UK Apostille Legalisation Service
An Apostille certificate verifies that the document to which it
relates is authentic and has been checked in its country of
origin. Once this certificate or stamp has been attached the
document is legalised and is acceptable to overseas authorities in
countries that have joined the Hague Convention. Requirements
vary from country to country and many countries that are not
party to the Convention also recognise Hague Apostille Certificates. Those
that do not may require further embassy legalisation.
Why have an Apostille?
You will require document legalisation when a foreign organisation has requested proof of authenticity of a UK-sourced document. Common examples are:- Birth Certificates for marriage or proof of ID abroad
- Education certificates for overseas students returning to their home country
- Educational documents when applying to work overseas
- Birth or marriage certificates, Powers of Attorney etc. for UK residents wishing to work, get married or purchase property abroad
- Bill of Sale for boats
- Company documents when trading or opening a branch or bank account overseas
See our list of documents that can have an Apostille here.
How do I get an Apostille Stamp?
We arrange your Apostille Certificate for you. All you have to
do
is send the documents to us and we will see it through to completion.
On receipt of your items and Apostille
Order Form we will validate your application, process it and return
your legalised documents, normally within a week - see Apostille Prices.
There are no hidden charges and
we do not charge VAT.
How does it work?
The
Apostille Certificate (shown right) is a paper attachment which is
fixed permanently
to your supplied papers by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
The documents will then be accepted as
authentic in any of the Hague Convention countries that will accept the
Apostille
(and some others).
As it is glued and embossed with the FCO Legalisation Office seal you
may wish to legalise a certified copy so that
the
original remains unchanged.
What information is on the Apostille Certificate?
The certificate contains the following information:
Country of origin
Name of signatory on the document
The capacity in which that signatory has acted
If the document has been sealed/stamped instead of signed then the
details of the authority
Place of certification
Date of certification
Issuing authority's details
Certificate number
Stamp of issuing authority
Authorised signature of authority
How do I pronounce APOSTILLE?
Simple: a-poss-teal
Apostille is a French word which means a certification. It is commonly used in English to refer to the legalisation of a document for international use under the terms of the 1961 Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. Documents which have been notarised by a notary public, and certain other documents, and then certified with a conformant apostille are accepted for legal use in all the nations that have signed the Hague Convention.