As a rule, no. The apostille attests the signature, the capacity and the seal on the original; a photocopy carries only their image. When a receiving institution accepts a photocopy of an apostilled document, that is the institution’s own choice, not an effect of the apostille. The distinction between a photocopy and a certified copy settles the question.
What the apostille is attached to
Under article 5 of the Convention the certificate confirms that the signature is genuine, in what capacity the signatory acted and that the seal matches the original. That confirmation is made on a physical signature and a physical seal. A photocopy has neither; it has toner. The Onikişubat District Governor’s Office (a kaymakamlık, the district governor’s office) accordingly writes that a plain photocopy is not given an apostille, whereas a copy certified as a true copy by a competent authority or by a noter (a Turkish notary public) can be considered. The same logic applies to a photocopy taken after the apostille: multiplying the paper does not multiply the certificate.
Checking a serial number from a copy
Apostilles issued by provincial and district governor’s offices can be queried on the verification page of e-İçişleri, the online portal of the Turkish Ministry of the Interior, using the apostille serial number, the verification code and the date of certification. All three can be read off a photocopy, and the query shows that a certificate with that number was indeed issued. What the query does not show is that the sheet in hand is the original; it only says that an apostille with that number exists. If the receiving institution wants to see the original, the verification page does not stand in for it. For the paper apostilles issued by the judicial commissions on judicial documents, no separate online verification route was found in this site’s survey.
Copies of an electronic apostille file
In e-Apostil, the official Turkish electronic apostille system, the document is a file signed with the qualified electronic certificate of PTT, the national postal operator. A copy of the file is identical to the file, and verification is done by uploading the copy to the official verification page. Here the photocopy question concerns the paper printout: the printout is an image, carries no electronic signature and cannot be queried by entering a number. A foreign institution that wants to verify the document needs the file itself. How an electronic document is verified abroad is explained on a separate page of this site.
Alternatives to the photocopy
- A fresh original from the issuing body, with its own apostille.
- A notary’s true-copy certification; this is a new notarial act and, if it will be used abroad, needs its own apostille.
- A certified copy issued by the issuing body itself; it counts as an administrative document and is apostilled at the provincial or district governor’s office.
The moment a photocopy is turned away at the counter, and the choice of the right route afterwards, is dealt with on one of the problem pages of this site.
Working from a scan: the translator and the notary
A translator can work from a photocopy or a scanned image; the accuracy of the translation does not depend on the source being an original. The real question arises at the notary stage: whether the notary wants to see the original or a certified copy of the translated document before certifying the translation is a matter of each notary’s own practice, and no general rule on it was found in this site’s survey. Starting the translation from a photocopy is therefore possible, but going to the notary appointment with the original avoids lost time. When working from a copy, the translator carries the serial number and the date of the certificate over exactly, and those fields are compared once the original arrives. Whether the apostille page itself is translated is a separate question with its own page on this site.