Offering Our Efficient Apostille Next-day 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 different apostille services in the UK: a Restricted urgent service, a Next-day service, a Standard service, and an e-Apostille Service.
The Restricted urgent service is only available in exceptional circumstances and must first be approved by the Legalisation Office at the FCDO.
On the Next-day service any document received by 10:30 will be submitted the same day, and should be ready for collection the following day from 15:30.
If your matter isn’t urgent, on Standard service your document will be ready within 5 working days.
The e-Apostille Service is available for e-notarised documents and will be completed within 2 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 types 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 attorney, passports, educational certificates and Companies House documentation. However, there are many other types we see regularly 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.
Certain Commonwealth countries, such as Australia, Canada and South Africa recognise UK notarised documents without an apostille.
Document complete on the third working day by 15:30
Document submitted to the Legalisation Office in Milton Keynes.
Standard service
Completed within 5 working days
Document submitted to the Legalisation Office in Milton Keynes.
Restricted urgent service
Apostilled on the same day
Requires supporting correspondence
Document must meet FCDO criteria
Must get approval from FCDO a day before intended submission
Document submitted to the Legalisation Office in Milton Keynes.
e-Apostille
Completed within 2 working days
Must use Adobe Reader to view e-apostille
e-Apostille cannot be printed
Document submitted online at www.gov.uk
Get Your Documents Apostilled Wherever You Are in the UK
With our e-Apostille services, you can now easily obtain the necessary apostille for your documents without the need to meet in person. This is a swift alternative to traditional apostille services, making the process more cost-effective and completed within 2 working days.
The Restricted urgent service is a special service operated by the FCDO Legalisation Office for certain time-sensitive requests. Our team will advise on your request, lodge the application on your behalf, and if approved submit and collect the document for you.
Note: The FCDO will only prioritise the following documents
Documents linked to repatriation.
Time-limited documents linked to transport of animals.
Documents with evidence relating to the welfare of a child.
Documents with evidence relating to the welfare of a vulnerable adult.
Commercially urgent documents, for example; certificates relating to insolvency searches; documents relating to corporate transactions with a specified completion date which the Next-Day service cannot meet.
Short notice private client documents.
The Process
(1) Email us outlining why your document is urgent and meets the above criteria. Please share any supporting correspondence. (2) We submit an application to the FCDO Legalisation Office. (3) The FCDO reviews and either approves/rejects the request. (4) If approved, we submit at the FCDO in Milton Keynes the following day and it will be ready for collection from 15:30.
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 October 1961”. According to Article 4 of the Hague Apostille Convention, the apostille is not valid if not written in French.
The FCDO can reject documents for many reasons. Some common examples include if the document has not been certified correctly, the person signing it 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 the 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.
The FCDO charge per apostille – £35 for an e-Apostille, £40 on the Next-day service, £45 for their standard paper-based service and £100 for the Restricted urgent service.
We will additionally charge our own handling fee for submitting/collecting and processing your apostille request.
The FCDO will only apostille General Register Office (GRO) issued documents (such as birth, death, or marriage certificates), if they have the signature of the certifying official on their database.
The FCDO will contact the GRO to verify the signature only for certificates issued within the previous six months.
If your certificate is older than six months you will need to either (1) order a new one, or (2) contact the GRO and ask them to register the signature with the FCDO.
