1,550 characters: English and Russian €9–€10 a page, Nordic and rarer languages several times that. The agency stamp is about €3; notarial certification arranged through the agency adds €10–€20. A short certificate all in is €30–€35, a diploma with its supplement about €55.
Is an agency stamp enough, or do I need a notary?
An employer, a bank or a school will normally accept the agency's own stamp. A notary, a court, the Migration Department or a civil registry wants the translator's signature certified by a notary. Ask before ordering — the wrong one means buying both.
Which countries' documents need no apostille at all in Lithuania?
EU member states, for the documents Regulation 2016/1191 covers; states Lithuania has a legal assistance treaty with — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United States and Uzbekistan, plus Latvia and Estonia under a trilateral treaty; and parties to the Vienna Convention of 8 September 1976, for civil status extracts on its multilingual form. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes the current list.
Can I do the whole thing from abroad?
Yes, but budget months. A Lithuanian post forwards the document to the Ministry and returns it at €20 per document, and the Ministry's own estimate for the round trip is up to 2 months, or 4 where the registry extract has to be issued first. In Lithuania a notary does it in one appointment.
Does a translation done abroad count here?
A certified translation made by someone qualified under the law of any EU member state must be accepted in all of them, so a sworn translation from Poland, Germany or Estonia does not need redoing. One from outside the EU normally will be.
How long does the paperwork take altogether?
The variable is the country of origin. Here the Ministry legalises within 5 working days of submission, a notary apostillises at an appointment, and a short certificate is translated in a day or two. What stretches is obtaining the foreign document and its apostille, so order those first.