Under EU Regulation 2016/1191, some EU birth, marriage and death certificates can come with a multilingual form that replaces a translation. Here is which documents qualify, what ISD and the HSE say, and where the form does not help.
Hidden in an EU regulation from 2016 is one of the most useful and least known money-savers for anyone living in Ireland with a birth or marriage certificate from another EU country. It is called the multilingual standard form, and for the right document it can remove the need for a translation altogether. It also has sharp limits that the leaflets rarely mention. This guide explains both.
Regulation (EU) 2016/1191, often called the Public Documents Regulation, applies in all EU countries from 16 February 2019. It does three things for public documents issued in one Member State and presented in another. It abolishes the apostille for the documents it covers, it simplifies rules on certified copies, and it creates multilingual standard forms to be attached to certain documents as a translation aid. Article 1 describes the forms like this:
The most common mistake is to assume that every document covered by the Regulation comes with a multilingual form. It does not. There are two different lists.
The Regulation covers public documents whose main purpose is to establish birth, a person being alive, death, name, marriage (including capacity to marry and marital status), divorce, legal separation or annulment, registered partnership and its dissolution, parenthood, adoption, domicile or residence, nationality, and absence of a criminal record. Article 4 says these documents and their certified copies "shall be exempt from all forms of legalisation and similar formality", which includes the apostille.
Multilingual standard forms exist only for a narrower set: birth, a person being alive, death, marriage (including capacity to marry and marital status), registered partnership, domicile and/or residence, and absence of a criminal record. There is no form for name, divorce, legal separation, annulment, parenthood, adoption or nationality.
So a Polish divorce judgment or a Lithuanian adoption order presented in Ireland needs no apostille, but it still needs a translation, because no multilingual form exists for it. See our divorce documents and adoption documents pages.
Article 6 sets out when a translation is not required. The key sentence has a condition built in:
The last clause matters. The receiving authority decides whether the form gives it enough information. A multilingual form carries standard headings and codes. If the underlying certificate has annotations, a later amendment or details the form does not capture, an Irish body can still ask for a translation.
Irish authorities have written the form into their guidance. Immigration Service Delivery's general page on certified translations says:
ISD's citizenship guide tells applicants they do not need a translation if they get a Multilingual Standard Form from the country that issued the document (ISD, How to Become an Irish Citizen Guide). The HSE, when a foreign marriage certificate is presented at a birth registration, says it can accept "the multilingual form (a form in English and another language) available from most embassies or registration services" (HSE, Register a birth). In other words, the three bodies most people deal with for civil status all recognise the form. See our citizenship and marriage notification guides.
You ask the authority that issues the certificate, at the same time as you request the certificate. Article 7 says the form is issued "upon request by the person entitled to receive the public document", and it bears the date, signature and, where applicable, the stamp of the issuing authority. A few practical points from the Regulation:
The European e-Justice Portal publishes model forms for every Member State and the list of documents each country will attach them to (e-Justice, Public documents).
When an Irish body does ask for a translation, the Regulation helps again. Article 6(2) says a certified translation carried out by a person qualified to do so under the law of a Member State "shall be accepted in all Member States". Otherwise, the Irish standard applies: a certified translation with the translator's statement of accuracy, date, name, signature and contact details, explained in our certified translation guide.
The Regulation applies from 16 February 2019 and is binding in all EU Member States.
The DFA lists birth, death and marriage certificates from the General Register Office, its own Freedom to Marry Certificates and Garda certificates on the absence of a criminal record among Irish documents that no longer need an apostille for use in other EU states.
The DFA lists multilingual standard forms among documents it does not accept for legalisation.
If an authority has a reasonable doubt about a document's authenticity, it can check with the issuing authority through the EU's Internal Market Information System (IMI).
Multilingual forms exist for seven types of document only, while the apostille exemption covers all thirteen matters listed in Article 2(1).
If your certificate is from an EU country and the issuing office offers a multilingual form, ask for it. You may not need us at all. Many bodies still ask for a translation, particularly for older certificates, annotated records or documents with no form, and non-EU certificates always need one. When you do, we translate at €29.95 per page (300 words), with a signed Certificate of Accuracy, company stamp and reference number, usually within 24 hours. Browse birth, marriage and death certificate translations, or get a quote.
Checked 25 September 2026. Rules change, so confirm with the receiving body before you apply.
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