Which documents from Israel do you need to buy property and take a mortgage in Romania?

Apostille and documents from Israel: the short answer

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To buy property in Romania you usually need a passport, a Romanian tax number (NIF) and a civil status document. For a mortgage, add an income file, bank statements and a credit data report. Every Israeli document that the notary or the bank in Romania needs to rely on goes through two stages: an apostille in Israel, because both countries are parties to the Hague Convention, and translation into Romanian by a translator authorised by the Romanian Ministry of Justice. The order matters: apostille first, then translation.

I see it again and again: the deal is ready, the bank is ready, and the file gets stuck on one document missing a stamp. So I wrote this guide as a working checklist, correct as of October 2026.

What an apostille is, and why Romania asks for it

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An apostille is a certificate a country issues on one of its own public documents, confirming that the signature and seal on it are genuine. It replaces the old consular legalisation, but only between countries that have joined the 1961 Hague Convention. According to the Hague Conference status table, the Convention has been in force in Israel since August 1978 and in Romania since March 2001.

The apostille does not confirm that the content is correct. It confirms that whoever signed the document is authorised to sign it. So you cannot put an apostille on a payslip or a bank statement. You can put it on a notarial certificate that authenticates them.

Who issues an apostille in Israel

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Israel has two channels, depending on the type of document:

Type of document	Who issues the apostille	Notes
Notarial document (certified copy, power of attorney, notarial translation)	Court and labour court registries	Fee of 41 shekels per certificate, as of 1.1.2026
Certain government certificates (population register extract, marriage certificate, birth certificate)	Digital apostille via the government personal area	An electronic file, not paper
Court judgments and decisions	The courts, also via Net HaMishpat	Digital apostille
Other public certificates	The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, manually	Depending on the type of certificate

According to the Judicial Authority's service page (in Hebrew), the fee is updated on 1 January each year, and you can get up to 10 certificates in a single visit. According to the government's digital apostille page (in Hebrew), you can order online, among other things, an extended extract from the Population Register and a marriage certificate from the marriage registration offices, with an electronic apostille.

Note one detail: the Judicial Authority states that a printed version of an electronic apostille is not valid. Before ordering a digital file, ask the notary or the bank in Romania whether they accept it, and how.

Which documents you need for the purchase itself

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For signing at the Romanian notary, a buyer from Israel usually brings:

1. A valid passport. The buyer's name on every document must match the passport exactly, letter for letter.
2. A Romanian tax number (NIF) from the Romanian tax authority (ANAF). How to get one, in the NIF guide.
3. A civil status document. Married couples need to show this to the notary, because the couple's property regime affects the registration. In Israel, an extended Population Register extract or a marriage certificate, with an apostille.
4. A notarial power of attorney, if someone signs on your behalf. It follows the same route: an Israeli notary, an apostille, translation. Details in the power of attorney guide.

Which documents you need for a mortgage

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Here the list is longer, and it varies from bank to bank. What Romanian banks usually ask of a borrower with income from abroad:

• Proof of income: payslips and an employer's letter, or for the self-employed, tax assessments and financial statements.
• Bank statements for the last few months.
• A credit data report. In Israel, anyone who appears in the Credit Data System (in Hebrew) is entitled to a free summary report once per calendar year. The report is issued in Hebrew or Arabic, so it too needs translation.
• A civil status document, as for the purchase.
• Property documents: the preliminary contract and a land register extract, which come from the Romanian side.

Payslips, statements and bank statements cannot take an apostille directly. The route is an Israeli notary who certifies a true copy of the original, and then a court apostille on the notary's signature. You will find the full mortgage process, step by step, in the guide to a mortgage in Romania.

Translation into Romanian: who is authorised to translate

In Romania, a translation submitted to a notary must be done by an authorised translator (traducător autorizat). Under Law 178/1997, translators who work with the courts, notaries and lawyers are authorised by order of the Minister of Justice, and the Romanian Ministry of Justice publishes their list by language and county.

In practice, the translator signs the translation, and a Romanian notary certifies their signature. The result is called a certified translation (traducere legalizată).

The right order: apostille in Israel, and only then translation in Romania. The apostille itself is translated together with the document. Anyone who translates first and adds an apostille later finds themselves translating twice.

A small tip: when a bilingual version, Hebrew and English, exists, ask for it. According to the government services website, a bilingual birth certificate is issued free of charge in the personal area. A document in English widens the choice of translators.

The order of work: 6 steps

1. A written list. Ask the notary and the bank in Romania for an exact list of documents before you start.
2. Order government certificates with a digital apostille, where possible.
3. An Israeli notary to certify copies and the power of attorney. Their fee is set in the Notaries Regulations and is uniform across Israel.
4. A court apostille on every notarial document.
5. Send scans to the notary and the bank in Romania for an early check.
6. A certified translation in Romania, and the originals sent by courier, where needed.

Start collecting before you have chosen a property. Certified documents do not expire overnight, but banks usually ask for recent documents, so ask how long each document counts as "fresh".

The mistakes that cost the most time

• A name in a different transliteration. "Moshe Cohen" in the passport and "Moise Kohen" in the translation are, for the notary, two different people.
• An apostille on the wrong document. An apostille on a plain photocopy instead of on the notarial certificate.
• A translation done only in Israel. An Israeli notarial translation with an apostille may be accepted, but that is the decision of the party in Romania. Ask first.
• An old credit report. The report is free once a year. If you used that right months ago, plan ahead.

Frequently asked questions

Does every Israeli document need an apostille?

Not every document, but every Israeli document that an official party in Romania needs to rely on: a notary, a bank or an authority. The passport itself does not need an apostille. Civil status documents, a power of attorney and certified copies of income documents do.

How much does an apostille cost in Israel?

For a notarial document, at the court, the fee is 41 shekels per certificate from 1 January 2026, according to the Judicial Authority. On top of that come the Israeli notary's fee, which is set in regulations, and the translator's fee in Romania.

Can the documents be translated in Israel?

You can prepare a notarial translation in Israel and add an apostille to it, but whether to accept it is up to the notary or the bank in Romania. The safe route is translation by an authorised translator from the Romanian Ministry of Justice list, certified by a Romanian notary.

Is a digital apostille accepted in Romania?

The Israeli digital apostille is an electronically signed file, and the Judicial Authority states that a printout of it is not valid. So check in advance with the notary or the bank in Romania whether they accept the file and how to send it.

How long does it take to prepare all the documents?

It depends on the number of documents and on appointment availability. A court apostille is issued on the spot, and digital certificates arrive quickly. What takes time is collecting the income documents, the notary and the translation, so it is worth starting before you choose a property.

The bottom line

A good document file is the most boring part of the transaction, and it is the part that decides whether it closes on time. An apostille in Israel, a certified translation in Romania, a name identical to the passport on every page, and an early check with whoever will receive the documents.

If you are starting to prepare a file for a purchase or a mortgage in Romania, book a 30-minute call with me. We will go through your list together, document by document, and build an order of work that will not get stuck at the last minute.

Moti Azulay, Compass Group Romania

Sources and data: Hague Conference, Apostille Convention status table · Israel Judicial Authority, apostille certificate (in Hebrew) · gov.il, digital apostille for government certificates (in Hebrew) · Israel Credit Data System, summary report (in Hebrew) · Law 178/1997, Romanian legislation portal · Romanian Ministry of Justice, authorised translators · Romanian tax authority (ANAF) · National Union of Public Notaries of Romania (UNNPR).

This article is for general information only and is not legal, tax or financial advice. The exact list of documents is set by the notary and the bank in each transaction, and fees and rates are updated from time to time.