Apostille, sworn translation and diploma for France 2026

We are “Vibe South of France”, and we worked out what to do with documents from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Moldova before you carry them to France: apostille or legalisation (French: légalisation), who translates and in what order, which deadlines actually apply, and how a diploma gets recognised. All of it comes from official pages in France, Russia and Ukraine, checked on 18-19 October 2026. We found no translation prices in our community chat, so we won’t make any up. If you have recently ordered a sworn translation in your city, ask in the “Vibe South of France” community chat on Telegram - documents, moving and life in the South of France.

Apostille or legalisation: what France asks for

The short answer is in the French foreign ministry’s table, “Tableau récapitulatif de l’état actuel du droit conventionnel en matière de légalisation” (a summary of which treaties govern legalisation; updated 15 September 2026, 26 pages). It works both ways, foreign documents submitted in France included. The rows for our countries:

Notarial deeds and private deeds with an officially certified signature get an apostille for all seven countries (the table’s columns on notarial and private deeds).

The years of accession come from annex 1 to the same table. For Belarus the French ministry gives 1 January 1993, while the Convention depositary’s register shows 31 May 1992; the rule is not affected.

A few things are worth remembering.

Legalisation instead of an apostille is needed in two cases. The first is administrative papers tied directly to a commercial or customs operation (a health certificate, a certificate of free sale): the footnote to the “diplomas and certificates” column says that for everything else it is an apostille. The second is documents of the consulates of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Uzbekistan (see below).

The “consular documents” column covers papers drawn up or certified by a consul, not a birth certificate issued in Russia. The exemption rests on the Council of Europe convention of 7 June 1968, and annex 2 gives the dates: Russia 9 March 2021, Ukraine 6 April 2023, Moldova 31 August 2002. Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Uzbekistan are not parties, so their consular documents need legalisation.

An apostille confirms that the signature and the seal are genuine, not what the document says (service-public puts it that way in F1402). It will not fix a mistake in a certificate.

We quote the table as of 15 September 2026 and we do not claim “there are no restrictions at all”: the table carries no suspension notes for these countries, but a préfecture or a mairie can ask for more than the table does. The office you are submitting to still has the last word.

Where the apostille is put on

The apostille is issued by an authority of the country that issued the document, not by France. What follows is only what we could confirm on official pages.

Russia. According to the Russian Ministry of Justice’s explanation (which cites Government Decree No. 479 of 30 May 2016):

• civil-status records: the executive bodies of the Russian region in charge of civil registration; the French embassy says the same, the ZAGS archive of the region where the record was drawn up;
• education documents: the regional authorities that hold the delegated powers;
• certificates of a criminal record, or of none: the Ministry of the Interior;
• court documents and documents of the federal courts: the Ministry of Justice;
• notarial copies: the Ministry of Justice’s territorial office where the notary acted.

You can file in person, through a legal representative, by post or by courier. The Ministry of Justice charges 2,500 rubles per document and takes 3 working days from receipt (the ministry page is undated, opened 18 October 2026); for regional ZAGS offices, ask them about price and timing. Documents issued by a Russian consulate itself are not apostilled by the Ministry.

Two cases trip people up most often. If the record was drawn up in another former Soviet republic, the French embassy advises getting a duplicate certificate in the present-day state and having it apostilled there. If the record was drawn up by a Soviet or Russian consulate abroad, the duplicate and the apostille come from the ZAGS archive of Moscow or the Moscow region.

Ukraine. The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, in an explanation on the Cabinet’s website dated 21 April 2025, apostilles documents of the justice bodies, courts, state archives and notaries. A copy of a civil-registry (DRACS) document is apostilled only after the original has been apostilled or legalised. Originals issued by institutions of the other former Soviet republics are not apostilled in Ukraine, except education documents and academic titles issued by the Ukrainian SSR. The page is dated April 2025, so look for a newer version.

Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Moldova. We could not confirm which body apostilles which document: the agencies’ pages would not open when we checked, or could not be read. We won’t guess; look at the official site of your country’s foreign and justice ministries.

In what order: apostille, copy, translation

The French embassy in Russia (page of 20 April 2026) describes the chain like this: the document, then the apostille on that original, then a copy certified by a notary, then a sworn translation of the copy. After that you show the French office the apostilled original and take it back, and what stays in the file is the translated certified copy. This is the embassy’s advice, not a rule of law.

Don’t confuse it with the service-public rule (F1402): a foreign document in a foreign language comes with a translation by an “habilité” translator, and the translation is made before legalisation starts. But that concerns legalisation, the chain “your country’s foreign ministry, then the French consulate”. For an apostille the French embassy advises the opposite order.

If you do end up in legalisation (the consular documents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia or Uzbekistan, or trade papers), the French foreign ministry accepts for it a translation by a translator authorised before the French authorities, the authorities of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, or those of your country of residence (page of 28 July 2026).

One warning from the ministry: it does not legalise foreign documents and their translations if they are needed by a foreign authority rather than a French one, even when the translation was made in France. For that you go to your own country’s embassy.

