Offering Our Efficient Apostille Premium and Standard Services
An apostille is certification issued under the Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (also known as the Hague Apostille Convention).
It is an internationally recognised certification confirming the signature and/or seal of the public official who issued or certified the document.
We offer two apostille services. With our Premium service get your document apostilled on the same day (within 5 hours) or next day. On our Standard service get your document apostilled within 3-5 working days.
Start by checking your document. It may need notarisation first.
NOTARISATION REQUIRED
Most documents will need to be notarised before they can be apostilled;
Common documents include affidavits, declarations, powers of attorney, board resolutions, Companies House documentation, passports, proofs of address, degree and educational certificates;
Documents issued by a UK government department or agency (eg. HMRC, ACRO, Companies House) which have a wet-ink signature;
Original documents apostilled in a British overseas territory (Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctica Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands)
Original documents apostilled in a Crown dependency (Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man)
Check your document
We notarise many types of documents and can provide different types of certification to meet your needs.
The most popular documents we see are powers of attorneys, passports, educational certificates and Companies House documentation. However there are many other documents we see on a regular basis and are familiar with.
If your document is not listed and you are unsure if we can help, email us at info@notary.co.uk and we will be happy to confirm.
Note: not all documents need an apostille
Check with whoever is requesting the document
Commonwealth countries, such as Australia, Canada and South Africa recognise UK notarised documents without an apostille.
If in doubt check our – Country Requirements List or Contact Us.
Select your apostille service
Premium service
Same day
Next day
Receive document by 11:30 AM;
Document complete by 16:30 PM
Receive after 11:30 AM;
Document complete by 15:00 PM
Document submitted to Legalisation Office in London.
Standard service
Completed within 3-5 working days
Document submitted to Legalisation Office in Milton Keynes.
The apostille itself is a printed certificate. It is attached to the notarial certificate or document itself. The text “Apostille” is written at the top of the printed certificate, followed by the text ”Convention de La Haye du 5 octobre 1961”. According to Article 4 of the Hague Apostille Convention, the apostille is not valid if not written in French.
Yes. You can post your document to the FCDO Legalisation Office in Milton Keynes, or if you are a registered business you can register with the London office.
The FCDO can reject documents for many reasons. Some common examples include if the document has not been certified correctly, the person signing the document is not registered at the FCDO, the certification and document don’t match, the name of the person signing is illegible and there’s no signature on passport.
Delays can occur if the FCDO has to query your document. For example if they don’t have the signature of the public official who issued the document on file and they need to contact them to obtain it.
