Pakistan joined the apostille system in 2023, and eight European states objected on the way. For a Turkish document none of that matters: Türkiye raised no objection, so a Turkish apostille is read in Pakistan and a Pakistani apostille in Türkiye as Convention certificates. This page is for a Pakistani employer, university or registry receiving a Turkish document, and for a Turkish office receiving a Pakistani one: the two dates in the Pakistan row, where the objection list does bite, the six cities that place Pakistani apostilles, and the QR code that verifies them.
8 July 2022 and 9 March 2023: the two dates in the Pakistan row
Pakistan deposited its instrument of accession on 8 July 2022; the date shown in the HCCH status table is 9 March 2023. The eight months between them cover the six-month window that article 12 of the Convention gives other states to object, plus the waiting period that follows. Pakistan also notified, on 3 March 2023, that it would accept the apostilles of other states from 9 March 2023 onwards. Before that date a Turkish document for Pakistan went through consular legalisation; since then it takes an apostille instead.
Greece to Germany: the eight objecting states and Turkish files
Greece, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Austria, Poland, Czechia and Germany objected to Pakistan’s accession. Between each of those eight states and Pakistan the apostille does not run; which route a German diploma bound for Pakistan, or a Pakistani birth record bound for the Netherlands, takes instead is not stated in the sources read for this site. Türkiye is not on that list, and the HCCH record shows no objection or declaration by Türkiye at all. The list matters in Türkiye only in three-country files: a person living in Türkiye who has to send a document obtained in Germany to Pakistan cannot rely on a German apostille there.
Pakistan’s declaration on India in a three-country file
Alongside its accession Pakistan declared that it would not apply the Convention with entities it does not recognise, and named India expressly. This is Pakistan’s own notification, not an objection by India; the effect is the same, no apostille traffic between the two. A Turkish document is untouched. The declaration becomes relevant when a file that passes through Türkiye has one end in India; in such a file the holder checks, document by document, which state’s paper is going to which state.
Islamabad and five liaison offices: who places the Pakistani apostille
According to the HCCH authority page, the authority in Pakistan lies with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is exercised by designated officials at headquarters in Islamabad and at the Foreign Affairs liaison offices in Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar and Gujrat. The fee varies by document type and is stated on the HCCH page; it is not repeated on this site. A diploma, a marriage certificate or a power of attorney from Pakistan arrives in Türkiye with a certificate from one of those offices; the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not legalise a document that already carries an apostille. A Turkish document going the other way is apostilled by the Turkish authorities: the valilik or kaymakamlık, the provincial or district governor’s office, for administrative documents and for every notarial act; the adli yargı adalet komisyonu başkanlığı, the judicial commission, for the original of a court document.
Checking a Pakistani apostille by QR code
The HCCH e-APP chart records an online register for Pakistan that is queried both by link and by the QR code printed on the apostille. A Turkish office or notary receiving a Pakistani apostille can confirm the certificate against that register. The chart records no electronic apostille for Pakistan; only the verification is recorded as online. A Turkish source says more: the Union of Turkish Notaries (TNB), in its Consolidated Circular 25, lists Pakistan among the states that have moved to electronic apostilles, dates the change from 17.05.2024 and asks Turkish notaries to look for the Pakistani e-apostille in line with the digitally signed e-apostille practice. The HCCH chart of 13 August 2026 does not show that electronic apostille. In the other direction, whether Pakistani institutions accept a Turkish e-Apostil, the electronic certificate of the official Turkish system, was not verified on this site; where one of the six document types covered by e-Apostil is being sent, the receiving Pakistani institution is asked beforehand whether it accepts the electronic form.
Urdu or English translation and the Turkish apostille on it
Whether a Pakistani institution wants Urdu or English was not verified on this site; the institution is asked. When the translation is made in Türkiye, the notarised translation receives its own apostille from the governor’s office; the apostille attests the notary’s signature and says nothing about the accuracy of the translation. A Pakistani document is translated into Turkish once its apostille is in place; whether the certificate from Islamabad or a liaison office is translated with it is decided by the Turkish office that takes the file. Pakistan has not acceded to ETS 063, CIEC 16 or CIEC 17, so no exemption beyond the apostille exists between the two countries. A translation office renders the text; it places no apostille and does not predict the Pakistani institution’s decision.