The essentials
- State duty: AMD 7,000 per document, about USD 19 at the CBA official rate of 364.19 on 4 September 2026. An optional same-working-day service costs AMD 10,000, about USD 27.
- Deadline: up to two working days from filing. The statutory period moved from one working day to two on 8 January 2026.
- Form: electronic only since 26 April 2021, bilingual Armenian and English. Paper apostilles issued before that date stay valid.
- Ministry of Justice: notarial acts, civil status records, court and bailiff documents, notarized translations, and educational documents.
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs: criminal record certificates and documents lodged through an Armenian mission abroad.
- Verification: control number or QR code at verify.e-gov.am.
Last updated 4 September 2026.
An apostille in Armenia costs AMD 7,000 per document, about USD 19 at the Central Bank of Armenia official rate of 364.19 on 4 September 2026, and the ministry has up to two working days to issue it. That deadline was one working day until 8 January 2026, when the amendment to the apostille law extended it.
Which ministry you file with depends on who issued the document, and filing with the wrong one costs you a wasted trip. Everything below applies to documents issued in Armenia for use abroad, and to foreign documents brought into Armenia.
Related guides: residence permits, Armenian citizenship, company registration, real estate.
Which ministry issues your apostille
Two authorities are designated under the joint order of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that governs the apostille system, Order 483-N/2056-N. The split follows the issuing body.
Ministry of Justice
- Notarial acts and documents issued by notaries
- Civil status records: birth, marriage, divorce and death certificates
- Court judgments and documents from the bailiff service
- Notarized translations
- Educational documents: diplomas, attestats, diploma supplements and academic transcripts
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Criminal record and non-prosecution certificates
- Documents processed through Armenian diplomatic missions abroad
Educational documents are the item most often misfiled. Diplomas, transcripts and diploma supplements go to the Ministry of Justice.
What it costs and how long it takes
| Service | Fee | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Apostille, standard | AMD 7,000 per document (about USD 19) | Up to 2 working days |
| Apostille, same-working-day option | AMD 10,000 per document (about USD 27) | Same working day |
| Verifying an issued e-Apostille | Free | Immediate, online |
| MFA consular legalization, individual | AMD 5,000 (about USD 14) | 2 working days, extendable |
| MFA consular legalization, legal entity | AMD 15,000 (about USD 41) | 2 working days, extendable |
USD figures use the CBA official rate of 364.19 on 4 September 2026. The dram figure is the operative one. The apostille duty is fixed in the Law on State Duty as a multiple of the base duty, so it moves whenever the base duty is revised.
How to file, step by step
- Check that the destination country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention. The HCCH status table is the authoritative list and it changes: several states have joined in recent years. If the destination is outside the Convention, you need consular legalization instead.
- Identify the ministry from the split above.
- Choose a filing channel. In person at the Ministry of Justice, 3/8 Vazgen Sargsyan Street, Yerevan 0010, Monday to Friday 9:00 to 18:00, with intake closing at 17:30. Online at e-services.moj.am. Or through a HayPost office.
- Note the limit on online filing. Only Civil Registry documents carrying a qualified electronic signature can be filed end to end online. Notarized documents, corporate charters, court judgments, paper civil status certificates and Soviet-format certificates have to be filed physically.
- Pay the state duty. Payment is accepted by bank transfer, at payment and POS terminals including the terminals inside the Ministry of Justice, and online for electronic applications.
- Collect. Paper filings are collected between 16:00 and 17:00 on the next working day. Electronic apostilles arrive by email, and a printout of one is valid.
Documents that cannot be apostilled
- Documents issued outside Armenia, including documents issued in Artsakh
- Administrative documents tied to commercial or customs operations, such as invoices and customs declarations
- Documents executed by diplomatic or consular agents
- Documents whose integrity is broken: damaged, altered, or carrying impermissible marks
Soviet-era documents have their own rule. The Ministry of Justice apostilles them only where the issuing authority was an institution of the Armenian SSR. A document issued by any of the other fourteen former Soviet republics has to be authenticated in the successor state that now holds those records. Soviet-format certificates carrying no tracking number or QR code cannot pass through the online system and must be filed in person.
Countries where no apostille is needed
Armenia is a party to the Minsk Convention of 1993 and to the Chisinau Convention of 2002, which remove the authentication requirement between member states for public documents. The exemption is broad: civil status records, educational documents and notarial acts are covered. Commercial and customs documents are excluded.
| Destination | Authentication required? | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan | No | Chisinau Convention |
| Azerbaijan | No in law | Chisinau Convention, though the route is unusable in practice while there are no diplomatic relations |
| Georgia, Moldova, Turkmenistan | No | Minsk Convention |
| Ukraine | Yes, apostille | Ceased to be bound on 19 May 2024 |
Ukraine is the change that catches people out. Documents sent there before mid-2024 went through without authentication and now require an apostille. Moldova, contrary to a widely repeated claim, remains exempt.
Translation is a separate requirement
The treaty exemption removes the authentication step. It does not remove the Armenian-language requirement: a foreign document submitted to an Armenian authority still needs an Armenian translation, whether or not it carries an apostille.
Have the translation made in Armenia by a qualified translator and notarized by an Armenian notary. A translation produced abroad has to be authenticated in its own right, which is why translating in Armenia is the cheaper and faster route. The Ministry of Justice does not provide translation services.
Where the translation itself is to be apostilled, the notarization comes first. The apostille attaches to the notarial act.
Consular legalization for non-Hague destinations
Where the destination sits outside the Hague system, the route is consular legalization, and it runs through three stages.
- Notarize the document in Armenia if its type requires notarization.
- The Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs authenticates it. The standard period is two working days, extendable to ten to fifteen days where the ministry runs checks against specimen signature and seal databases.
- The destination country’s embassy or consulate legalizes it, either in Yerevan or through the mission that covers Armenia from Moscow or Tbilisi.
The MFA charges AMD 5,000 for an individual and AMD 15,000 for a legal entity. Embassy fees are set by the destination country and vary widely. The ministry can refuse legalization where a document contradicts Armenian law.
A foreign document coming into Armenia follows the chain in reverse: the issuing country’s foreign ministry authenticates it first, then the Armenian mission accredited to that country legalizes it. Where Armenia has no mission there, the country’s embassy in Yerevan can handle the second stage.
Verifying an e-Apostille
Every e-Apostille carries a control number and a QR code. Enter the number at verify.e-gov.am, the state verification portal, or scan the code. The older hostname e-verify.am reaches the same service.
The certificate arrives by email as a separate file and is never physically attached to the document, so send recipients both files together. Any printer produces a valid copy, colour or black and white, and the Ministry of Justice will print one on request.
