To the Belgian Foreign Ministry, 10 Feb 2014

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Sent from the contact form on their site: http://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/Contact/#form

Hello,

I happened to visit your site in search of clear explanations about legalization, apostilization and translation of documents, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bulgaria has failed to provide so far.

To my surprise, the explanations you give do not seem quite clear, either.

I would appreciate if you could clarify two issues on your site that seem a little bit confusing.

 

One is the statement: "The signatures of sworn translators abroad must be legalised." What is "a legalized signature"? How exactly can the signatures of sworn translators be legalized? What kind of procedure or procedures should a signature undergo so that it could be recognized by you as legalized? The quoted sentence is part of your information at:

http://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/services/services_abroad/nationality/procedures_and_documents/

 

The explanation about the legalized translator's signature seems even stranger in view of the clear definition of legalization you give at FAQ: http://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/services/legalisation_of_documents/faq/#q1

The definition reads: "The legalisation certifies the origin of a document." and I find it excellent - brief, nice and clear.

 

Soon after the nice definition of legalization above, however, another strange explanation appears at FAQ: http://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/services/legalisation_of_documents/faq/#q1

It is in the answer to question 12:

"12. Does the Legalisation Office at FPS Foreign Affairs translate documents?

No. Documents must be translated by a sworn translator. The translator's signature will be authenticated by the president of the court of first instance to which the translator is answerable.

The president's signature will then be legalised by the Legalisation Office at FPS Justice (115, bd de Waterloo, B-1000 Brussels - metro: porte de Halle- tel.: +32 (0)2/5426561).

The translation, along with the original document, will then be passed on to our office to be either apostilled (cf. the Hague Convention) or legalised."

Why do you explain the original document must be translated in order to be legalized or apostilled? Do you really think translation is obligatory? Why do you not say the translation could be done in the country of destination for the document? Many countries will not accept translation done abroad, do you not know? For example, my country, Bulgaria, will only accept translations done by Bulgarian translation companies or by Bulgarian consular or diplomatic officials (right or not, these have been the official requirements here for quite a long time):

Translation in Bulgarian

Documents with apostille need to be translated in Bulgarian in one of the two ways below:

1/ by a consular or diplomatic official in the country where the document is issued;

2/ by a translation agency authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria.

http://www.mfa.bg/en/pages/51/index.html

Furthermore, it is not clear enough whether only the original document will be legalized/apostilled or both the original document and its translation? Or, to put it in other words, do you attach an apostille to the original document only or do you attach an apostille to the original document and another apostille to the translation of the original document?

In short, my questions are:

1. How should a signature of a sworn translator abroad be legalized so that you would accept his/her transation? For example, would you accept a translation done in Poland? If yes, what procedures do you require the signature of the Polish sworn translator should undergo in order to be recognized in Belgium as legalized?

2.  Do you really believe that it is impossible for a Belgian document to be legalized/apostilled without being translated into a foreign language? Why do you not advise Belgians who are to travel abroad to have their documents translated in the country of their destination?

 

I am fully aware of the EU initiative to abolish any and all kinds of legalization, apostillization and translation procedures by introducing multi-laguage issuance of a number of documents in 2 or 3 years, and I welcome this initiative. 

 

Thank you.

Look forward to your reply.

Best regards,

Reneta T. Stoyanova, 56, a Bulgarian translator

Education: medicine (2-yr college, 1978) and English language & Literature (5-yr university, 2004)

Email: rennie@softisbg.com

Mobile phone: +359 888 60 90 72

Stationary phone: + 359 52 988 600

My blog dedicated to Bulgarian translators' problems (mostly in Bulgarin): http://rennie.blog.bg/

 


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This page contains a single entry by Rennie Stoyanova published on February 10, 2014 10:06 AM.

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