Apostille & Document
Legalisation in the UK

An apostille is a certificate issued by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office confirming that the signature, stamp or seal on a UK document is genuine. It is attached to the document itself and is recognised by every country in the Hague Convention. It says nothing about the contents of the document, only that the official who signed it is genuine.

Legalisation is the name of the process; the apostille is the certificate attached at the end of it. For countries in the Hague Convention the apostille completes the process. For countries outside it, legalisation continues with a further step at that country's embassy in the UK.

The 129 countries in the Hague Convention, with Viet Nam joining on 11 September 2026. China joined in 2024, as did Canada, and Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Pakistan and Bangladesh have all joined since 2021 – older lists on other websites are often years out of date. If your destination is not a member, the document goes to that country's embassy after the apostille.

In most cases you do not need to: we translate the certificate, a solicitor or notary certifies the translation, and the apostille is issued on that – so a scan is enough and your certificate stays with you. Where the receiving authority insists on an apostille on the certificate itself, that has to be an original or a certified copy issued by the General Register Office, because the FCDO will not legalise a photocopy of one under any circumstances. Note too that GRO certificates are excluded from the electronic apostille service, so that route is paper only, while a solicitor-signed translation can take the 2-working-day electronic route.

Only if the photocopy has first been certified by a practising UK solicitor, notary or Commissioner for Oaths – the apostille is then issued over that person's signature. The exception is birth, marriage and death certificates, where a photocopy is never accepted whoever certifies it.

The translation, in almost every case. We prepare the certified translation, a UK solicitor or notary certifies it, and the FCDO issues the apostille over that signature. Your original never leaves your hands – a clear scan is all we need. Because the apostille goes on the document we produce, it also does not matter where your original was issued: another UK nation, or another country entirely.

When the receiving authority wants the UK public record authenticated rather than a translation of it – Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Greek civil registries ask for this most often, usually for citizenship by descent or marriage. In that case the original is apostilled first and the translation is then made of the document and the apostille certificate together, so nothing is missing from the set. Tell us the destination country and the receiving body and we will confirm which of the two you need before anything is submitted.

Yes. We translate the complete set, apostille certificate included, so the receiving authority can read the stamp as well as the record. Send us a scan of everything you were given.

Yes. The translation has to be certified, signed and dated by a practising UK public official – a solicitor or notary – and the apostille is issued over that signature. It also must not reproduce the crests or logos on the original document, which is a copyright matter and a frequent cause of rejection when translations are done cheaply.

It is an electronic apostille issued on a PDF, published by the FCDO at up to 2 working days rather than up to 25. It is open to everyone, but the document must carry the electronic signature of a UK notary or solicitor, and several document types are excluded outright: General Register Office certificates, ACRO police certificates, DBS and disclosure certificates, fingerprint certificates and ACCA membership certificates. A solicitor-certified translation is not excluded.

Anything that does not already carry a signature the FCDO recognises – degree certificates, transcripts, school reports, company documents, passports and identity documents, driving licences, proof of address, employment letters and DBS certificates. Government-issued records such as GRO certificates, court-sealed documents and ACRO certificates go straight to the FCDO without it.

Our own part – checks, translation and solicitor certification – is usually 24 to 72 hours. The FCDO publishes up to 2 working days for the electronic service and up to 25 working days for standard paper, and an embassy step adds that embassy's own time on top. You get a confirmed end-to-end date with your quote rather than an optimistic guess.

It depends on the route your document takes: whether it goes straight to the FCDO or needs solicitor certification first, whether it is legalised singly or as a bound set, whether a translation is involved, and whether the destination also requires embassy legalisation. Send us the document and the destination country and you will get an itemised quote, free and with no obligation, so you can see what each step adds.

Yes. A document signed by a Commissioner for Oaths carries a signature the FCDO recognises, so it can be legalised without further certification. Every practising solicitor in England and Wales is automatically a Commissioner for Oaths.

Occasionally. The FCDO sometimes has to verify a public official's signature against a central database, which can take up to 20 working days. It is rare, and we let you know as soon as we are told rather than waiting for you to chase.

Send us the documents and the destination country. Educational documents carry no FCDO-recognised signature, so they need solicitor certification first – and we recommend certifying copies rather than the originals, so your degree certificate does not come back covered in stamps. Several documents bound and legalised as one set is usually cheaper than doing them individually.

Most commonly a certificate of no impediment, your birth certificate, and where you have been married before a decree absolute – each apostilled, and usually translated into the language of the country you are marrying in. Requirements vary a great deal between countries and some registrars are strict about how recently the documents were issued, so check with the authority conducting the marriage and send us the list. Start early: this is the deadline people most often leave too late.

No. We prepare the paperwork, arrange any solicitor or notary certification, submit the documents and track them through, and return the legalised set to you by post or for collection at one of our UK offices. You do not need an FCDO account.