Official company and property records in North Macedonia
North Macedonia keeps separate public registers for companies, real property, insolvency proceedings and licensed activities, each held by a different authority. Direct online access for a foreign applicant is limited in several of them by a national credential requirement, and the confirmed route runs through a licensed registered agent rather than a walk-in search.
The registers present in North Macedonia
Records commonly described as the North Macedonia company register sit within a central register administered by a state authority: name, registration number, registered address, legal form, status. A foreign applicant orders a certified extract rather than searching the file in person or by post. The extract states what was true on the day it was issued, and nothing about the day before that date, or the day after it.
Whether the North Macedonia company register is open to direct online search by a party outside the country, and on what terms, is a point we are confirming against the primary source rather than stating from memory. A North Macedonia registry extract ordered through a licensed registered agent is the route that does not depend on that answer.
A second family covers real property. Ownership, the parcel identifier, the type of right recorded, any registered charge – these sit in a cadastral record kept apart from the company file. The property register and the company register are not cross-referenced for a public search, so a search against a company name does not surface the property that company holds, and a search against a parcel does not surface who controls the company that owns it.
A third family sits with the courts. Insolvency proceedings, liquidation, receivership and pending claims against a company are matters for a court register, not for the company register, and an active status on the company file does not rule out a proceeding recorded elsewhere. The two records answer different questions. Neither substitutes for the other.
A fourth family covers licensed activities – banking, insurance, and a number of regulated professions – each supervised by its own regulator rather than by the company registry. A licence held by an entity does not appear on a standard company extract. It sits in a separate licence register, maintained by whichever regulator issued it, and a foreign applicant checking authorisation to trade in a regulated sector needs that record specifically, not the company file.
Beyond these four, public records North Macedonia maintains extend to civil status filings and to registers kept at municipal level for certain local matters, though the scope and the access terms for a foreign applicant on that layer are, again, being confirmed rather than assumed.
This is where a company search North Macedonia enquiry should start: the central register, not the land register or the court file. The exact issuing authority, the official fee and the turnaround time for a foreign applicant are being confirmed against the primary source before we publish them here.
Each of these four families is maintained separately, and no single search across all of them exists for a foreign applicant to run in one pass; each register is queried in turn, against its own key.
What is closed here
None of the four register families described above discloses beneficial ownership to a public search on the terms we can currently confirm; whether a layer of that kind exists and who may see it is being checked against the primary source. A record that lists a director or a registered shareholder is not the same record as one that lists the person who ultimately controls or benefits from the entity, and the two should not be treated as interchangeable.
An extract from the company register is evidence of what was filed, not evidence that the filing was accurate at the time it was made or remains accurate now. A company can hold an active status and still be the subject of a dispute that has not yet reached the filing. The register records the filing, not the underlying fact.
No register covered here states financial standing or the likelihood that an entity will meet an obligation. A company register confirms that an entity exists and what was filed against it; a property register confirms a right recorded against a parcel. Neither answers a question about future performance, and neither is designed to.
Real-time enforcement status – an active seizure, a fresh judgment, a licence suspended this week – sits closer to a court or regulator's own systems than to the registers described above, and the lag between an event and its appearance in a public record is a further point we are confirming rather than estimating.
A certified extract, once obtained, is not itself a translation, and this page does not state whether a sworn translation is required for use abroad; that is a separate confirmation, tied to the receiving authority rather than to the issuing register.
Nothing on this page states what a company extract or a property record means for a transaction. The registers record filings. The reading of those filings is a separate matter, outside what a register itself can confirm.
Where the access regime for a given register in North Macedonia is not yet confirmed, this page uses the general form rather than a specific claim, and states so directly rather than filling the gap with a plausible-sounding figure.
How documents from here are used abroad
A North Macedonia certified document presented to a foreign registry, bank or court is usually expected to carry some form of authentication beyond the issuing register's own stamp. Whether that authentication takes the form of an apostille, full consular legalisation, or neither, depends on the receiving country and on North Macedonia's own accession status, and this page treats that status as unconfirmed rather than assumed.