Who translates in France

In France this translator is called a traducteur agréé, a court-appointed expert entered on the lists of the courts of appeal or on the national list of the Cour de cassation (France’s supreme court of civil and criminal appeal; service-public, F12956). An expert on the national list is also on the list of the court of appeal for his or her district.

There are two ways to search (R45936, checked 9 March 2026): the search tool for the national list on the Cour de cassation’s website, which can search by geolocation, and the lists of the courts of appeal, each court with its own, as a PDF or a web page. The courts of appeal’s websites (cours-appel.justice.fr) did not open when we checked on 19 October 2026, so we do not give heading numbers for Russian and Ukrainian here: look for the written-translation heading (the French foreign ministry calls it H.02 as of 28 July 2026) and your language, and check each court’s address on its own site. We don’t name translators or agencies.

In everyday talk you will hear the word assermenté, while official pages use different words. For the “vie privée et familiale” permit, F2209 (checked 1 May 2026) requires a traducteur interprète agréé; for a marriage, F930 (16 September 2026) says traducteur assermenté; for naturalisation, F2213 (16 July 2026) says an agréé translator or one authorised before the courts or administration of another European country. For naturalisation each document needs the original of the translation. The practical upshot: take a translator from the expert lists, and before you order, ask the office which word is on your list of documents.

Abroad the rules are different: some French consulates publish on their websites a list of translators recognised by the local authorities, and the consulate certifies the translator’s signature (F12956).

How to find a translator, a notary and a doctor in the South is covered in our directory, Doctors, translators, notaries. On the question “apostille or not” for Ukraine, go by the French ministry’s table above: it gives an apostille.

Deadlines: three and six months

The phrase “a certificate no more than three months old” is all over the internet, and people often carry it over to Russian documents. The official pages say something different.

There is one more point on language for a marriage: the registrar holds an interview with the couple and can require an interpreter if one of you does not understand French. You pay for the interpreter if the interpreter is paid (F930). An adult’s multilingual extract does not need translating if French is among its languages: for naturalisation this is stated on F34741 (service-public); for other procedures, ask the office.

For the procedures themselves, see titre de séjour step by step, French citizenship and your first 30 days in France.

Diploma: ENIC-NARIC and the university

Recognising a diploma in France means several different things, and people mix them up all the time. The key word here is ENIC-NARIC France: the French information centre for the academic recognition of foreign diplomas, part of France Éducation international. It issues the statement, the attestation de comparabilité.

• The university. A foreign diploma for enrolment is recognised by the university itself when you apply, and each has its own criteria. It may ask for an ENIC-NARIC statement, but the decision stays with it (justice.fr card of 17 April 2025, checked 11 October 2026). For admission, see studying in France.
• The employer. It may ask for the statement or not. For the job search, see working in France.
• A regulated profession. Doctor, architect, lawyer: the statement gives no right to practise, you need the professional qualification and registration with the professional body.

The statement itself is an official document of the centre. It is valid only in France and places the diploma against the levels of the French and European qualification frameworks. It is not compulsory and does not bind you legally to anything.

Whether ENIC-NARIC wants an apostille on the diploma, the brochure says neither yes nor no. Ask the centre before you pay. For a university place the rule is different: F1402 gives a diploma for enrolment at a French university as an example of a foreign public document that must be legalised, and for our countries legalisation under the ministry’s table means an apostille.

On medical diplomas. According to the information box on the centre’s page “Pour une recherche d’emploi” (text checked on 18 October 2026), since September 2026 the centre issues statements for regulated professions too, medical and paramedical ones included, but only as academic recognition, not as permission to practise. Further down the same page the old paragraph remains, saying the centre does not issue a statement for state medical diplomas. Until the page is tidied up, don’t count on it: write to the centre first. The rule “ENIC-NARIC does not recognise medical diplomas” is out of date, but “it recognises them” is too early to say.

French documents you need abroad

The reverse direction is useful if you are arranging something in Russia or Ukraine. Since 1 May 2025 apostilles on French documents are issued by the regional councils of notaries, and legalisation since 1 September 2025. According to service-public (F1400, checked 1 September 2025), for a private person the price before tax is €10 per record for up to three records in one request and €5 from the fourth; the urgent 24-hour service is €20 and €10. The page is more than a year old, so check the tariff before you file.

What we have and what we don’t

There are no translation prices in our chat, and we won’t invent them. There is no official translators’ tariff in the sources either: the translator names the price. Write to two or three translators from the list and compare the answers, and you will see price and turnaround at once.

What is missing is what we are asking about: how long you waited for an apostille in your region, which word the office wrote in the list of documents, whether a translation made in another country was accepted. If you went through this year, tell us in the chat and we will add it to the page with the date.

Questions about an apostille, a translation or a diploma? Ask people who have already been through it in the South of France.

The “Vibe South of France” community chat on Telegram - documents, apostille, translation and life in the South of France

See also

• Moving to the South of France: documents step by step
• Titre de séjour: the French residence permit step by step
• French citizenship: naturalisation and marriage
• Studying in France for Russians and Ukrainians
• Working in France as a Russian-speaker
• First 30 days in France: what to do, in order
• Driving licence in France: exchange and translation
• Doctors, translators, notaries: how to find them
• Recognition of diplomas and professions in France: doctors, nurses, lawyers