Where an apostille does apply, it certifies the signature and the seal on the document, not the truth of what the document states. A certified company extract that carries an apostille is confirmed as genuinely issued by the register named on it; the apostille does not confirm that the entity described is solvent, compliant, or a sound counterparty.
A translation is frequently required alongside the authenticated original, and the receiving party – rather than the issuing register – usually sets the standard for that translation, including whether it must be sworn or merely certified by the translator. This page does not state a single rule for every receiving country, because there is not one.
Age matters to some receiving parties. A company extract issued some time ago may be refused for a purpose that expects a recently dated document, even where nothing in the underlying record has changed. The rejection, when it happens, is usually about the date on the extract rather than its content.
A North Macedonia registry extract ordered through the confirmed route carries the issuing register's own certification; whether an additional layer of authentication is needed sits with the receiving party, not with the register.
None of this is guidance on whether a specific transaction requires legalisation. It is a description of where that requirement usually comes from, so that the question can be put to the right party before a document is ordered.
Access barriers a foreign applicant meets
Several of the registers described above are built around a national identification number or a qualified electronic signature for direct online use, and a foreign applicant typically holds neither. Where that barrier applies, the online interface is not a workable route for someone without a North Macedonia national credential, whatever the register's published scope suggests. Confirmation of exactly which registers carry this requirement is still in progress.
The confirmed alternative is an order placed with a licensed registered agent in the jurisdiction, who holds the standing to request the extract on the applicant's behalf. This route does not depend on the applicant holding a local identifier, and it produces the same certified extract that a resident search would return.
A second barrier sits in the language of issue. A record produced only in Macedonian is a correct and complete record; it is not automatically accompanied by a translation, and a foreign applicant should expect to arrange one separately unless a bilingual format is confirmed for the specific register in question.
A third barrier is timing rather than access. Where a deadline abroad – a closing, a filing, a tender submission – depends on a document from North Macedonia, the applicant needs the turnaround time for the specific register confirmed before the deadline is fixed, not after.
None of these barriers is unique to North Macedonia. They recur across jurisdictions that require a national credential for direct search, and the route through a registered agent is the same shape in each case, even where the specific form varies.
Which register holds company records in North Macedonia?
A central register administered by a state authority holds company records for North Macedonia: name, registration number, registered address, legal form and status. A foreign applicant obtains a certified extract from this register rather than searching it directly; the exact authority name and official fee are being confirmed against the primary source before publication here.
Can a foreign applicant obtain documents from North Macedonia directly?
Direct online search is limited in several North Macedonia registers by a requirement for a national identification number or a qualified electronic signature, which a foreign applicant is unlikely to hold. The confirmed route is an order placed with a licensed registered agent in the jurisdiction, who requests the certified extract on the applicant's behalf.
What is not recorded in the North Macedonia registers?
None of the registers described here confirms beneficial ownership or real-time enforcement status on the terms currently confirmed. A company extract records what was filed and when; it does not record whether that filing remains accurate, or what it means for a transaction the reader is considering.
Does North Macedonia use an apostille for documents sent abroad?
Whether an apostille, full consular legalisation, or neither applies to a North Macedonia certified document depends on the receiving country and on North Macedonia's own accession status, which this page treats as unconfirmed. Where an apostille does apply, it certifies the signature and seal on the document, not the truth of its content.
How is the North Macedonia land register organised?
Real property sits in a cadastral record kept apart from the company register: ownership, the parcel identifier, the type of right recorded and any registered charge. The exact access terms for a foreign applicant searching this register, and whether a name-based search is possible without a parcel identifier, are being confirmed.
Does the North Macedonia company register show insolvency status?
No. Insolvency proceedings, liquidation and receivership sit in a court register rather than the company register, and an active status on a company extract does not rule out a proceeding recorded elsewhere. A North Macedonia registry extract from the company file answers a different question to a court search.
Tell us the jurisdiction and the record you are after; we return the route, the issuing authority and the limit. If the document does not exist in this jurisdiction or cannot be obtained for you, we say so before you pay and we do not take the order.
REGISTRUM obtains and delivers official records issued by public registers and licensed registered agents. This page describes what those records contain and how they are obtained. It is not advice on the legal effect of any record. To order, write to info@registrumfirm.com.